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Give and get support around quitting

SimplySheri
Member

Your Smoking Story

Everyone has one.  Some struggle, some find it easier, some are middle ground. Quitters are quirky, shaky, serious, hilarious, lost, intelligent. 

When I quit, I asked my kids to tell me I smelled pretty each and every day for a month.  I wore two different colored shoes to work and never noticed until a co-worker pointed it out.  I ate butterscotch candy when I drank coffee.  I walked a lot, I yoga'd a lot.  I learned I like being positive.  I took control of how I felt.  It was a good quit

So I would love to hear your quitting story!! What was it that pushed you into quitting?  What keeps your quit going?  How do you manage things?  What's hard?  What's easy?  Who are you?????  I hope you share with us.  Your story is important....you are important!!  And what you have to say matters    

So, what's your story?

29 Replies
AnnetteMM
Member

The greatest thing about my quit was that I was visiting my daughter the day my pods ran out, so most of my beginning withdrawal was out of town. And then it was winter, so I didn't want to go out much for the next couple of months. No store!

SimplySheri
Member

The universe itself conspired to help you keep that precious quit . And look at you now!!  A strong quitter helping others.  You are a joy

AnnetteMM
Member

OMG Thank you so much!!

0 Kudos
SimplySheri
Member

  

You are so very welcome!!

0 Kudos
minihorses
Member

This is my story. My last quit was in in the late summer of 2017.  I wanted to I quit so I decided to do so with the aid of Chantix. I smoked for the first month and then quit and continued on Chantix for another month. I made it 7 months before an extreme life change happened.  I started smoking again that day.  In August of 2018 I had had enough.  I started Chantix again and smoked for about a week.  On Sept. 11, my husband's birthday, I got fed up with smoking and tossed a 3/4 pack of cigarettes on the workbench in the garage where I smoked.  I told my husband that for his birthday I was going to quit. I woke up September 12 and I didn't have a smoke.  I didn't throw away that pack or any lighters, they stayed in view so every time I went into the garage which was at least 5 times a day I could see them.  I stayed on Chantix for the next 3 weeks and then stopped taking it.  That pack of cigarettes stayed in plain sight for about 4 months.  It was a personal challenge to know they were there and every time I was in the garage I didn't touch them.  They finally got thrown away that month. It wasn't an easy quit because I get very sick but I still didn't want them.  That was 417 days ago.  I realized that the difference this time as opposed to all other quits is that I wanted to quit, not "I need to quit".  If this helps even one person quit or stay quit I will be so very happy that it has done so.  

SimplySheri
Member

Your story highlights your strength of will and your courageous spirit!  I so like that about you   Wisdom, too!!  All combined to make a very unique, strength-based quit.  Thanks for sharing!! 

minihorses
Member

Thank you for starting this fantastic conversation.  It's great to hear everyone's beginning of their journey. It highlights strengths, weaknesses, attitudes, inner feelings, and personal methods.  Inspirational.

SimplySheri
Member

I think sometimes people forget just how amazing they are!  When you tell your story, your amazingness shines through  

YoungAtHeart
Member

Like so many addicts, I had myself believing that a smoking-related issue would not arise for MEEEEE.    I ate a totally healthy diet, exercised EVERY day (I had a stressful job so it was necessary to "come down"), kept my weight in the 120's - and kept my stress level in check.....I honestly believed that I was going to be the last smoker standing, so impossible was it going to be for me to quit.

until...........................................................

I went to a vascular surgeon to discuss having a varicose vein fixed - and he said, "I am not getting a good pulse in either of your feet!"

I went for a second opinion, and boy, am I glad I did.  I did have blockages in arteries going to both legs.  He said, "I can make your arteries 50 again, but if you continue to smoke, you will probably need this same surgery again, and you will probably not be healthy enough for me do it."  Left unsaid was that I could lose a LEG or foot, or toes from bad circulation.

I went to my GP, asking for the very first time for advice on quitting, NRT's, etc. and he said, "No sweat.  Just get some carrot and celery sticks, slap on a patch and you will be good to go."  I found a DIFFERENT GP, one whose area of interest was smoking cessation (he had a hand in creating this website way back in the day).  He prescribed Chantix, and told me I was to keep smoking but that I was going to quit in 10 days.  All I could think was , OMG!!!"  But - that was 7+ years ago.

When I went back to him after about 3 months for a check-up after the vascular surgery and told him I was still quit, he skipped me around all the halls of the practice, telling all we encountered that, "She quit smoking!@!!!!!"  I felt absolutely SPECIAL. 

The materials I recommend to all who are embarking on this quit journey are ones I found helpful in my journey.- especially the book by Allen Carr.

The Last Smoker Standing was successful.  All who work at it can be, too!