Prayers

[cris2]

I need prayers from my friends. I am having a difficult time with quiting and have decided to go back to Chantix because cold turkey wasnt cutting it for me. I know I can be honest with my friends of Bill W. because I need support. My new quit day will be the 17th unless I can sqeeze in on the 16th Monday.

I work the steps and still find fear. I know I need to turn it over to my HP. I dont mind telling you that drinking seemed easier than this demon. So I will get out of self pitty and smarten up. I thank you for all help and understanding.

~C

[cris2]

Thank you so much. I will take all the advice. I know that I can be smoke free for just Today... Taking it Easy is something I lack the skills in many days. I need to become closer to my HP on days. I started on my Chantix and am willing to turn it over to my HP and give the glory to Him this time and not take it for my own. In Gods time this will come, not my own.

[sherri10]

Hey Cris,

I just saw your post here. I'm sorry your having trouble with smoking. I agree with you too about this being more difficult than drinking too quit. I have used this place the same way I have AA in trying to be here to help others quit.

[lisa-hamilton]

You have my prayers. i have the same problem. but cold turkey is the only option for me. Don't believe in the substitutes and Chantix has gotten some bad press. Be really careful!!!

I wish you luck. I think quitting drinking was easier too, but I'm kinda far away from that and maybe memory doesn't serve me so well.

I tried to quit in May, but failed. I have been tracking my cigarettes and am ready to start separating according to the plan.

We'll get through this and before you know it, two weeks will have gone by and we'll be okay.

Lisa

[mr1957]

Hi ya Chris, For me using and drinking caused a great deal of caos and misery. I never went to jail for smoking. That is why it seems harder to stop as it doesnt have the same reckage. It is more insidious because your troubles with smoking seem to come alot slower, but trust me their on the way! I have got 52 days. I thought about smoking most of the day yesterday. What got me through was concious contact and looking at the truth of the matter. If I would of smoked I would of gotten all pissed off at me for being so stupid! Why go through all that negative shit. I just did'nt smoke. And I used chantix for about 3 weeks at the start to get over the hump. Do what you gotta do.....Richard E

[lisa-hamilton]

Thanks for that bit of insight, Richard. It makes a lot of sense. I have a lot of "yets" in sobriety, as I stayed home and drank toward the end and didn't get any DUI's or anything like that, but I was fuzzy all the time. I may be slightly fuzzy now and I know I won't find out just how fuzzy until I quit. I just got a message from a friend who has 28 days now and is ecstatic and let us all know she feels so much better. Don't know why I'm so hesitant about believing that -- or should I say why it doesn't motivate me the way it should, but it doesn't.

Congrats on your 52 days. Really awesome and very inspiring for me. I have a quit date of 6/30. If you think of it, send up an extra prayer for me that day.

[edith2]

Thank you thank you thank you. You most definitely have my support. I quit smoking 4 years ago and I've been sober since 1976. But I still need friends like you! I really liked what you said about being honest with your friends of Bill W. I will definitely say a prayer for you. I totally understand your fear. I heard a woman at a meeting years ago, say that she has character defects, but her defects have character. I've tried to take my defects(like fear)and use them as assets. It was my fear of failure that helped me become a straight A student and finish high school with honors. Fear has either motivated me or kept me away from things I don't need to be around. I also believe in quitting smoking and not smoking pot. In my opinion, it's like changing seats on the Titantic. Just keep praying and talking about what you're going through and you'll do great. They didn't think I'd make 10 days...........hahahahahahahahaha!

[bonnie4]

Cris,
One of the things my sponsor does whenever I am struggling with something whether it is quitting smoking, getting out of an unhealthy relationship or whatever, is she tells me to work the first three steps on that issue. Maybe if you look at how you are powerless over not just your addiction to cigarettes, but all the things that make you want to smoke as well as all the ways smoking has made your life unmanageable, you may be more willing to be restored to sanity and turn it over. I did not quit cold turkey. I have been using the Nicorette and was totally beating myself up over it until the people at this site reminded me that it is better than smoking and as long as I follow the directions of whatever aid I am using, it is ok. I still chew Nicorette. Not as much as I did when I first quit, but it has been almost three months since I have had a cigarette and I still don't want one. No matter how you look at it, that's good. The most important thing for me was that I become entirely ready to quit, which I did by tracking my cigarettes, looking at my triggers and relating to my addiction. Then I set the quit date and stuck to it. I just don't pick up no matter what one day at a time. Sometimes I have to break it down to one moment at a time, but the more I don't pick up, the easier it gets. I know that there is no situation in my life that is going to get better if I pick up a cigarette any more than if I pick up a drug. Keep coming back!!!

Bonnie
12 weeks, 1 day, 4 hours, 46 minutes, 39 seconds since quitting. 2,129 cigarettes not smoked. $603.57 saved.