Day 1

[RBetrice]

Good Morning,

Shower is running, coffee brewing, and I am not smoking....

Gooooodmorning

[Barbara145]

Great job.  That is the way to do it.  Congratulations on quitting smoking!

[NewMe]

Welcome. I looked at your page, and it was hard to tell how long you have been here. There is a lot of reading that you can do in the beginning that will help you to understand the nature of being addicted to nicotine, what it does to your body and mind that makes it seem so hard to quit, and then there is reading that will help you to understand what you need to do in order to be successful. It's good that you are doing this before you suffer any health issues that force you to think about quitting. And this is a great place to get all kinds of wonderful support and advice from people who have been where you are now. Some others will no doubt be along soon to give you links to reading materials that will change the way you think about smoking. Sounds like you are already off to a good start.
 

[YoungAtHeart]

Welcome to our community!

Congratulations on your decision to quit smoking and your first day!

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. Here is a link to a free PDF version of it:

http://media.wix.com/ugd/74fa87_2010cc5496521431188f905b7234a829.pdf

As well, read the sections on this site, and read the blogs, responses and pages of folks you think might be helpful. You might visit whyquit.com and quitsmokingonline.com for the good information contained there.

If you have chosen to use a quit aid, I hope you are using one that doesn''t let the addict control the dose such as the available prescription drugs or the patch. If used properly, gum, lozenges and inhalers are fine, but they need to be used only as a last resort.  I have seen folks become addicted to them if they substitute them for every cigarette they used to smoke - just trading one addiction for another.  I do not recommend the e-cigarette for three reasons: 1) the vapor has been compared to the polluted air in Bejing on a bad day, 2) they just provide another nicotine delivery system while continuing the hand to mouth smoking motion, and 3) the batteries can spontaneously catch on fire. . But – any method that you think will work well for you will be best for you.

The idea is to change up your routines so the smoking associations are reduced.  Drink your coffee with your OTHER hand. 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.

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.  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.  Don't let that smoking thought rattle around your head alone.  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

[Giulia]

[maryfreecig]

Welcome. Glad to hear that you are quitting the cigarettes/nicotene addiction. Keep coming back. Thanks for posting.