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Share your quitting journey

Week two

Jeanmarc19561
Member
3 9 87

Good morning everyone, I'm in the middle of week 2 without smoking and it has been as you'd expect, a sometimes bumpy ride. But no smokes. Now I'm a newbie in the sense that I'm only on week 2. However, I'm not in the sense that I've been at this point many times, (this WILL be my last). So I've experienced the empirical evidence you might say.

And with that I want to pass on what I've learned and experienced  to those who are quitting for the first time or maybe give a reminder to those who have tried to quit before and are in the process now. 

  Many of us have quit, started back up, quit again and so on. And a way to look at that process is summed up in a phrase you may have heard. "I never lose. I either win or I learn." Each time we go through the quit/smoke cycle we learn. And the one thing thats been on my mind the past several days and one that I really want to impart on first time quitters is this. 

  Your greatest ally. Your greatest resource. The greatest thing you possess to find the strength not to give in to smoking is your mind. Now the lesson from experience part. Your greatest enemy, the one thing most able to sabotage your endeavor to quit smoking is, you guessed it, your mind. Thats the struggle we have to deal with.

I don't remember where I read this but the statement was that our brains are wired to take the path of least resistance. To avoid discomfort even if it's a risk  as in smoking. From experience I believe this is true. The mind is a master at  manipulating our thought process to rationalize having a cigarette. Have you ever thought, "just one and that's it."

 "Wow, I've gone a whole week without smoking. I'll smoke Saturday then get back on track on Sunday" Right.

  Someone here posted about getting cravings by reading posts about quitting and I can relate to that. The most recent was when I saw the title, "Slipped today" I actually thought maybe I will too. I didn't.  So like the devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other we fight with ourselves.  The problem with the devil is that he makes what is wrong, in our case smoking, and makes it very appealing. But the angel is the strength part of the mind. The devil part tries to convince you that the angel is asking you to give up something you enjoy. The irrational mind. The angel tells you you don't really enjoy smoking otherwise you wouldn't be trying to quit. The rational mind.

  So newbies, be prepared to face all kinds of reasons why lighting up one is ok but listen to the angel. The discomfort will eventually go away. Besides, isn't freedom worth it? Hang in there!

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