Quit Date January 18th. Am I Ready?

[cgressel24]

I set a quit date for January 18th. I committed to not smoking in my car or apartment yesterday. I did not smoke in my car, but smoked in my apartment. I smoked around 25 cigarettes yesterday. I did not even enjoy most of those that I smoked. When I thought about changing my quit date and quitting on the spot yesterday, I felt a weight come over me that seemed unbearable, and I smoked. I know that cigarettes hold no value to the person I want to be. I am not perfect, but can I do this?

[elvan]

Of COURSE you can do this...just like the rest of us are doing.  Please do the reading...bring your commitment and stay close to the site, read, blog, comment, give yourself a chance to get and to stay on this path to recovery.  Right NOW, start tracking your cigarettes...I am not saying to cut down, I am saying TRACK them, write down the trigger and how strong it is and go ahead and smoke. Afterwards...think about WHY you smoked and tell yourself HONESTLY what that cigarette did for you.  Do the "My EX Plan" on the first page of the site, when you sign in...you CAN do this...keep saying NOPE once you get to your date...Not One Puff Ever. This is not an event, it is a journey and you just keep taking one step at a time.

Welcome to EX,

Ellen

[delraybeach926]

The best advice is do what you do when you don't smoke and don't do what you do when you do smoke. For me, I can't talk on the phone or drink wine. I'm watching TV instead. The hardest part is the withdrawals. Be ready for that. You have to drink tons of water and exercise to help your body get rid of the toxins. For me that's hot yoga and running at the beach. Sweating will really help a ton whenever you feel bad. Even a sauna or steam room is excellent. Hot showers help too. I was really hoarse and sinuses were bothering me and did a neti pot with himalayan sea salt. It worked instantly! A couple other things have helped. Magnesium supplements great for sleeping and staying regular. Chromium Picolinate helps keep the hunger away. Your blood sugar will go nuts. Tryptophan and theanine also help with sleeping. And nicotine gum or patches if you need them. I did buy some herbal cigs for if I really wanted to smoke. And did it a couple times. The first two weeks are definitely the hardest. Just have solutions ready. Then be ready for something to really trigger you and just white knuckle your way through it. Have some things planned. Walks, workouts, cooking, movies, shopping, anything to keep you from smoking. Go places you can't smoke if you have to. Treat yourself to a massage or something each week with the money you're saving. Each time you have a problem have a solution. Don't think you're going to just endure the misery. That's what makes people give up. Good luck!

[indingrl]

Congrats to you!!! Welcome and keep on keeping on blog BEFORE you take that first puff over you! 

[delraybeach926]

I added a new thing today. I went to a salt suite. They have them here where you go in and you sit for an hour. It helps clear your respiratory system. The benefits of salt therapy first came to light in the mid-1800s when, Felix Bochkovsky, a health official in Poland made the observation that salt mine workers rarely suffered from any colds, respiratory ailments or lung diseases. Bochkovsky attributes this to the salt aerosol being inhaled on a daily basis. At the salt suite a machine called a halogenerator grinds salt to the size of 1-5 micrometers to produce a dry salt aerosol. The generator is placed on the outside wall of the salt room. While sitting in the room for 45 minutes the fine salt aerosol is able to travel to the deepest part of the lungs in addition to other parts of the respiratory tract. As salt enters the lungs and respiratory tract it dissolves bacteria and pollutants and works to expel mucous and open constricted airways. It's supposed to be beneficial for ex smokers. They sell salt lamps online also you could try. I believe this is going to accelerate the healing of my respiratory system. The mucus is really annoying and I wasn't even a heavy smoker. They call it the quit smoking flu or something. And it really sucks. It gives you headaches and a lot of pressure in your head. But you can definitely get temporary relief from it. Other people talk about dayquil and stuff.  But I'm leery of putting more chemicals into my already struggling body. I'm going for the healthy natural stuff and it's working great.

[elvan]

There used to be one a couple of hours from where I live.  I never went to it because of the distance but one of the people on here did...until it closed.  She said it was very helpful to her.

[maryfreecig]

Welcome, and yes you can do this one day at a time.