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Share your quitting journey

Being The Hare, May Or May Not, Get You There

JonesCarpeDiem
0 4 3

Common sense got me through my first two weeks. My third day I realized smoking was a choice. It made me laugh. It became a game. From then on I laughed when I had the thought of smoking. By the time a week had passed I was automatically thinking of laughing, not smoking. I was playing guitar at a friends house 10 hours a day.

I learned nothing and did no intentional mental preparation before I quit but, I had no fear of not making it, I entered into it open to the experience.

Over a four week period before I quit, I had proven t myself I didn't need to smoke just because I thought I did or would have automatically done so in the past.  I simply told myself to wait a little longer when I got the urge to smoke.

No stress. No denial. I went from 20 a day to 5 a day and never focused on quitting smoking.

I had no idea what to expect when I got off the patch my second week.

I had to get things done. I couldn't play guitar 10 hours a day forever.

This is where knowledge had to be gained.

I joined a quit smoking website and learned many of the tips and tricks presented here.

Willingness, not Willpower!

Onward and Upward!

4 Comments
About the Author
Hello, My name is Dale. I was quit 18 months before joining this site and had participated on another site during that time. I learned a lot there and brought it with me. I joined this site the first week of August 2008. I didn't pressure myself to quit. HOW I QUIT I didn't count, I didn't deny myself to get started. When I considered quitting (at a friends request to influence his brother to quit), I simply told myself to wait a little longer. No denial, nothing painful. After 4 weeks I was down to 5 cigarettes from a pack a day. The strength came from proving to myself, I didn't need to smoke because I normally would have smoked. Simple yes? I bought the patch. I forgot to put one on on the 4th day. I needed it the next day but the following week I forgot two days in a row I put one in my wallet with a promise to myself that I would slap it on and wait an hour rather than smoke. It rode in my wallet my first year.There's nothing keeping any of you from doing this. It doesn't cost a dime. This is about unlearning something you've done for a long time. The nicotine isn't the hard part. Disconnecting from the psychological pull, the memories and connected emotions is. :-) Time is the healer.