I am being tested.

[greg2]

I am approaching the 3rd week since I quit smoking. Things are much better as far as cravings for a smoke. However there are things going on within my family that is really starting to stress me out. My brother has been diagnose with cancer and my mother has been in and out of the hospital for past six months. It would be easy for me to say I deserve a smoke with all this going on. Yes I have thought that and I'm afraid I will use this as an excuse.

[myssi2]

Hi Greg,

Let me tell you I was the queen of excuses in my past attempts. And I had a long line of family illness (cancer, heart disease, and emphysema all 3) that were heading my way and still I didn't care. Well then last weekend upon returning from a women's convention I found my husband barely able to breath and having sharp chest pains, I rushed him to the hospital where they promptly admitted him for blood clots in his lungs. We were told that he was lucky because those usually end up in death, not always, but usually. My grandpa dying when I was young of lung cancer, my father dying of a massive heart attack, my maternal aunt dying of throat cancer, maternal uncle dying of heart disease, and my mother diagnosed with emphysema, none of those things bothered me even though with that many close blood relatives I knew I was in line somewhere. But my husband and best friend could have died, now that was a wake up call that I don't want to get again. Visit my page and read the 5 Ds for help when cravings hit and then watch the video below that. And what ever you do "Never Give Up" (the song is in my playlist if you want to listen to it.
Hang in there, You are doing AWESOME! You can do this and more importantly YOU ARE DOING THIS!

Love and Hugs to you friend!

[JonesCarpeDiem]

Hi Greg,

Listen, we set ourselves up for failure by letting all of lifes downs lower our resistance.

Smoking was our "old friend" but, only because we made it so.

There are a lot of good things in life too but sadly, death is a part of the life circle.

Think of the good things in life.

You are rich in many things. Look for them.
dale


Stay Strong! Quit Long!

[jen39]

If you smoking is ganna improve your mother and brothers situations then I say GO FOR IT. But my guess is that it will not do anything but make your 3 weeks mean nothing. I know it has to be hard, and yes it's easy for others to say don't do it, cause we're not in your situation right now. I can however say STAY STRONG. You have to take care of you to be able to take care of others, and believe me I took care of my Ma for a long time, you will want to take care of them. You already done the right thing by getting on here and reaching out, keep reaching my friend, and MANY others will be reaching back. Keep me posted please and let me how you and your family are doing.

[hwc]

Greg:

I am really sorry about your family's health issues. Stay strong for them. I wish there were something we could do to help, but there isn't, except to wish the best for everyone.

Now, about that smoking. It isn't going to help your brother or your mother for you to self-inflict serious health issues on yourself, too. That's exactly what you would be doing with a return to smoking. If anything, they will need you healthy and strong.

I think what you are probably encountering is the fairly common 'slump' that occurs in week 3 and week 4. I described it as "tiresome". During the first two weeks, you are living on adreniline from hand to hand combat with nicotine and smoking. Quitting is a full time job, battle by battle. It's kind of exciting.

Now, at two weeks, you've proven to yourself that you can quit. The cravings don't come anywhere near as often. You probaby even to for hours at a time without even thinking about a cigarette. But, of course, it's still early in your quit, so the cravings do come. And, they can even rock you if you aren't braced for them.

Most of all, you just want a break from this quitting business, right? It's hard work. Why not a smoke break?

It's time to start changing your whole identity on this smoking business. Gradually, you need to stop viewing yourself as a smoker trying to quit and start viewing yourself as an ex-smoker who has no interest in smoking again. It's a transition that will take place over the next many months. You can start, right now, however, by mentally responding to these junkie thoughts of a cigarette with an emphatic, "I'm an ex-smoker. I don't do that anymore."

Stick to the trigger response mechanisms that got you this far. Don't forget what worked, just because the cravings aren't coming as often.

[polly2]

Hi Greg! I'm so sorry to hear about your situation. After 103 days of being a non-smoker, I found a full pack of cigarettes in a drawer unexpectedly. Prior to finding these cigarettes, I had no thoughts of smoking whatsoever. After finding them, obsessive thought raced through my mind. In little time I was outside smoking. Greg, I didn't get a lick of enjoyment out of it. I smoked about 6 cigarettes, some of them only part way, because they tasted so bad. Not only did they taste bad, but they also made me dizzy, burnt my throart, made me cough, and disgusted me. Angry at myself, I destroyed them, and wrote a blog on here. As much as I disliked the experience, when I woke up the next morning, I had to fight my mind about buying more. This time my rational self won. Just that little bit of smoking was enough to put me back into withdrawal. When I look back at it, if I would have thought about some of the ingredients, such as shellac, arsenic, acetone, carbon monoxide, formaldrahyde, etc., I more than likely could have stopped myself. In this instance, I was caught totally off guard and not prepared to have to defend myself in the safety of my own home. The nicodemon took over very quickly. I'm here to tell you that smoking will only make you feel worse. Stress can't make you smoke, only you can. I'm amazed at how easily I was led right back into the trap, like a mouse looking for cheese. Once there, I soon felt totally miserable. Getting out was even harder. There was not a single good thing about it except that I can tell people, such as yourself, how awful the whole experience was. Going through withdrawal and starting over is much harder the second time around. Please look at this with a rational mind. Smoking won't help you relieve stress, it will only heighten it as it did to me. The nicodemon strikes when we are most vunerable. It is not worth it Greg. Please think about all of the good things that you have accomplished with this quit and give them number one priority! Your life is worth it Greg! Please feel free to drop me a post if I can be of any more help.

[barbara42]

I AM SO SORRY ABOUT ALL YOUR TROUBLES. ASK YOUR SELF THIS QUESTION BEFOR YOU LIGHT UP, AND IF THE ANSWER IS YES, YOU GO LIGHT ONE UP AND I WILL JOIN YOU. THE QUESTION IS: IF I SMOKE, WILL IT CHANGE THE CIRCUNSTANCE? I HAVE TO SAY IT WILL NOT, IT WILL ONLY MAKE THINGS WORSE BECAUSE YOU WILL FEEL LIKE IT BEAT YOU. YOU MUST BE STRONG, YOUR FAMILY NEDS YOU PEACE!

[jacob5]

Greg, first of all, I'm sorry for what you're going through because in any scenario, that's rough. Secondly, there will always be stresses in all of our lives and quitting won't be "easier" later.

You're doing so great and if you read your blogs, it's getting easier. I definitely agree also, I'm at 34 days and it just keeps getting easier, but isn't a day I don't think about it.

Stay strong brother, we're all here for you.