Time just flys!!

[sk51263]

My 5 months is coming up on Sunday and I can not even believe it has been that long! If you would have told me the day I quit that I would have lasted this long I would have thought you were crazy. I still have my days that I look at a smoker and wish I was still smoking, I do miss it ( I know thats crazy but it is what it is) but most days I am so happy I dont smoke anymore. I thought the nice weather coming would make it harder but it hasnt as of yet. I hope everyone has a happy and safe and smoke free memorial day!

[jojo29]

hi sk, hope u have a safe weekend as well & a big congrats to u, just wana remind you its a drinking weekend so protect ur quit. weather as u say drinking, all go hand in hand, its very easy to give in & alot of courage strength & wisdom to keep moving forward.:)) you can do ur way ahead of the game now, :)) ur doing to good..stay strong joanne xoxox 569 days smober. was a 40 yr smoker stage 4 copd with end stages emphysema.listed now for lucky lungs 🙂 transplant..

[JonesCarpeDiem]

good job.

tell bob

[keeptrying3]

Cheers!

[Ex_Nancy]

Hi Sk, maybe you can't see it clearly now, but you will soon...when you say you still miss smoking..think of this article from whyquit.com....(CONGRATS ON 5 MONTHS too!!!)

What happens to some people is that when they are off smoking for a certain time period they start fixating on a cigarette. By that I mean they forget all the bad cigarettes they ever smoked, they forget the ones they smoked without ever really thinking about them even at the time they were being smoked, and they start to remember and focus on one good cigarette. It may be one they smoked 20 years earlier but it was a good one and they now want one again.

It's a common tactic for the ex-smokers to try and tell themselves that they do not really want that "good" cigarette. Well, the problem is, at that moment they really do want it. An internal debate erupts, "I want one, no I don't, one sounds great, no it doesn't, oh just one, not just one!" The problem is that if the ex-smoker's focus is on just "one" cigarette then there is no clear-cut winning side to the debate. The ex-smoker needs to change the internal discussion.

Don't say that you don't want one when you do, rather acknowledge the desire but ask yourself, "Do I want all the other cigarettes that go with it." Then, "do I want the package deal that goes with the others? The expense, social stigma, smell, health effects, possible loss of life. Do I want to go back to smoking, full-fledged, until it cripples and kills me?"

Stated like this it normally is not a back and forth debate. The answer will normally be, "No, I don't want to smoke under these terms," and those are the only terms that a cigarette comes with.

Normally if viewed like this the debate is over almost immediately after being pulled into focus. Again, if the focus is only one, you can drive yourself nuts throughout the entire day. If you focus on the whole package deal, you will walk away from the moment relieved to still be smoke free and sufficiently reinforced to NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF!

[summer-07-06-15]

congratulations. I have to agree with Nancy On Missing the ciggs' thats was I was when I relapse the first time in my quit and had to restart all over againg, you may want to come and blog on Wednesday's  on NML to help you get thru the wanting the ciggs

[lisa11209]

Congratulations!  The piece that Nancy posted has gotten me through many a crave episodes.

[JonesCarpeDiem]

I worry about your focus that if something tragic happened in your life, you could go back.

don't go back

[sk51263]

Though nothing tragic has really happened since I quit, there have been a few very very stressful things and I made it through ok 🙂

I also went to a party last week, had a wee bit too much to drink and was in a house full of smokers (these were people I did not really know) and even tho I was a little tipsy it did not even phase me at all, and one of my good friends that I went with who is a smoker was very suprised at how well I did. I do not worry about going back to smoking I am very happy I quit but I am just being honest when I say I miss it. It could be the social part of it?