Pay Attention

[Thomas3.20.2010]

Are you still smoking? Next time you pick up that Sickerette watch yourself. Pay attention to yourself drawing the Sickerette out of it's pack. Did you bang on the bottom of the pack like I did? Did you count how many you have left calculating when to buy more? Why did you choose this moment? Are you hungry, angry,lonely, tired? Are you on break and have been anticipating this for minutes or even hours? 

Don't judge! Just watch!

Did you fumble for the matches or lighter? Are you standing out in the cold, snow or rain? Are you shivering? Are you with other smokers or alone? Pay attention to the time -  6 minutes, 8 minutes? When you put it out what do you do with the butt? Do you immediately light another one? Watch yourself pack away your pack and lighter.

So what changed in how you feel? Did you feel that nervous energy immediately relieved? Do you feel satiated? What about the taste? Did it taste good? Did you like the smell or did you maybe not even notice it? 

If you want to stop smoking there are dozens of clues right here! Pay attention! You can learn a lot about your Addiction! Then you can make a more determined decision about Quitting Smoking and becoming FREE!

[diamond01]

Good post, 51 days I am a non smoker, because of all of you. Thanks Helen.

[elvan]

Paying attention made a huge difference for me...it was much easier to quit when I recognized that I didn't like smoking, I didn't enjoy anything about it...I did not finish any cigarettes, usually smoked less than half because I had other things to do and I did not feel any GOOD things when I smoked.  Once I started paying attention, it became more and more apparent that I would not really miss them as much as I had thought I would.  

[Bree19]

 I needed to hear that today Thomas, thank you.  I know it's an older (elderly?) post but has a lot of meaning for me.  My quit day was set for Monday, yesterday 20 Feb, but on Sunday night I "lost" it.  Fear, uncertainty, tears, shakes, anxiety, full-on panic attack which, of course (surprise!) I survived.  So instead of just baling on myself and my plan, I decided I would, for this one week only cut back from 25 to 15 yesterday, 13 today, 11 tomorrow and so on...till Sunday when I'll have the last 3 and Monday 27 Feb WILL BE MY QUIT  DAY ONE.  It calmed me down but I know cutting down is not a great success normally.  I just needed the decision to get myself together.  

So, yesterday, instead of cleaning out my ashtray obsessively after every 2 smokes, I left the butts in there and by last night 14 cigarette butts all together looked just gross.  I went to bed not even having no 15.  Now, nearly bedtime, I have today's 13 cig ends sitting here looking at me - will be cleaning it out right after this.  I can do this.  11 tomorrow! It's helping me by proving I was out of control at 20-25 a day.  It's reminding me how I could survive every 12 hour work-day for 6 years with no smoking.  It's re-enforcing my commitment to quit for real on Sunday night.

SO THIS WEEK I'M PAYING ATTENTION to every emotion and physical habit I have when it comes to smoking.  Thanks to you, best advice I could have read today.

Bree

[Chuck-2-20-2011]

I changed my quit date a few times before I quit as well, and I did things similar to you! Cutting down more and more until on my last day I was down to I think 5 cigarettes. By the time I put out my last cigarette for real, I think I was down to five. But the number doesn't really matter. What does matter is taking that first step. I've always believed that so long as you haven't given up, then you're still on the horse.

 Looking forward to hearing the story of you jumping on that horse and riding it to freedom!! It's so wonderful on the other side of addiction. There's so much peace and yes, the freedom is incredible!!!

ONWARD TO FREEDOM!!!

Chuck

[TerrieQuit]

Good blog, Thomas, makes a whole lot of sense to me!  ~Terrie~

[Giulia]

This is such a great post.  Needs to be brought to the surface again.

[Barbscloud]

It's great when folks find old posts.   I never banged on the bottom of the pack.  What was that supposed to do?  Make them taste better?

[Giulia]

lol  Not sure if yours is a serious question or just bit of humor, but  I tend to take everything literally so.... I think it was simply to get the first cigarette out of the pack because they were so tight in there that you need to smack them on their bottoms to get one to raise up.  Otherwise you've have to try to pluck it out with your finger nails - if you have any. 

[Barbscloud]

I was serious.  Some people would bang the heck out of the pack.