All Activity

Knitwear designer

Joist

Tooth and nail

Lead pipe

Ooze

Undertakers

Pillow cover

Windy with wet weather

Hooray for @Linda! Two years is a major milestone. Your success is hard-earned, and you have kept your quit through a lot of life’s trials. I hope you feel a well-deserved sense of pride on this day - and every day!!

@dvs51 your comments are great and show that you are building a really solid quit! I, too, used smoking as a kind of punctuation in my daily rhythms… breaks at work, pauses in between projects, to mark the start of the day, the end of a meal, etc. Smoking was the organizing principle of my life, the structure I followed. At first, many moments felt strangely hollow without smoking. I felt like a jellyfish… squishy and adrift in a sea of cravings, like I had lost all my solidity. So I filled those moments with tiny tasks. I constantly would read articles and play games on this forum. Wall/countertop push-ups played a huge role in my quit, too. I stayed busy/active because the desire to smoke was very strong in those interstitial moments. I was very vulnerable. So I had to very intentionally rewire my relationship with time, and with pauses/transitions. It became kind of a creative exercise to do something different that wasn’t about lighting up. That change gradually became more natural. That feeling of being adrift or “missing something” subsided. Every time you choose not to smoke, your quit gets stronger and stronger and stronger! Recalling the struggle times is part of what keeps me on the quitting path today. Repeat the agony of withdrawal again? NOPE, no thanks! I share your views on that point, @dvs51. Withdrawal totally sucked for me. I was a hot mess. So I am NOT going through that misery ever again!

NOPE!

@Reciprocity I have so far been pretty good at recognizing that the idea of "just one" is a fallacy. I know that "just one" would actually be "just the first of many" and lead right back to where I was. Once that happens, I'm back at square one, resenting the cigarettes but smoking them anyway and trying once more to muster the nerve to let go of them. Those first few days and weeks were hard, and the concept of starting from scratch is not one that appeals to me.

-1

Nope

Congratulations @Linda on 2 years smoke free! That is an awesome accomplishment! Treat yourself to something special!

-2

Valiant vikings venerated Valhalla.

feather pillow

tripe

Nova

dare or truth

bed head

Nope!

-1

@dvs51 said: I agree. Mine is still, obviously, in training, but I think you're right. It's the biggest weapon smoking has against us but it can be turned into the biggest weapon we have against it. Keep training that brain of yours! Right now, the battle is to ignore what ever junkie thoughts your presented with. Fight like hell to avoid allowing those thoughts to take you down. I learned to hate that wooing of nicotine memory that lies to us by whispering that just one will fix everything when in fact it would destroy everything you've gained since beginning your quit. That's why NOPE is so critical at this early point to every quitter. The deeper you can bury those memories of smoking and that junkie thinking, the sooner you can take back your life & live it as it was meant to be lived. It just takes time, repetition & commitment!