Good morning!! This morning I got out my little notebook that I track my quit days and money saved in. Today I have 127 days and when I did the math I discovered I have saved $ 1234.44.
That number got me thinking, 1-2-3-4, just like starting out with most things I take it step-by-step, 1-2-3-4. When I learn something new, I am usually fairly methodical, following the recommended order of steps in the instructions. Once I get used to doing the new thing I can tweek how I do it, put my own spin on it and make the process my own. That's how I am when I crochet a new blanket pattern- following the instructions step by step until I am comfortable enough to add or subtract things from the given pattern.
I don't know if this analogy fits with your quit, but it seems to with mine. I think for me, having a plan with tools I had told myself I would use in those early days as urges to smoke came up helped me stay quit through h3ll week, heck week and now in No Man's Land. Quitting was for me, one step at a time, one day at a time, sometimes one half hour at a time, 1-2-3-4 and still counting. I tried not to get ahead of myself too much because when I did it seemed the enormity of quitting and never smoking again was overwhelming. I could keep the thought, this is my forever quit, in a casual place in my head, but in practice, each day I came to this site and took the daily pledge, 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, each day adding to my count. I followed my plan, and then I changed up the plan with alternative tools when the ones I had been using didn't work as well as they had. So for me in my quit, being orderly and putting one foot in front of the other, 1-2-3-4, worked and is still working. Maybe you are someone who is more spontaneous than I am and not so methodical, I would say, from what I read, having a plan for quitting works. Your plan and my plan may be very different but I will say, however you quit and stay quit each day, Good For You. We CAN do this. Cheers for a good day!!! (There are lots of Exers with more experience staying quit than I have and Probably better quitting analogies!! Lol).
