Give and get support around quitting
At the time I made this decision to quit (which honestly was only about a week ago) I was smoking 15-20 cigarettes/day. The day before yesterday I began employing the "Just wait a little longer" technique & effortlessly got down to 11. Planned on making 11 my goal for the next day as well) & it was a bit tougher than I recalled it being the day before (my mother, a stressor was over for a visit), so I was pleasantly surprised at the end of the day to realize i had only smoked 10.
I hope this is a sign of continued success & progress.
That's pretty awesome. As long as you aren't stressing yourself out over how many you do or don't smoke. I started doing that and it kinda worked against me for a bit. I was determined to quit, but questioned whether I could do it when I'd notice my numbers creeping up. If that happens, don't let it deter you. You will make it!
Dian
Thanks Dian! The support here is unlike anything I have ever come across in any online (or even real life) forum!
Isn't your projected quit date 3 or 4 weeks away?
When you count you will eventually hit a wall. If your quit is that far off I would just let it happen rather than put that "I'm going to do this many today and this many tomorrow so you don't box yourself into at corner.
All in all, the value is in stopping to think before you would have automatically smoked.
When people get down to 5 or so is when many go into nicotine withdrawl
But you rock for being aware. 🙂
If you get down to 5 or less. if you feel withdrawl symptoms it's probably time to start your quit. If you don't use an NRT the withdrawal is 72 hours. There are varied physical symptoms the first month as your body readjusts without nicotine.
Good for you! You are really already rocking your PRE-quit.
Ellen
Every cigarette we keep out of our mouths is progress.
Tapering works for some including me (kinda like those who wade in and those who jump--two different spirits I guess). But tapering helped me face various stresses and test my psychology, adjust as needed. Test run maybe. But I do agree jonescarp.aka.dale that there is a danger of hitting a wall of two few cigs for two long. My amounts of 7, 6,5 happen to fall on the last three days of my quit and my plan time was just under three weeks. At five butts, I was ready to quit.
Thanks for posting your progress. Sounds like a victory!