Quit date is March 15, 2016

[needtoquit0901]

Hello I am Jodi,

I have been a smoker for 19 years and I am fed up...I have tried to quit in the past and never usually make it longer than a few days to a week. One exception was my pregnancy 5 years ago. I need it to stick this time! I will be using Chantix as it has somewhat worked for me in the past( last time I quit for 3 months). I hope all of the support and communication with others that are going through the same will be what makes this time different!

[Kinterralynn]

Hey Jodi - I'm using the Chantix too.  Its working great!  I'm on day Four of my quit and although I feel a bit rough, this is getting easier.  My goal was to first make it through the first 72 hours.  My second goal is to make it a week.

I found that giving myself baby steps, it makes this all that more obtainable for me :0)  

Stay on this site, its a plethora of amazing information and encouragement! 

[YoungAtHeart]

Welcome to our community!

I successfully quit with Chantix, although I only took it for about three weeks (ended up in the hospital, so that was the end of that!).  The nicotine is out of your system in 72 hours, so the rest is your body adjusting to life without the nicotine and relearning how to deal with triggers and associations. 

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.” 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, and read the blogs, responses and pages of folks you think might be helpful. You might visit whyquit.com and quitsmokingonline.com for the good information contained there. You should also do the tracking and separation exercises suggested on this site

After you have completed the recommended reading, it will be time to make an informed choice of the quit aid, if any, you will use. If you go that route, I personally recommend the aids that don't let the addict control the dose such as the available prescription drugs or the patch. But – any method that you think will work well for you will be best for you.

The idea is to change up your routines so the smoking associations are reduced.  Drink your coffee with your OTHER hand. 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! Rearrange the furniture in the areas you used to smoke so the view is different.

You need to distract yourself through any craves.  You can take a bite out of a lemon (yup - rind and all), put your head in the freezer and take a deep breath of cold air, do a few jumping jacks, go for a brisk walk or march in place, play a computer game.  Don't let that smoking thought rattle around in your brain unchallenged. Sometimes you need to quit a minute or an hour at a time.  You will need to be disciplined in the early days to distract yourself when a crave hits.  Don't let that smoking thought rattle around your head alone.  Get busy!  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

[JACKIE1-25-15]

Communication and support of others does make a difference.  You have come to the right place. Welcome to Ex

 If you take the time to do the work you will have success.

Read -Study- Blog- Research- Comment-Hang Tough -Stay Close

You have come to the right place if you are making the decision to commit to quit smoking.  At EX our resolve is to never smoke again.  NOPE “Not one puff ever.”  I suggest that you follow the steps on the web site pages along with reading, writing, studying, researching and blogging if you like

.

This is all about you and what you are willing to do to be a nonsmoker. Also check out www.whyquit.com.  There is a lot of additional beneficial information to read and study.  Look for Freedom From Nicotine My Journey Home and Nicotine Addiction 101.  

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

http://whyquit.com/ffn/

Both were extremely helpful for me.  Stay close to the site and learn, ask questions. Read the blogs and most of all enjoy your commitment to quit smoking.

If you should need something to do here is a link that will help

https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/blogs/Youngatheart.7.4.12-blog/2013/02/25/100-things-to-do-instea...).

[Dotgirl_1-28-16]

Welcome Jodi! YOU CAN DO THIS!!! It's suggested that you follow the steps on this site to educate yourself and prepare for a successful quit. Thanks for sharing your quit date...that's a big step you've taken to prepare for your quit. Please keep sharing your journey with us, celebrating milestones, giving and receiving support and encouragement...together we are making smoking history!

[joedice711]

welcome jodi..you will get tons of support here in the community,the people here are like one big family.keep coming back and reading and asking ??.you can do it..

[Strudel]

Hi and welcome to the site! You are in the right place! Please do the reading that Nancy gave you. Plus - stay close to the site. Read the Carr book, read lots of blogs, read the sites and pages people suggest. It will make a difference - trust me! 

