Punched in the gut

[JonesCarpeDiem]

      That's how I'd feel if I lost my quit gave up my quit.

      Do you think I wouldn't remember how and when I started back smoking?

      Hell, I would run it through my head over and over again.

      In the end, I'd know it was my choice to smoke.

      If you value the time you've got into your quit you won't throw it away.

      If you value it, you can't forget how you lost your investment.

      Remember, once you really give it your best, even if you fall, you'll never think of smoking or enjoy it in the same way.

Then, will you succeed.

[karenjones]

thanks Dale,  I smoked for decades and did not 'enjoy' smoking. It was a horrible addiction and I didnt know how to deal with addiction and relapse. I do now though, Not One Puff Ever. it is the only way I know of . NOPE

[marciem]

Perfectly said, Dale!!  I like that you x-ed out "lost my quit"... we don't lose quits, instead we trash them, bury them, give them up.   "Losing them" takes away our own culpability in purposefully smoking again after quitting.

And yes, once quit, the comfy smoker inside us has decidedly left the building.  So as they say, it is much better to be a nonsmoker/exsmoker with occasional desire (thought) to smoke, than a smoker with the full time desire to quit.

[elvan]

I think I remember every time I got "punched in the gut" and there were many...thank God for EX and all of the support and beautiful people here.  What a seriously wonderful journey freedom is.

Ellen

[Bonnie]

u r so right Dale. even when the addict brain tells me lies i know i wouldn't enjoy even 1 inhale of smoke...so why bother...just take a deep breath and keep on keepin on....

[elvan]

Bonnie  If we keep building our quits every day...they pay us back by making us feel stronger in so many ways...as YoungAtHeart‌ says..."You quit smoking, you can do anything."

XO,

Ellen

[MarilynH]

Beautifully said Dale and 100 % truth.....

[Dadman2]

Has anyone else here woken up in a cold sweat thinking that they blew their investment because they gave in and smoked after quitting for a long period of time in reality?

It's such a relief to wake up and realize that it was just a dream.   

[elvan]

I haven't but I sure have heard lots of stories from people who have...try clicking on the little magnifying glass to search for smokemares or dreams about smoking...they can be very real.  I either don't have them or I forget them before I wake up, not sure.  I do wake up really angry sometimes after I have had a fight with someone in my dream.  Sometimes, it takes me a while to realize that it was a DREAM.

Ellen

[marciem]

I absolutely have, Dadman... many more times than I can remember.  At first, I would even wake up crying, it was so real.  And my first thought would be the dread and humiliation of having to reset my ticker and tell my support group of my own stupidity and let-down.  (Many times that has kept my quit, the mere thought of admitting and being accountable to a group who really cared that I be successful)

The last few times I had it, believe it or not, the dream let me know I was dreaming, (and I probably took deep breaths in my sleep like I was smoking), and I would wake up laughing  cuz I had smoked guilt-free in my sleep!! HAH, silly, I know.  But better to wake up laughing at myself than crying .... even over something that didn't happen.  The relief of those bad dreams did not compensate for the awfulness of the first thoughts that I had smoked.

Hope you have some merry nonsmoking dreams!

[stAn3]

Thanks!