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Give and get support around quitting

JuliePatricia
Member

Doubting Myself

I have such serious doubts about my quit. I want to be confident but id be lying if I said I was. I feel like Im going to end up like these people you see hooked up to breathing tanks and unhooking themselves to smoke. I feel like Im doing a lot to prepare myself to quit. I just feel like smoking is so in grained in my identity its so hard to have hope. I can ever barley remember I time in my life when I didn't smoke. I spend the first 20 minutes coughing myself through one cig after the other. For some reason in the morning I chain smoke. And that's literally within the first 5 minutes of waking up. I just feel like there's little hope for me. Has anyone else ever felt this way?

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16 Replies

Oh you poor thing. You’re making me feel very sad. Just your tone seem so helpless. I don’t know how much I can help but I couldn’t imagine myself not smoking either. I smoked most first thing in the morning too. With my seven cups of coffee, I probably smoke as many cigarettes as that. If I didn’t have anywhere I had to get ready for in the morning I really took advantage of smoking. I know it’s really a hard thing to imagine. Obviously quitting smoking is on your mind so that’s why you find this forum. It was on my mind for at least a year or two. I started to have guilt over smoking. I started to doubt whether I really enjoy it. In any case, this past November, I was diagnosed with Covid. I was told this early in the morning and I smoked that day. I think only two cigarettes which is unheard of. Then next morning I woke up and said I’m not smoking. Then throughout the day I threw out open packs. I didn’t throw out the ones unopened. I guess I couldn’t still really commit. I think I thought I can’t make this Covid worse by smoking. I didn’t want to end up like those people - on ventilators and then die. A few days later I threw out everything. Today is 73 days free from smoking. I still sort of see myself as a smoker but really trying to reinvent myself. It’s changing up an awful lot of everything. But you know what, I want to live the rest of my life as a healthy person doing what I love to do. Who wants to be cooped up indoors on breathing tubes or carrying an oxygen tank. If I don’t want that kind of life I have to put in the work. Yes it’s going to be hard. A fight, for sure, but what are the other options. Do the work. Suffer through. It won’t be forever. If I don’t I will suffer - forever, later! 

dsprague
Member

Hi Julie, welcome! You will find a lot of help, support and understanding here at EX. If you can’t find it ask for it. The people here are fantastic.  They have helped me along the way. But you have to want to quit to make it happen. If your heart is not in it you will not. Read listen educate yourself about the harmful affects of smoking is. It will scare you to not. You health is being destroyed by something that’s not worth it. Live is way to short to smoke. Some of us quit on our own but some of use found out the hard way, through ct scan, mri, X-ray. Quit with us, live longer. Do it for yourself and your family.

dsprague
Member

Very good piece, we all should read it. Good learning and refresher 

YoungAtHeart
Member

Welcome, JuliePatricia !

I thought I was going to be the last smoker standing.  I never even TRIED to quit, so convinced was I that it would not be possible....UNTIL a vascular surgeon informed me of the damage I had done and what my future might hold.  I read everything I could find, made the decision, and quit on my first and only attempt 8 1/2 years ago.  If I can, you can, too!

The most important thing you can do right now is to educate yourself on what nicotine does to your body and mind. To that end, I highly recommend Allen Carr's “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking.”    You can search for it online or at your local library.  Here is a video to inform you further about nicotine addiction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpWMgPHn0Lo&feature=youtu.be.

 

Let me know if you decide to use a quit aid and I will give you my thoughts on them.

 

It will be informative if you do the tracking and separation exercises recommended here on the site. As you track each cigarette smoked, note its importance, and what you might do instead. Put each one off just a little to prove that you don't NEED a cigarette just because you think you do.
 

The idea is to change up your routines so the smoking associations are reduced.  Drink your coffee with your OTHER hand in a place different from when you smoked. Maybe switch to tea for a bit.  If you always had that first smoke with your coffee, try putting your tennies on right out of bed, going for a quick walk, then taking your shower and THEN your coffee! .  Take a different route to work. Take a quick walk at break time where the smokers AREN'T.
 
You need to distract yourself through any craves.  You can take a bite out of a lemon (yup - rind and all), do a few jumping jacks, go for a brisk walk or march in place, play a computer game.  Keep a cold bottle of water with you. Don't let that smoking thought rattle around in your brain unchallenged. You might visit “Games”: https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/groups/games. The active ones are at the top of the list going down the left side of the homepage.   Here is a link to a list of things to do instead of smoke if you need some fresh ideas:
 https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/blogs/Youngatheart.7.4.12-blog/2013/02/25/100-things-to-do-instea...


The conversation in your head in response to the "I want a cigarette" thought needs to be, "Well, since I have decided not to do that anymore, what shall I do instead for the three minutes this crave will last?"  Then DO it.  You will need to put some effort into this in the early days, but it gets easier and easier to do.


Stay close to us here and ask questions when you have them and for support when you need it. We will be with you every step of the way!


 Nancy

dsprague
Member

I use the 14mg patch,about 3 weeks so far.

JACKIE1-25-15
Member

Welcome you have come tot the right place for support.  They tell you not to be too confident. Education is the key to a successful quit. Read study blog.  Do the suggested reading given my YoungAtHeart

elvan
Member

Please pay attention to all that YoungAtHeart‌ has shared with you.

l tried to quit more than once, when l found EX, it was a whole new ballgame. I became educated, supported, & committed & NOW I am coming up on seven years.

You CAN do this & it WILL get easier! NOPE, Not One Puff Ever is a WONDERFUL mantra.

Ellen

Thesegoto11
Member

Recently checked out the National Cancer Institute quit line (1-877-448-7848), which features an array of per-recorded messages about quitting smoking.  In their section on "The Decision to Quit," they claim it starts with "thinking about it." 

That's what you're doing right now.  Stick with it.  Let it grow.  As the Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu, once said, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."