Welcome to EX...I am pasting YoungAtHeart 's usual welcome here because it is the best, in my opinion...The most important thing you can do right now is to educate yourself on what nicotine does to your body and mind. To that end, I highly recommend Allen Carr's “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking.” This is an easy and entertaining read. You can search for it online or at your local library. You should also read the posts here and perhaps go to the pages of folks who you think might be helpful. You might visit whyquit.com, quitsmokingonline.com and livewell.com for the good information contained there. @https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/groups/best-of-ex has lots of blogs written by members of this site with their experiences and guidance.
The idea is to change up your routines so the smoking associations are reduced. Drink your coffee with your OTHER hand in a place different from when you smoked. Maybe switch to tea for a bit. If you always had that first smoke with your coffee, try putting your tennies on right out of bed, going for a quick walk, then taking your shower and THEN your coffee! Rearrange the furniture in the areas you used to smoke so the view is different. Buy your gas at a different station. Take a different route to work. Take a quick walk at break time where the smokers AREN'T. You need to distract yourself through any craves. You can take a bite out of a lemon (yup - rind and all), put your head in the freezer and take a deep breath of cold air, do a few jumping jacks, go for a brisk walk or march in place, play a computer game. Keep a cold bottle of water with you from which to sip. Don't let that smoking thought rattle around in your brain unchallenged. Sometimes you need to quit a minute or an hour at a time. You will need to be disciplined in the early days to distract yourself when a crave hits. Get busy! Here is a link to a list of things to do instead of smoke if you need some fresh ideas: https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/blogs/Youngatheart.7.4.12-blog/2013/02/25/100-things-to-do-instea...
The conversation in your head in response to the "I want a cigarette" thought needs to be, "Well, since I have decided not to do that anymore, what shall I do instead for the three minutes this crave will last?" Then DO it. You will need to put some effort into this in the early days, but it gets easier and easier to do. Stay close to us here and ask questions when you have them and for support when you need it. We will be with you every step of the way! Nancy
back to Elvan (Ellen)
PLEASE stay close to the site, read Allen Carr's book but do not expect quitting to REALLY be easy, it's not, it is a one day at a time journey and the key word is journey. It gets easier as you put smokefree time behind you. My mantra at the beginning of my quit was NOPE, Not One Puff Ever. Realizing and accepting that this is an addiction will save your quit and that will save your life. I have COPD and I let it go on for so long that I am pretty much always short of breath with the least bit of exertion. I am constantly tired...I think that bothers me the most. I spent every single morning on this site when I quit as well as every single evening. It was a week after I had quit because I was so sick those first few days that I could not sit up to connect to a site...ANY site. I had previously planned using the quit plan here but I did not have the necessary commitment and education and support so even though I quit twice WITH this site...I lost those quits along with countless others along the way. THIS quit was it and I KNEW it was it because I KNEW then and I know NOW that smoking would kill me and it would be a particularly painful and cowardly way for my family to have to watch me die. I watch my diet, I work out (when I can, right now I am having a rough time), I take my meds as prescribed, I do everything I can to take care of myself and I stay as close to this site as I possibly can.
It will get easier and we WILL be here to help you. One blog that I read over and over again when I first quit was written by another elder:
jonescarp.aka.dale.Jan_2007
What To Expect In The First Four Months
Read blogs, comment, get to know people here and know that everyone here has been where you are and we ALL want you to succeed at quitting.
Ellen
