We have this discussion every Wednesday to offer encouragement and camaraderie to those in NML, basically months 2-3-4 of a quit. Regardless of how long you’ve been quit, anyone who likes the conversation and wants to offer support is welcome to participate!
We are happy if you just stop by to say hi and let us know you are still with us in NML. Feel free to offer up ideas on topic question and I will include them in next week’s post! Stop by daily or as often as you like! Don’t forget to post to the Daily Pledge!
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This week’s topic: Life After NML
The first month of a quit is exciting, but it’s also emotional and exhausting. In No Man’s Land, you learn how to get back to living your life, to find your “new normal,” and fend off the occasional surprise craving. By the time you reach the end of NML, day 130 or so, you’re feeling pretty good!
What’s next, you might wonder? We always say that quitting is a journey, not an event, so what should you expect once you crest the NML hill and see the road in front of you?
For the rest of your first year, and to an extent your second year, you will need to be prepared for a few more seasonal triggers and life events that may create high stress and emotion. These triggers can be even more surprising because overall you hardly ever think of smoking anymore.
As smokers, we smoked in response to everything, good and bad. It should not surprise us that triggers we have not experienced yet will remind us of smoking. When you first see the autumn leaves fall, the first snow, the spring rains, the first summer bar-b-que, these are seasonal triggers you may not have experienced in your first 130 days.
The emotional triggers include Christmas, Thanksgiving, moving, loss of a job, death of a pet, death of a family member. And let’s not forget the “happy” triggers too – birthdays, New Year’s Eve, vacations. These events can call up both good and bad memories, and lead to old behaviors we thought were behind us.
Here’s the good news. You already know how to deal with this – the same way you dealt with cravings and smoking memories early in your quit. It’s no different. You already know what to do – kick it to the curb with NOPE – and as long as NOPE is your immediate and automatic response, whether the surprise hits you at 6-months, 1 year, 5 years, or 10 years, the result will always be the same – a continued smoke-free life.
As Dale says, as long as you use your tools and remember smoking only leads to more smoking, you will be fine.
So here’s to life after NML, and all the amazing smoke-free days to come!
(Taken from an old NML Blog Weekly post by SarahP)
Click here to read Dale’s helpful blog about No Man’s Land:https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/groups/best-of-ex/blog/2011/05/24/no-mans-land-days-30-to130-appr...
Click here to read what to expect in the first four months: /blogs/jonescarp.aka.dale.Jan_2007-blog/2011/06/26/what-to-expect-in-the-first-four-months
Checking in here will help you get through NML and on your way to the first year where you can celebrate being in the 6% Club and graduate to eventually become an Elder!
Please let me know if you are interested in posting the NML Weekly Check In. I am happy to continue it, share it, or pass it to the nEXt EXer in NML who is ready, willing, and able.
NML List (Please let me know if there is anyone who has been missed!)
roller831
julesakaGG
Christophina
Brianairb2
constanceclum
Free2BU
bookee6
turtlegirl101
TurboRose
tlajbenn
Dani_2017
Ready2021
Diannnnn
ahhshucks
Showiestodin
Sandy-9-17-17
judalb
gregp136 – GRADUATED!!!
TW517 – GRADUATED!!!