Congrats on deciding to quit! 

[djmurray]

Hi, Jodi -- Welcome to the absolutely best quit site!  I smoked heavily for over 50 years and reading the Allen Carr book completely changed how I looked at smoking:  what it is and is NOT.  The basic premise is that no smoker actually enjoys smoking and all we're doing is satisfying the crave we created when we smoked the last one.  Therefore, quitting smoking is giving up NOTHING.  Every other time I quit I felt deprived, like I was foregoing something of value.  But it's not true -- there is no value to smoking.  Boy, has that understanding made a difference! I am at Day 400-something of my quit and I know that I will never smoke another cigarette.  

Also, read everything you can find here and at sites like whyquit.com (which has a ton of really good information).  Come here regularly and read the blogs, see what people are experiencing at every stage of their quit.  We have people here who are planning to quit just like you are to people who've been quit for over 10 years and come back to reach out to the new people.  Comment on the blogs -- you will find that when you do it benefits you as well.  Write your own blog about how you're feeling about your quit.

The bottom line is that a successful quit is based on education, attitude, acceptance and determination.  Education:  Once you've learned the truth about this addiction it's much harder (for me impossible) to go back to smoking.  Rather, it helps us unlearn the connections we had with smoking.  Attitude:  Your attitude or mindset is key to whether your quit feels like torture or feels like something very doable.  If you feel deprived, if you feel sorry for yourself and just use willpower to get through not smoking, it will be torture (and you'll read more about that in the Carr book).  But if you have the attitude that smoking is nothing and you are willing to go through the discomfort that is generally associated with quitting, then you can be a happy quitter.  I am definitely a happy quitter!  Acceptance: If you can accept that you will have craves early in your quit and sometimes later in your quit than you would imagine, and don't fight them but observe them and say "Yeah, I don't do that anymore" and find something else to do you won't have as many craves.  It's true. Determination:  This is tied up with the willingness I mentioned.  You have an addict's brain, just like the rest of us.  Your addict's brain will whisper to you, scream at you and plead with you to come back.  There will be times when you find yourself thinking "oh, what could it hurt to have just one."  That's your addiict brain trying to entice you.  Determination is your ability to say NOPE -- Not One Puff Ever.  In another blog I wrote recently I said we all experience discomfort, sometimes extreme discomfort, in quitting.  But why wouldn't we feel uncomfortable when we're changing behaviors we've practiced for years, or decades, or many decades.  Five decades for me, and I'm so happy that you're doing this after 19 years.  You will benefit so much from making this your forever quit.

Please work on countering any thoughts you have about wanting to smoke by talking about it here -- if you talk to your friends or family they will either a) be disappointed in you that you would even think about smoking (we understand and would be surprised if you didn't think about it) or they would encourage you to light up thinking they were doing you a favor (and we know no matter how well-intended that might be, it is the last thing you need.  You need friends who know just what it feels like to want to quit but believe that you can't.  To reach out for the supposedly great feeling taking a deep drag provided.  To feel like you had a friend and a comforter.  We've all been there many, many times.  But we know that was our addiction horning into our lives every second it can.  Believe me, staying close to this site will demonstrate that there is joy in quitting, there is fear in quitting, there are tears in quitting and cheers in quitting.  There's no one who will cheer louder than you, Jodi, when you've walked this path surrounded by people who are older and younger than you, men and women, funny and serious, happy sometimes, depressed or sad at other times, you'll learn that we really are all in this together. 

So welcome to EX -- we're a wonderfully supportive group who've been there done that or are being there doing that right now.   There's no better resource than a good support group to get through the initial discomfort of quitting.

You can do this!

[dpop]

Welcome! I am also using chantix. On day 35...we can do this!

[TerrieQuit]

Hello and Welcome to EX! Please do the suggerted reading! Stay close to EX, we are very supportive! I am glad you are here!

I Won't Quit on my Quit!