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NOPE - smoking sucks!

NOPE! Glad spring is finally here! Only going down to -15 tonight ..... YAY!

It's Saturday and we've got sunshine... sunshine I say... So here's as super Saturday NOPE Hope I didn't miss wishing the kid good luck Jo

NOPE Going camping in Joshua Tree National Park this weekend. I prefer to breathe fresh air over deadly smoke any day.

Whatever you’re going through, a cigarette will not help. You have to keep that door cracked. You have to remember how it was when you smoked. I don’t think any of us want that.

NOPE!!

Nope!

You have a lot of company here Fab. So many of us went through similar struggles at you stage or are currently going through them. None of us can push you through them, but many of us can sure understand them. I hope your quit buddy finds this place. There are so, so many still that have not. Thanks for posting. It brought out so many great responses. It has seemed so odd that there have been so few posts like this since the qsmb migration. I have wondered if is a getting comfortable thing for the migrants and that possibly the large migration may have inhibited some the natives. Hopefully, your post may bring out more from others, because there is no way there are not a lot of others struggling. Your post may help not just you, but also the responders and many lurkers.

NOPE!!

NOPE!

Nope.... Not gonna be a filthy fag hag...

Hi there Jet, congratulations on your nearly 6 months smoke free. You have come so far! There are many stages to a quit and right now you're in the bargaining stage. Your addictive mind is trying to justify smoking again and if you continue to allow that you will relapse. How do people relapse? ANSWER: They talk themselves into it by thinking they can smoke a little longer without health issues or that they can smoke just for a while to get through a stressful time and then quit again. What will it hurt right? Smoking doesn't help life stress. It actually adds to it. There is nothing calming about it! No one who smoked for any length of time is immune from potential health problems but clearly the longer you smoke the more damaging the effects are. I smoked for 28 years and I so regret not quitting sooner. I regret the time I spent smoking, searching for a place to smoke and stressing out when I couldn't smoke. I went to Disney with my family and my main focus was finding the smoking areas. Often I didn't travel at all because it was so complicated as a smoker and I would rather smoke. I chose smoking over almost everything. Is this the life you want to return to? What did smoking take away from you? That's where your focus needs to be. Take control of those thoughts and allow yourself to heal. Time helps I promise you that.

Smoking is it's own little microcosm that attaches to us for life the minute we light that first smoke in our misinformed youth. That first smoke leads to addiction and every smoke afterwards feeds the addiction. It has nothing to do with anything else going on in our lives yet we begin to mentally attach ourselves to smoking through almost everything we do in our lives as smokers. Smoking makes nothing better in our life - never did and never will no, the reason we think smoking makes things better or easier in our lives is that if we don't keep feeding the addiction regularly, the addiction takes over and starts making us very uncomfortable. We feed the addiction and we feel "right" again. No, the addiction feels right again. Our sadness or joy outside of smoking has not changed one bit. Don't romance the cigarette folks because when you do, you keep the addiction fresh and alive in your mind. Smoking does nothing for you. It's an addiction that demands to be constantly fed and that is all it is.

Hi wee me. It’s been a better day today. Thank you.

Fab, you've done the right thing by posting.. I totally echo what @Lust4Life said and keep talking fab, keep talking? Ooopps, just realised you posted yesterday... How's you doing today ??

Nope. Smoking is not an option.

Nope

Oh yes, close to the three month mark like the OP and Gabes are at, the fight becomes serious. Like we are doing well, put down our guards, and the crave attacks like never before. It can last a few days for sure, it is NOW that you have to fight with everything you have. It is worse than the three day or three week marks. To this day I do not know how I survived. BUT, as the battle and craves slowly subside, you know you have won. Do not give up now.

Thank you everyone! Really appreciate the words of advice, support and encouragement.

#NOPE

NOPE

NOPE!

NOPE!

NOPE!

NOPE

Ill demand the re run when I don't get the result I want. I can also do offended really well which is the New aggrieved.

Thinking you could have smoked for another 25 years in total junkie thinking. Ask anyone of us 25 plus year smokers and you will see that our breathing has suffered, our faces more than likely show smokers wrinkles, recovery is way harder the older you get, the list could go on and on. I don't know anyone of us that don't wish we would have quit at 15 years but thought the same as you are trying to talk yourself into.

Ok I've finally found something to confess I hate other people's children... Hell, I don't even think I like my own?????????????????

Nope ... It's March madness ...

NOPE from me today.

RED FLAG ALERT !!! You have said things that are stunning examples of bargaining with your addiction and 'romancing the cigarette'. This can only bring disaster. "cause I thought they looked really cool" "I want to try different brands, see if they are as pleasurable as the ads said." " Eve was my brand, I still love her" "... look over cigarette displays to see what they had." "Well shoot, I prolly could have smoked another 25 years and been OK". You cannot bargain with addiction. Either you feed it or starve it into oblivion and romancing is psychologically serving up a banquet. You need to stop it. You are torturing yourself and giving your addiction more power, more opportunities to keep you enslaved. I don't understand this statement. "I am not one for pledges and promises. It is like apathy." Do you mean pledges and promises are like apathy to you? If this is what you mean (forgive me if I have misunderstood) you need to acknowledge that pledges and promises are merely tools to help fight a deadly addiction. Making the commitment to myself to never lighting up another cigarette EVER and NOPE-ing publicly for a few years gave me strength and extra motivation when I needed it. This completely surprised me...I had always been an adamant commitment-phobe. Funny, how one grows and changes. So, stand firm, don't vandalize your quit, protect it. Start to consciously replace junkie thoughts with life affirming thoughts or thoughts about things that turn you on. This will encourage your endorphins to serve you instead of being gangstered by addiction. To answer your heading, what to realistically expect ? In short time, with intent and focus, your head will be free from smokey thoughts .

