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Gung Ho, Then, Gung Ho Gone?

JonesCarpeDiem
5 7 102

Quitting Smoking Isn't Learned In One Day

When I quit, I had done no research on quitting.

I had visited no online quit smoking sites or gone to any quit smoking meetings.

I made the perfect stress free ramp to my quit.

I knew I was ready but, I knew nothing about what to expect.

      I didn't have any construction jobs at the time so, I went to a friends and played guitar to whatever music he put on 10 hours a day my first two weeks.

That provided plenty of dopamine. 

      My thirst for knowledge came when I stopped using the patch. In fact, the package the patch came in suggested going to an online support site so that's where the idea came from.

      I wanted to know what was in store after those first two weeks, so I went online and found a quit smoking site and planted myself there.

      I asked questions, talked people off the ledge and generally, got a handle on what quitting was about.

      After 12 years I've realized it's about time and allowing yourself to disconnect without fighting yourself.

7 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.