Didn't even make it 12 hours.

[word-nerd]

I caved. I am so pathetic. I didn't even make it 12 hours. I had my last smoke at 9:00 last night and by 8:00 this morning, I was ransacking the car looking for empty packs that might have one left in them. And then at 8:30 after I dropped the kid off at his babysitter's I stopped at the store, even though that made me late for work.

I think part of my problem was that I never did the separation exercises on the site. I just joined, read the blogs, and thought that was all the preparation I needed. Every morning I would wake up, roll out of bed and think, "I should wait half an hour before I have this smoke. But I won't. I'm sure I could if I had to, but my quit date is not today, so I'll just go have my smoke."

So...I'm going to work through the separation exercises for the next few days and my new quit date is this Thursday. I've found a buddy on this site and that is her quit date. Maybe I'll be stronger if I quit at exactly the same time as someone else.

[molzep]

You gotta want it, from the bottom of your lungs, you gotta want it. Find some inspiration and jump back on the wagon!

Do some reading - www.whyquit.com is cool. Allen Carr's Easy way to quit is great - with or without NRT his book is helpful.

[mikeyd]

It happens!  This is my 4th or 5th try within a year!  You figured out the trick though, separation!  You've gotta embrace the chaos and mix things up!  Throw a wrench in the gears of your routine (it's actually kind of fun).  Once you are able to stop being a slave to the routine it's easier to break the routine of the habbit.  Yeah, the addiction is a pain but there are lots of aids out there if you chose to go that route.  Hell, change your brand even, one thats really nasty!  Smoke just enough to get the fix, put it out and stick it back in the pack.  It will smell terrible and make the rest of your smokes stink so bad that you'll start to rethink your desire to smoke!  You'll get there it sometimes just takes practice!  Don't give up on being a quitter (and yeah, I know how silly that sounds)

You can do it!

[mm232]

Don't beat yourself up over this.  Quitting is like breaking up with a long term boyfriend/girlfriend.  It may take a few tries before you get it right, but you just have to keep trying and arming yourself with information and motivation.  There are plenty of us on this website that have tried to quit many a time, before we got it right.  I am on my ninth attempt.  You can do this.  The worst thing you can do is give up all together and never attempt quitting again.  Shake it off and get ready for your next quit date.  Remember we are all here for you and we know the pains and aggrevations that you are going through.  Best of luck and never hesitate to ask for help!

[magmar]

Definately do the separation ideas! I found that forcing myself to drink a full glass of water before each cigarette certainly delayed it, and made it much less appealing. Don't get too down on yourself though! Its going to take time, and take this at your own pace. the last thing you need is to be stressing yourself out even more about having that cigarette! Just think about what triggered it this morning? What can you do to avoid it? If it was just waking up itself, try waking up and immediately brushing your teeth or getting in the shower. I always hated ruining that nice minty clean with the cigarette. 

You can do it!

[janine7]

OMG!  I can soooo relate!  I joined this site yesterday morning and messed around on the computer all day.  I read a bunch of blogs and was feeling pretty motivated.  Despite the suggestions, I set my quit date for this morning and tried to go cold turkey.  That lasted all but an hour.  I made it through 1 or 2 cups of coffee and then the cravings really kicked in.  I obsessed about it for a few minutes and once I sat back down at the computer, I lit one up!  I decided to go back to the beginning and reset my quit date to March 3rd (like the site suggested).  I'm also keeping track of how many cigarettes I smoke every day until then.  I can already tell you, it's ALOT!  I'm also going to try cutting down on my smoking in the process.  I've been smoking for more than 20 years and it's really hard to one day just stop it all together.  I smoked a whole pack yesterday.  I can't expect to wake up and not smoke ever again.  That's just crazy!  You've got to do some prep work and like molzep said-- you've got to want it.  You've got to not want to smoke more than you want to smoke.  Know what I mean?  That's what I'm working on now.  Maybe I'll get lucky and quit before March 3rd, but I'm not going to set myself up for failure either.  Good Luck!

[rebecca30]

This is one of the hardest things you will ever do, but it can be done. and YOU can do it. Do not beat yourself up and as someone told me once on here; get back on the horse. For sure check out whyquit. com. and We are all here for you 🙂

[maynell]

Word, do some reading, as Molly suggested, and get back in the game. Don't give up. 

[klo54]

Ok,   you caved...But It's not OK for you  to smoke.  I'm not going to say its Ok either. Just don't hate yourself so much that you feel like a failure.  You are NOT a failure.  Smoking is an addiction to nicotine.  A really strong addiction.  Read Allan Carr's book...For me, that was the big motivator.  No way could I think of myself as an addict.  That was just too creepy.