Community
Today is my 6th day on my journey. I quit for over four years and started back a couple of years ago. Just trying to take it one day at a time. It is hard my husband smokes so I have easy excess to cigarettes. I keep telling myself I did it once I can do it again!!
Yes you can do it again . You are not alone ( I have a friend now quit almost nine years , her husband was a smoker ) I admire folks like yourself who quit under those circumstances . You are strong , so I have no doubt you can do this again and this time you know you can't take one puff ever. I'm sorry you gave away your 4 year quit . I also gave away an eight year quit thinking I'd stop at one cigarettte , but one leads to more as we both know now , so now we learn from our mistake . We got a second chance . Going on nine years for me now , so yes it can be done and I know from my mistake the biggest lie of addiction is that it's ok to have a puff.
One puff is never an option to an Ex .
Welcome to your forever quit and to the Ex .
Welcome to the community!
Yes, you CAN do it again. You might ask hubby to not smoke in front of you, and to keep his cigarettes, ashtrays and lighters hidden away out of your sight, especially during the early days of your quit.
The 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 easy and entertaining read provided a world of good information about nicotine addiction, most of which I was not aware. I credit it in large part with my success at quitting. You can search for it online or at your local library.
You should also read the posts here and perhaps go to the pages of folks who you think might be helpful. You might visit whyquit.com, quitsmoking.com and 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. Here is a video to inform you further about nicotine addiction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpWMgPHn0Lo&feature=youtu.be.
The idea is to change up your routines so the smoking associations are reduced. Drink your coffee with your OTHER hand in a place different from when you smoked. Maybe switch to tea for a bit. 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. Keep a cold bottle of water with you from which to sip. 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-instead-of-smoke
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.
I'm glad you are here. Stay close, ask questions when you have them and for support when you need it. We will be with you every step of the way!
Nancy
Welcome to the community we're all here to help you in any way we can you can do this quit believe it deep breaths and keep moving forward stacking up those precious Days Of Freedom so each evening you can say YAY for another Day WON it's definetly not easy by any stretch of the imagination BUT boy oh boy it's so worth it to be Free and maybe your husband will decide to quit smoking himself at some point in the near future, stay close...... alverson665
Welcome alverson665 Keep telling yourself you can do it. Post when you need help or have a question their are a lot of good people here to help
Carl
Welcome to the Ex and congrats on 6 days smoke free. I does make it harder living with a smoker, but you can do it. Always remember it's your quit and ask him for support. Here's a letter you can share with him. "Letter to My Loved Ones" (repost) If you need help just reach out--we're here for you.
Barb
Welcome to Ex. This community is here for you day in and day out. Blog, read, learn, comment as much as you want. Yes you can get your quit in order one step at a time.
Congratulations on your new start! You really CAN do it with the support from this site. I smoked for 47 years and quit and started again more times than I can count. THIS quit is over six years old, it is the longest time I have been quit since I started. Stay close to the site, ask for help when you need it, listen to advice given.
Welcome to EX.
Ellen
Welcome to our little corner of the web