'Tis the season....to quit smoking for good!

[rcompaine]

This has been a year of big change for me and my family. Some of it was welcome and joyous and other changes were heart-wrenching and devastating.

While my husband and I celebrated moving into our new home, we were also  sharing what were to be our last months with a close family member. In fact, it was my sister who passed away at 59 years old, the day before her daughter's, my niece's wedding.  The range of emotion, the vast swings from one extreme of the emotional spectrum to the other left me reeling and with no energy or desire to think about doing anything for myself. As ridiculous as it sounds, the state of my health never crossed  my mind.  I smoked with impunity, unconsciously daring the Universe to have its way with me.  But instead of karma crashing down upon me, I started to feel  a gentle nudge, every now and again. 

Well the nudges caught my attention , and here I am now, making a new commitment to health and life. It's a little scary because I know how difficult it is to quit smoking for good. But I'm going to put it out there and ask for the EX Community to support me.  Send your tips, messages , anything that you think will be helpful. My quit date is 1/1/14 and I want to thank you in advance for helping me stay on track. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all. Here's to life!

[Barbara145]

Excellent piece.  I am on day 70 and came here to get some encouragment.  I wanted badly to smoke today.  Your words have strengthened my resolve.  This website with God's help will do it everytime.  Thank you and God bless your journey.  I will be praying for you.  So sorry about the loss of your sister.  Merry Christmas and a smoke-free Happy New year.

[imadeer]

Read the blogs here everyday.

The answers we give here are for everyone and it's the simplest way to get to what you want and need to know.

take 10-15 minutes at least and read through them. there will always be a couple that resonate with where you are a\or will soon be

[LouiseR]

You can do this.  Come here every day throughout the day and read, read, read.  What helped me the first few weeks after I quit was deep breathing and sips of water. I was really tired the first 2 to 3 weeks so I just kind of took it easy.  The cravings get less and less and farther between.  Congrats on deciding 2014 will be the start of your smoke free life!

Louise day 100

[YoungAtHeart]

Welcome to our community!

The most important thing you can do to start is to educate yourself on what nicotine does to your mind and body. To that end, I highly recommend Allen Carr's “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking.” This is an easy and entertaining read. Here is a link to a free PDF version of it:

http://media.wix.com/ugd/74fa87_2010cc5496521431188f905b7234a829.pdf

As well, read the sections on this site, do the tracking and separation exercises, and read the blogs, responses and pages of folks you think might be helpful. You might also want to visit quitsmokingonline.com, and whyquit.com.

After you have completed the readings, it will be time to make your quit plan, including what quit aid , if any, you will use, and the crave busters you think will work for you. Then you can approach your quit day with a plan in place.  

Ask questions of us when you have them and for support when you need it.  We will be with you every step of the way.

Nancy

[cloud51]

wonderful that you chose to take care of yourself, listen to Nancy i did a year ago and have been smoke free read read read, made all the difference in the world to me, i don't even think about it anymore, it is so much in the mind, also this site is awesome when you feel like you are having a hard day just blog, or read how others get thru, if i can do it you can do it

[rcompaine]

I'm still getting the hang of this website (where to post replys, etc), but I wanted to thank all of you for the great tips and encouragement! I am grateful to all of you.

[froguelady]

The best advice I can give you is READ, READ and READ some more. There is lots of good advice here and the link Nancy gave you for Carr's book, also whyquit.com. The more you know about nicotine addiction the easier the quit.

[moody_9-18-13]

I quit smoking 92 days ago after coming to this site and getting a lot of support from people who I now call, Friend.

You'll never regret staying close here, blogging when you have a question or thought regarding quitting. Feel free to click on a person's avatar or picture and Add a Friend, Read their Blogs or go to your own page and publish a blog so the members who participate here can HELP YOU!

These are all great links for serious quitters to learn what you need to do to quit, why nicotine is so addictive and several other links that will help you. We can lead you to water, but we can't make you drink. If you want to quit, you will educate yourself about nicotine and what is necessary for a successful quit.

http://quitsmokingonline.com/

http://whyquit.com/whyquit/LinksAAddiction.html

http://media.wix.com/ugd/74fa87_2010cc5496521431188f905b7234a829.pdf

http://whyquit.com/joel/Joel_03_21_blood_sugar.html

www.whyquit.com

[rcompaine]

Thank you for the links, Moody.  I'll put them to good use!

[kelly168]

I cannot agree more with the advice to read read read so that you are enlightened about what nicotine is, how it tricks you (and countless others), and how you really can stop it. I checked out the Allen Carr book but I found very similar advice and knowledge in Matthew Aldrich's book How To Stop Smoking 30 Solutions To Suit You. Aldrich is a former smoker, and a hypnotherapist as well as a neirolonguistic planner therapist. I know a little about both of those topics and I can see how both Carr and Aldrich are showing you how to use the power of your brain (as opposed to sheer willpower, which is painful and has a high rate of recidivism). The reason I chose the Aldrich book was because as I was checking it out at the book store, I realized this author has a great sense if humor. And let me tell you, I'm still laughing. This is a talented author--and if you listen to him (and laugh a lot), you will realize he's right. And then the cravings will stop or slow down significantly. Hey, nicotine is out of your body in 72 hours. Why do we keep craving? Uh, could it be that our brains have been toyed with abd all those who've told us that this insidious addiction is mental are RIGHT? I think so. I started this book four weeks after quitting. I just don't want the book to end, because its so much fun. Seriously. That said, the mood swings, etc, are also real and they likely have to do with dopamine abd how we messed with our brain's ability to produce this very important neuro chemical. That's why last week, in addition to buying that book, I filled my rx for Wellbutrin. As many of you know, it's the same medication as zyban which is marketed as a stop smoking aid. It never did anything for me to quit (only a serious health scare and cold turkey could do that for me), but it works as an antidepressant abd a dopamine agonist. The mood swings have slowed down as have the cravings. I attribute all of these things to my own determination to cut it out forever, to stop lying to myself, that book, the Wellbutrin and something I had inside me that I didn't know I had. It's been almost six weeks. I know I will never smoke again. I don't want to. That's the best "weapon" in your arsenal. Get control of your own powerful brain and you certainly can stop and not feel deprived, either. Sorry so long. Im not sure how all of this works but figured since this is a quit smoking thread, it would be okay. I wish every single one of us smoke free lives. I'm so glad the nightmare of nicotine addiction is over for me. I just hope I'm not one of those who gets one of the smokers illnesses in spite of quitting. God, how I regret ever doing it. It is truly the satanic weed (read that one of the English kings said that about tobacco--I think he's right). I slayed that demon.