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Give and get support around quitting

gail62
Member

How to start?

Hi, Looking for friends! Please let me know if you have any advice on quitting ...have smoked 32 years.

9 Replies

Hi, Gail!

Welcome! Read, Read, Read!

I read: The Easy Way by Allen Carr

quitsmokingonline.com

and whyquit.com

as well as here.

Go to My Quit Plan in blue letters in the upper right hand corner and do the exercises.

Read the Discussions and Conversations here every day.

The more you understand and devote to your quit the more doable it is!

c2q
Member

Hi Gail. The first step is to complete your quit plan. Click on "My Quit Plan" at the top right of your screen.

QuitPlanScaled.png

Each of the blue menu buttons has important information about why to quit, how to create your plan, what to do to get ready.

QuitPlanMenuBar.png

You can quit. I promise. Hope to talk again soon.

MarilynH
Member

Believe in yourself, be willing, determined and totally committed to succeed and you can and will be successful one precious smoke free day at a time and definitely read everything you can find about quitting smoking and Remaining Quit because there's a wealth of information here to strengthen your resolve to quit and remain quit. 

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YoungAtHeart
Member

Welcome to our community!

I'm glad you are here.  There is lots of good information and there are lots of good people here, too.

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, check out livewell.com for the good information contained there. @https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/groups/best-of-ex has lots of blogs written by members of this site with their experiences and guidance. You should also do the tracking and separation exercises suggested in My Quit Plan http://www.becomeanex.org/my-quit-plan.php

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. If used properly, gum, lozenges and inhalers are fine, but they need to be used only as a last resort.  I have seen folks become addicted to them if they substitute them for every cigarette they used to smoke - just trading one addiction for another.  I do not recommend the e-cigarette for three reasons: 1) the vapor has been compared to the polluted air in Bejing on a bad day, 2) they just provide another nicotine delivery system while continuing the hand to mouth smoking motion, and 3) the batteries can spontaneously catch on fire. . 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. Buy your gas at a different station. Take a different route to work. Take a quick walk at break time where the smokers AREN'T.

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.    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

elvan
Member

You have gotten very valuable advice from those who commented before me.  Please do the reading, education is one of the three keys to a successful quit, the other two are support and commitment.  Nothing is going to make this easy, it's a one day at a time journey and one step at a time...sometimes, baby steps.  You can do this.  

Best,

Ellen

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Giulia
Member

One added piece of advice - keep a sense of humor about you during the process.  Humor enables us to take a step back and look at things from a different perspective.  Sometimes we can get so myopic and caught up in the struggle that we forget to laugh at ourselves.  Laughter heals.  Here's a little playlet I wrote that is a somewhat humorous take on the inner monologue we go through.  /blogs/Giulia-blog/2016/09/06/a-quit-dialogue-in-iv-acts   Commitment and perseverance are two of the keys that will unlock the doors of Freedom.  Chin up and have heart!

Sootie
Member

As you can see------we have LOTS of advice on quitting smoking. PLEASE do the readings suggested. If you are not a book person, go to whyquit.com and read the articles there....they are short but profound and very,very helpful and eye opening.

Use this site as a friend you would "Call on" if you feel like you are ready to cave in and smoke.....just post as you did with this blog and we will all jump in to offer help.....we always do.

Stay Strong

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