Good morning. I pledge NOPE today.

Hi Sslip 10 weeks is great. I was feeling rough till about 4 months then all the difficulties kind of fell away . Ive still got some weight to loose maybe ill focus on that more now summer is here. You still have to accept that smoking is no longer an option. once you have that under your belt then you wont get the just one wont hurt thoughts sneaking in. Believe that we are all "a puff away from a pack a day" I really don't want to have to start quitting again the last time I relapsed I smoked for another 8 years before quitting this time, dont do that to yourself. Keep your chin up your doing well its been nice meeting you.

NOPE

Gday NOPE and wishing her luck C

Good luck to the kid!! ...and NOPE!

Deep in the archives, I found another gem from, our friend, Cristóbal Cristóbal's Quit Days % Some people are amazed that even though they may have several weeks or months quit, that they still do not feel completely "normal", and continue to miss smoking. When this happens, figure your "Quit Days %" and then you will see why. The way to calculate this is: Number of Years Smoked x 365 = Smoke Days. Number of Days Not Smoked = Quit Days. Then, Quit Days ÷ Smoke Days = "Quit Days %". --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I will go first, to be the first example. I smoked for about 30 years. 30 years x 365 = 10,950 Smoke Days. As of today, I have not smoked for 5 years, 2 months, 7 days. This period of times = 1904 Quit Days. Then, 1904 Quit Days ÷ 10,950 Smoke Days = 17.388%. This is my "Quit Days %". In other words, even at more than 5 years since my last cigarette, as of today I have been quit for only 17.388% of the total time I smoked. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now, let us take as the second example, a smoker who smoked for 30 years, and has been quit for just 4 months. These 4 months might seem like a very long time to the ex-smoker, but it is nothing when compared to 30 years. This smoker who smoked for 30 years, has 30 years x 365 = 10,950 Smoke Days. Quit time of 4 months = 120 Quit Days. 120 Quit Days ÷ 10,950 Smoke Days = Quit Days % of just 1.096%, of the total time the smoker smoked. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Smoking had a deep impact on us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. A lot of the physical damage can be repaired in a time period of about 10 years, but some of it can never be repaired - the damage is done !!! The mental, emotional, and spiritual damage can be repaired much quicker, since all of us at one time were never smokers. None of us started life with a cigarette in the mouth !!! We all know how to live life as non-smokers, we just need to remember how to do it again. And time is what is needed for that to happen. It is my experience working with others, that how quickly one becomes very comfortable in these 3 areas depends on the person and also their understanding of nicotine addiction. The more a person understands the process of separation from the active addiction, it seems to me the quicker the good comfort levels of being a non-smoker return. What is important to understand, is that the first year as a non-smoker will be spent confronting triggers, many of them that are seasonal. Once you arrive at your first year anniversary, most people can say that they are making very good progress adjusting to life as a non-smoker. Cristóbal Edited December 31, 2017 by Cristóbal 1

