Day 13

[mskim2016]

It's hard to believe that almost two weeks have gone by since I smoked my last cigarette. Thirteen days - no cigarettes, no nic gum or patches, no medication. I don't think there is anything wrong with using NRT or medication to stop smoking. I am so happy that I decided on January 2nd to throw out my pack of smokes and just go for it. To be nicotine free is THE.BEST.FEELING.EVER. I remembered how it felt from the few times I've actually made it that far in a quit in the past. I wanted that feeling ASAP. I wanted the nicotine gone. I'm not sure if it's completely out of my system yet but it feels like it. I am not craving cigarettes.

I have tried not to force myself to NOT think about cigarettes. Of course I'm going to think about them. I think about my emphysema diagnosis and smoking all the time, although it is getting better. My doctor assured me that I have an extremely mild case and not smoking can keep it from progressing. I am hopefuly that it won't get worse or if it does, it won't be for a very long time. I don't have any symptoms. My lungs feel so much better in just 13 days. Of course, I was recovering from bronchitis when I stopped smoking, so I couldn't do much except feel better, right? My mouth and gums and nose feel better too. And I love not having to stand out in the freezing Wisconsin weather to smoke. (I am REALLY loving that!)

When I do think about smoking, I just let the thoughts in, ponder for a bit and then my mind just wanders on to something else. It takes the fear and the power away from cigarettes. I am in control now. I have too much to live for to just throw in the towel and get sicker and sicker knowing it's because I'm smoking. I can't do that to my family and I can't do that to myself!

[JonesCarpeDiem]

Woo Hoo!!

[virgolady2]

your doing great just stay strong and listen to every bit of advice because the people on here are fantastic they can help you im 161 days smoke free  thanks to these people

[Jenny78]

So happy for you.  13 days is HUGE!!!  Great attitude.  Remember NOPE.

[Ex_Nancy]

You sound fantastic Mrsb! And you have a great grasp on how to deal with a craving or as I call them, smoking thoughts....(a crave is physical and the teeny little amount of nicotine you have left is nothing. A smoking thought, is the mental) That's the difference. BTW, altho there are differing opinions on this, about 95% of nicotine is out of your system within 72 hours and the remaining remnants, about 3 weeks or so.  xoxo

[Strudel]

Congrats on our quit!! You are so right to acknowledge that you will think about smoking - running from such thoughts causes problems - in my opinion! The way you describe taking the power and fear out of it is perfect - and it reminds me of a story Sheryl shared in a blog at the start of my quit....I have hung on to it - I hope you like it:

  "Victoria Moran story

  The following story is taken from Victoria Moran's book, The Love-Powered Diet: Eating for Freedom, Health and Joy.  Moran talks about sitting with feelings so that you don't overeat or eat unconsciously.  I think the story also applies to learning to sit with cravings when a person is quitting smoking.

  Long ago there lived a woman who believed that her house was possessed by demons.  She called on the local priest to exorcise them.  The priest performed the proper rites, but within a week the woman was again at the rectory gate.  "My house is once more possessed," she cried.  The priest performed the ritual a second time and instructed his parishioner to return home.

  Not a day had passed before the woman beseeched him a third time to cleanse her house.  This request the good father refused.  "The terrors that alarm you," he told her, " are less within the walls of your house than within those of your mind.  You must confront these spirits yourself."

  "But won't you give me something to help, a vial of holy water or a sacred crucifix?" the woman pleaded.

  "I will give you something," the priest replied.  " I will give you a holy stool."  He took from the corner a simple wooden hassock.  It didn't look particularly holy, but the woman took it nonetheless.  When she entered her house, demons abounded from cellar to loft.

  "I am lost," she thought.  "Even with this holy stool as a weapon, I could never fight them all."  She sat on the stool to await her fate, but the instant she was comfortably seated, the demons disappeared.  The woman was convinced from that day forward that the cleric's gift indeed bore divine power.  The priest, however, knew that  the demons departed simply because she had been willing to sit with them.  And he missed his favorite footstool for the rest of his life.

  When I began this quit, I was terrified of how quitting was going to make me feel.  It didn't seem to me that I could deal with my emotions or the stress of my life without cigarettes.  People on this site talked me down through the wisdom of their blogs and comments.  I quit cold turkey, something I had long believed (falsely) that I couldn't do.  Amazingly,  I was able to sit with the cravings and not cave into them.  I could wait them out.  Over time, the cravings got weaker until now they have all but disappeared.  What's left is a faint memory of smoking.  So what I am telling you is to sit with the cravings and see what you learn.  Perhaps your cravings will disappear like mine did,and like the woman's demons.  You are more powerful than you think."       Sheryl