I didn't know I really felt this way until I just wrote it, hoping to inspire a newbie, and I was kind of proud of what came out. So I wanted to share 🙂
I used the patch, logged on every day, sometimes 5 or ten times a day! I listened to the advie on here, read Allen Carr's "easyway for women to quit smoking", increased my reading habit, started walking a lot more, indulged in vegetarian gummy bears and bottled water, and blogged - a lot!
Ever day I wake up and make a decision not to smoke. In the begining I was very consious of this, now I don't even think about it half the time. In the begning I had to make that decision every hour, after every meal, every time I got in the car, had a beer, got into an argument with my hubby, left work.... you get the picture.
I also constantly reminded myself to be patient with myself. I let my self be mad when I was mad, sad, tired, annoyed, stressed, etc. You help yourself a lot, but also the people here will help you SO MUCH, to figure out new coping skills. We all used smoking as a coping skill. When you take it away, something inside you starts changing and compensating - teaching you new coping skills.
It's like teaching a dog to swim. Throw the toy in the water, when his feet stop touching the ground, he's already swimming.
You CAN DO THIS!!! All you have to do is remember that. 🙂 Good luck 🙂
- Steph
