The crazy battles I have in my head 24 /7 is exausting. Am I alone putting on boxing gloves and fighting my thoughts constantly to not smoke period! ???
The crazy battles I have in my head 24 /7 is exausting. Am I alone putting on boxing gloves and fighting my thoughts constantly to not smoke period! ???
Thank you
Welcome!
I wrote a blog and asked for input from our members that you might find useful right about now:For Our New Years' Quitters (and community members, too).
You can't win a fight against yourself - and you will exhaust yourself and fail if you try to quit smoking that way. Please do the reading I recommended above so you understand what is actually going on. You have already made the decision that you won't smoke - so don't be arguing about it. Change your mind's direction. Don't just sit there thinking about it - get busy! Get your mind (and hands) occupied. When you start to think about smoking, take a slow/deep breath! Sip from a cold bottle of water! Or take a walk! Or clean out a drawer, or a closet. This takes some work in the beginning, but it gets easier and easier to do. Many here had VERY clean homes at the end of the first couple of weeks!
I'm glad you asked for help. Don't ever hesitate to do it again. We want to help you be successful!
Nancy
LOL to clean home. That would be an amazing feat. (many animals.) Thank you for the encouraging words as well.
It DOES get easier, I was exhausted from fighting...finally, I learned to let the craves come and wash over me, I learned that they had no power as long as I didn't dwell on them. I tried to identify the triggers in the beginning and then I just talked to them and said NOPE, Not One Puff Ever. Please do read the blog that Youngatheart.7.4.12 recommended, it offers all kinds of support and comes from people at all different stages. The thing to remember is that this is doable...it is not easy but you CAN do it. Stay close to the site and reach out for help and just check in and see how others are doing. I came here first thing every morning and last thing at night for the first several months...now, it has been close to four years and I still do on most days.
Ellen
I think many if not most of us box with ourselves in the beginning of this journey. I wrote a little play about the inner dialogue that goes on in our brain: A Quit Dialogue in IV Acts It's almost like we're two people - the one that wants to smoke vs the one that doesn't. And it get REAL tiring. Eventually we get used to the chattering demon in our heads and stop paying attention to it.
We often talk about "accepting" the journey here. It's really simply about accepting the decision, the choice we've made to quit. Part of that 'accepting' is in making smoking a non-option. When the option to smoke is removed, when we close the door on it, it becomes much easier. That 'accepting' can happen in an instant. But usually it takes us time to work up to that acceptance. And often it includes many failures along the way. Until we get so tired of coming back to another Day One, that we finally give up the fight and accept the choice.
Trust us when we say, it WILL get easier.
So true.
#Boxingself, Found keys, ready to take flight
Hi anaussiemom! That's a great way to describe it. The battle certainly can be exhausting. Your body is withdrawing from nicotine and healing at the same time, and your addiction pushes you to just go smoke.....
Please trust these next words: It gets better. You will suddenly realize that while part of you still thinks about smoking, you've stopped obsessing about it. You'll realize that you breezed through a trigger and treated it like a nuisance. It really will happen.
Until that that day comes, trust. Hang in there. Drink tons of water, sleep off the withdrawals and read, read, read everything you can find to help support your quit. This site has a ton of valuable information, spend some time here reading up.
Finaly, do just what you did....reach out. Lots of people will pop in here in a bit and offer even more advice and support.
Good of luck and keep us posted!
Susan