Okay it's been a while since I've done one of these so bear with me. And thanks to Fab for his post that has prompted me to actually get off my arse and post one of these for the first time in about 6 weeks. There's a short version and long version. Short version is quitting is a drag, but I'm okay and happy to be sticking with it and will continue to be so. Unless you want to be bored to tears don't read on. I noted this down for me as much as anything and for any of my fellow quitters that may be going through a tough time to know that they are not alone. Long Version So where are we at? Well I'll tell you. Actually not really going tell you, what I am going to do is whine and complain bitterly. Well to start with anyway. There's an emotional me that I'll let ramble on a bit, then there's the logical me and the logical me is what will continue to get me through this. Quitting is pissing me off no end. I am sick and tired of it. There I've said it and I mean it, it is tiring. I thought I would be over the worst of it now, but it is such a bloody grind, so bloody incessant that it's untrue. But wait, if it is that bad then why am I not just smoking again by now? How can it be worth knuckling down and working through it? The first week, that was easyish, tough, but a sense of euphoria that I was actually getting through day by day. Weeks 2 and 3 were a bitch, but there were good and bad days. Fourth week and getting a month in the locker, now I was really achieving something. So why has the last six weeks been tough? Well how about to start with the constant bloody negotiation with myself. This is your first attempt to give up, nobody succeeds first time round. Go on have one. You've got a month in, one can't hurt. Go on have one. You're going on holiday. Fags on holiday don't count. Go on have one. You're having a drink. You rarely drink so one can't hurt with a beer. Go on have one. I'm feeling almost constantly light-headed, so sensible to check whether smoking would get rid of that. Go on have one. I have to constantly say no to myself. I constantly have to make the smart choice. As I said tiring. Any more bad news? You bloody bet there is. Physically I feel much, much worse than when I first quit. And that is all down to the weight I've piled on and me not being as good at exercising in the winter. So I've added probably 6 to 8 kilos so far or in real money about 14 lbs, a stone, whatever you want to call it. Running right now is more difficult than it was. And nobody told me that once of the side effects of quitting was that your clothes shrunk! I didn't give up for the sake of my physical health in the first place, so to be feeling worse is a bit of a kick in the teeth. So is it all bad news? Actually this is where I let my logical self take over. So I've mentioned tiring, but are the craves as hard to deal with, is it as full on as it was at the start? Well that's the first piece of good news. No it isn't. I reckon we're probably between 50% and 75% the intensity compared to when I was first quitting. It is a grind, but if I'm honest with myself, it isn't as hard as it once was. I'm not always honest with myself emotionally, but logically I really do know the craving isn't quite what it was. Have I saved money and treated myself? Hell yes. Okay so this is the next piece of good news. Before I quit I wouldn't spend money on gym membership. Well it was a waste of money wasn't it. 50 quid a month or whatever. Well just over 3 weeks into the quit I had saved enough to buy an annual membership to the local swimming pool. So I get to go whenever I want and it doesn't cost me any extra. I love swimming yet I had forgone that for 3 weeks worth of smoking money. Since then I have saved enough additional money to pay for a really nice short vacation. This is good news. Any other reasons to be thankful. Absolutely yes! I've met some really cool people here and some that will hold a special place in my heart for years to come. In adversity you find out who your friends are and I'm thankful that our common goal have put me in touch with all of you. This is one of the main reasons I won't be throwing away my quit. While my quit is for me, it has given me the added benefit that is the opportunity to meet people I consider real friends. There are people here that I care deeply about and I will do anything in my power to help them and I know they would do the same for me. I am not throwing that away. I will continue to Nope, because I'm not deluded, I know I need that. When I first started I didn't get it. I thought Nope was for ever. It isn't my Nope is just for today, it just so happens I have managed to string 70 of those days together consecutively. While I Nope I know that I will continue to build on that. Any rambling over. Sorry about the length, but I did have seven weeks worth of detail to get off my chest. Back to sticks and chicks. 1, 2, 3 ... so much easier than the quitting journal. Specially if you're a stick.

#NOPE

NOPE.. I am the only thing that controls my life!

NOPE!

Jet Forgot to mention they reckon if you quit before you are 35 yrs old you can undo most of the damage smoking has caused.# That's not permission to smoke till 35 if you are younger than that.

Yay its Saturday. The kid has a softball grand final today.. Her first one ever... So let's all say NOPE and wish her luck.( hehehe). NOPE... Its not softball but baseball, wots the difference I hear the Brits ask.. Softballers have bigger balls. Have a happy NOPE Satdee

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Hi Jet At 6 months you are over the worst but the nicodemon will still sneak up on you every chance they get especially when you are down or some life event overwhelms you. To succeed you have to convince yourself that smoking is no longer an option and that its something you used to do that you have now grown out of.

Bravo to you, Fab, for posting. That is a testament to your desire to keep your quit. I agree the approach to the next milestone of 3 months is bumpy. There is something about the 3s that dangles before us. In reality, everyday is a milestone. Every hour, for some. For some, quitting was easy peasy lemon squeezy. For others (myself included) it was a roller coaster of a ride. Keep your seatbelt fastened...turbulent air may be on any horizon. And you'll dodge it once again.

I can't add much that everyone else hasn't already said, Fab. No Man's Land is something that most (but not all) quitters seem to hit after the first few months and that seems to be what you are going through now. Nancy put it best in talking about how the shiny has been worn off your quit. She also put it best when she said that cigarette is not your friend but your enemy that wants to kill you. Losing the safety net of QSMB and your quit buddy definitely adds to your struggles but you are doing great. 81 days smoke free is huge. You should be very proud of that. Keep with it, Fab. You are a non-smoker now. You have no use whatsoever for a cigarette.

Fab, first up it's great to see you post, it shows how important the quit is to you. I've not really posted anything here yet about how I'm going with my quit, but your post has prompted me to evaluate that and I will start my own topic detailing where I'm at currently. In essence though it is a general feeling of pretty bloody crap, but getting by. I'll not hijack your thread, but hopefully some of what I post will resonate and you will know that you're not alone in this. I think one thing we must assume is QSMB is never coming back. I hope your quit buddy does finally make it across, but if not there is a bunch of us with similar quit dates. I know different timezones can make it difficult, but is there a couple of people here you could be in touch with directly? I will happily chat with you at any time. You seem to have been a bit quieter here. Is life just busy or have you not managed to settle in comfortably yet? Smart move in posting, I have a fair amount to write down in relation to my quit, so it may take a little while, but the stuff that Sazerac and Nancy have posted today is a good starting point. Keep strong mate and keep ploughing on. You (and I really mean you) are doing a fantastic job.

NOPE!