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Share your quitting journey

Quitting : Frustrating , complicated , stressful 😊 relax

Maki
Member
0 1 79

Yup I felt you tense at the word frustrated , complicated and stressful , but how hard was it for you to relax ?

 Could you breathe or were you still tense ?

Our first thoughts or at least mine when I started my own quit  was this   : " I " will be a fighter . 

" I " will guard my quit , protect my quit , fight to keep my quit , build a wall around thine own enemy ,  wear the armour   beat the enemy  , but sometimes it just lasted three days , sometimes a month , even 8 years once , and all was good until I'd surrendered to the crave and desire to smoke .

I would give in , feel weak , helpless , useless , embarrassed ,ashamed and by my perspective and analysis , defeated .

Building back courage sometimes took days to try again , sometimes months or in my case 8 years of torture .  I didn't see smoking as torture , I didn't see the disease it truly was , or what is was causing physically , emotionally or mentally . I saw no strength in me at all , only my weakness . 

Quit support sites like this one taught me not only about addiction but how my addiction controlled me .  I learned  I used addiction to survive , why I couldn't let go , why I couldn't relax , yet I could fight to the point of exhaustion and still lose the battle .

One day around 365 days quit , I chose to relax , to breathe , to relax my muscles , to let the tension go , wave the white flag and surrender to my quit . I was in it for life and so wanted not to fight anymore .

I began letting my thoughts of smoking go , trusting myself and I blew them into the wind like grain and chaff from the palm of my hand and I felt peace .  From that day forward I knew  nope was all I needed to keep my quit forever . 

Quitting is a process for each individual . I'm just sharing mine , yours will be your own story and lessons to share because when we do we see there aren't so many differences between us . 

I learned , but it took that first year ...

Don 't make quitting complicated. Keep it simple . 

Just Don't Smoke .

What makes it complicated is us and the addictive part of us that we grew up with for years wants to fight to keep our old ways . A pack of cigarettes , two or three was our security blanket . We have to put our childish ways down and grow up . A baby won't let go of a bottle or their baby blanket but we as parents know that they have to surrender them them to grow and guess what they do grow and they forget about that bottle and blanket . Give up your cigarettes and grow . 

The choices we make and how we react to cravings or thoughts of smoking is the only solution to quitting . We do that just managing each day one day at a time .

It's all any of us can do no matter how many days or years we have quit ...we are all equal .

Just one , one puff can end everything we've done . No testing required , it's true and fact . 

   Welcome the new you , ex smoker. You can do this . If you think you can't do this anymore and want to smoke , post , ex has your back. We are in it together . 

1 Comment
About the Author
Smoker of 28 years . COPD recipient . My biggest help to quit was reading other successful quitters testimony as well as other quitters who would not give up and kept coming back determined to win . Also , some really hard work and helping others . I’ll have a thirteen years quit June 30 , 2024 . Biggest lesson learned : I learned that the “Just one” lesson is the key to everyone’s quit . Having “ none” not one puff , is the easy way to quit smoking . Post for help if it gets hard and before you have to own up to giving your quit away because if you do your quit can be saved . After the fact starts day one all over .I can’t tell you enough how worth it that is . Quit tools : Made use of my strengths and improved upon my weaknesses . Quit benefits , more time with my family , better quality of life , better self image . How I kept the quit : one day at a time , one step at a time . I told myself like a broken record : “ Don’t smoke ; Do something different “ then literally went and did something different other than smoking “ . Quitting is not complicated .It is really simply one word ( not one puff ever ) or nope , however , it will be the process of self discovery in this journey as you figure out things for yourself that can complicate things . How long will that be ? Well we are all different and we come from different backgrounds and smoked for different reasons so no one can really tell you when it will get easier for you only that it will . Be patient with yourself . Who cares how long it takes anyway because we all came to quit forever . This quit is for life , your life , so embrace it , welcome it , it’s the best thing you will ever do for yourself . The money you save get a bucket list of little rewards and big ones and do them . Change the things you can . Life is worth living . This gets easier , oh my gosh , so much much easier . Give it a season , give it two and you’ll never want to let go of your quit I promise you that . It’s wonderful , absolutely wonderful to be free . Quitting btw was the hardest thing I’ve ever done just like everyone here . I shed buckets of tears for weeks , yelled into a pillow , stuck my head into a cold bucket of water and paced aimlessly in head fog . Was it worth it , every bit of it ! Biggest improvement : , my health , the relationship with my family ( all non smokers thank goodness ) and finances . When I started 2011. I was walking three blocks with the use of inhalers for copd . Latest accomplishment : still on the inhalers no further advancement of copd . June 1 2023. Did my first 10 k . Next goal is my second 10k by the end of 2024 . I’m 68 years years young and I’m an Ex smoker . I was able to take three trips ( out of country ) with my family because I quit smoking . Time I never would have had had I not quit . Money from quitting paid for them . I want to say you are in control , take your power back from cigarettes from vaping or any addiction you might have . Life awaits you , don’t let it pass you by . Make the decision to stop and one day that light will shine upon you and make you a whole new you . Thank you to Quitnet members and Ex members for the support and encouragement to quit and stay quit . That along with my desire never to smoke again has given me a life long successful quit . No turning back , ever .