Experiences of Cold Turkeys

[murali]

Dear All,

I request to all ‘cold turkeys’ to kindly narrate their experiences on their journey to freedom, so that new comers and also the oldies will benefit from it.

Experience of each individual may be different but some of us can have ‘some’ common experience, because we all were addicts of the same substance.

Hope to see contributions from all of you

Best regards

Murali

[smorgy8513]

Great idea Murali.    May I make a suggestion?     People can add this to their profile page so that others can go there and read.     If it is just a blog it will not be as available for newbies coming on later.

Sharon

[murali]

Hi Sharon,

I totally agree with you.

How do we add this to our profile page?

[smorgy8513]

Go to "My Page" tab, 

Click on Edit Profile,

Write your journal piece (date it!)

Click on Save.

I go to people's pages alot to learn more about them so I encourage folks to write on their page.

Sharon

[candylance]

Murali, I quit cold turkey and am a WINNER!! I've used patches and nicotine gum before but Allen Carr's book convinced me that I should just "quit" and enjoy the FREEDOM!! Love being a NON SMOKER!!

Candy      d167

[Giulia]

My Cold Turkey Quit Experience:  I did my homework, I committed 100%, I  went crazy with cravings, I stuck with it, I got over it.  

[Angel.wings]

There's 2 ways to get into a pool: You can stick one toe in to test the water and gradually work your way in until your body adjusts to the temperature, or you can run and jump straight in. To me, quitting cold turkey feels like jumping right into a pool. You're not really sure what to expect and it's definitely quite shocking. It's a roller coaster full of every emotion that your body can produce (including the good one). Once you ride it out, not smoking becomes a part of your everyday life and you only have to deal with the random occasional cravings. 

[stonecipher]

(from my profile page)

I joined this group in April of 2012 and quit, cold turkey, on May 8.  I prepared for the quit by reading about the addiction here on this site, at stopsmokingonline and in Allen Carr's book, The Easy Way to Quit Smoking.  And I did the preparation exercises this site takes you through.

But the most important thing I did was to finally DECIDE to quit, and to ask God to convict me that smoking is WRONG.

It seems that if I can justify something, I will continue in it even if it hurts me.  When God answered my prayer over the conviction matter, I no longer had the freedom to smoke.

And that is what freed me.  Praise HIM!

I found that quitting cold turkey was the way for me.  It didn't feel too good in the beginning.  There were times I wanted to smoke.  But overall, it was much, much easier than I anticipated.  Much easier than some former smokers had told me their quit was.

I think it is all about attitude.  And saying "I don't do that anymore" instead of "I wish I had a smoke."

[Sootie]

Angel wings has it exactly right! That is what I always tell everyone. It is just like jumping into cold water.......just dive on in. Once you are in and the shock is over....you wonder what the big deal is about.

As G said---you commit; you quit; you realistically PLAN to have many hard days of cravings; you do not give in; you come out on the other side -------FREE. Yes, it osund simple....and it is. SIMPLE------NOT EASY!

[Susan57]

Hi,

I Loved Smoking, in the morning with coffee, after eating, sitting ouside on the porch in the evening. What I did not like was buying them,  buying lighters,  and finding a place to smoke when I was out somewhere.

I have tried both ways to quit smoking, the patches and gum and cold turkey. Patches and gum do not work, at least it did not for myself. Cold Turkey is the way to go, this is part of the journey and you will never forget the difficulty of quitting!  One way that does not work is cutting down to a few cigarettes a day, this does not work, you are just delaying it.

No doubt about it, this is a difficult decision to make, but once you are in the pool all the way, give it time and you will see you will begin to gain some time on your quit and will not want to go back to smoking. I ate and gained weight, something you can take care of afterwards.

I love that smoking is no longer a part of my life, absolutley love it! To have one puff of a cigarette would be a danger for me. It was so difficult to quit I will never go through that again, so to begin would be cutting my own throat.

Good luck, give it a try I know if I did it, you can too! You will love life more and your family will be happy if you stopped, they will have you around a bit longer.

Cheers, S. Sweet