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Sazerac Quit Date: October 23, 2013, A Good Day to be Free. Posted July 10, 2018 Some quit on a whim, others quit making a sensible plan and map it all out as best they can. There are many successful quits between the extremes. The important bit is the seminal moment in your life when you say, 'I quit smoking'. I spontaneously said, 'I've quit. If I don't feel better in a few days, I can always smoke but, let's see your mettle and give this an honest try' I had no idea the process took a lot longer than a few days. I had no concept at all about nicotine addiction. I was supremely ignorant. To be honest, it actually takes nicotine a lot longer than a few days to completely leave your body. Think about it...we have nicotine infested tar in our lungs clinging to our cilia. Tar, ffs. This doesn't disapate in a few days. Ever have tar on your feet ? It takes a solvent like gasoline to remove it. The miracle is that our bodies do purge themselves of most. Still, remnants remain. Remants remain forever in our DNA. A sobering fact. After a few days, gathering more knowledge about addiction, I extended the premise of starting smoking again 'if I don't feel better in ...days...weeks...' Some days, I thought, if I don't feel better in five minutes I can always smoke. There were many times when acknowledging the choice saved my quit. My decision to quit smoking held and my resolve to commit to this choice grew minute by minute. It grew by quantumn leaps every damn crave I beat. I'm sharing this thinking about new quitters and smokers on the fence, before the choice to quit becomes clear and non negotiable. You may not have a serious dose of resolve about your decision to quit. Do not worry about this, resolve grows with knowledge and time. After a while there should be no turning back, you will know too much and will have a deeper power committing to your decision. This decision to quit smoking is one of the best decisions you can make in your life. It teaches you about commitment. It nurtures your self respect, self confidence. It saves your life. Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/10704-decisionsresolve/

joe Quit Date: 11/20/2013 Posted December 21, 2014 Yesterday was 13 months since my last cigarette.... While wrapping presents tonight, my wife asked if I feel any "different" this year than i did last year. After thinking about it for a few minutes, I had to say , that I truly dont remember how bad it REALLY felt last year... Don't get me wrong,..I know I was having cravings every time I turned around and I think to some degree, still going the the "withdraw" process...maybe not physically, but mentally. I am sure my mind was always searching for an excuse to run outside and light up.....BUT to actually remember that it was SOOO unbearable, or painful...I really cant remember... I do remember that early in my quit it was a struggle..like we all have...but..its now more like a vague memory.... So..any of you newbies ou there who are recently quit..or one of you lurkers who are on the fence... The best advise I can give is to jump in with both feet and commit to the quit!! There will be times that it seems almost impossible, but as time goes on, you will wonder to yourself why you ever even thought that it was impossible to quit!.. Just put your mind to it, commit to N.O.P.E. and you will soon find out what I am talking about...What you perceive as "hard" or "painful" is only temporary...the permanent effects from quitting smoking are sooooo much more memorable!! Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/3890-how-quickly-we-forget/

Cbdave Quit Date: 10th oct 2015 Posted February 4, 2019 G’day I’m cbdave and more often that not I get to raise the NOPE pledge of a morning. Being close to the international date line and living on the east coast of Australia means that I get to see the new day a lot earlier than most. If I’m off fishing it can be really early as I hate my phone smelling of fish bait. It wasn’t always that way. I never posted a NOPE on the QSMB board in those first months. I thought it was a tad daggy. Couldn’t see the sense in it, if I smoked it was my fault it wasn’t needed to keep me honest. Had a bit of a rethink about the three month mark as I had two quit killers coming up. First a wedding with old friends who smoked and drinks... normally a recipes for smoking if every there was. On my return a biopsy for cancer. Sobering. So I started to post to keep myself in touch with the board and more importantly as an acknowledgement that Yes I was really an Addict. It really hit home that I needed to fess I that I was only a puff away from going back to that standard 20 cigs a day! So that’s me, now a diferent board ....but still taking the time to acknowledge the addict in me.... if only once a day. So pledge or don’t pledge but never forget what it stands for Not One Puff Ever Chris Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/11876-to-nope-or-not-to-nope/

Mee Quit Date: 08/01/2018 Posted August 31, 2019 I used to think I did not have the willpower to quit smoking. Every attempt, my thoughts would drift back to needing that cigarette and the excuses of why I could not quit. Last night, as I lay in bed, I could not get this word out of my mind. I realized that, over the past year, this word has really changed meaning for me. I always had the willpower to quit smoking, I just did not know how to do it. Stumbling across this forum was a life changer for me. We all have the power to change our lives for the better, but many times we do not feel we have the strength or "will" to do so. That has a lot to do with our self esteem. How can we not feel lowly about ourselves, when we are addicted to a behavior that is destroying ourselves. Know that you can change your life and , in my case, the meaning of this word. Now that I have quit smoking, I have the willpower to do anything I want. I have the willpower to stay in control of my life. What a wonderful feeling. Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/12930-willpower/

Markus Members 644 Quit Date: 02-19-2008 Posted April 13, 2014 · IP Want to quit smoking? Good. That takes some nerve and that alone is enough to get it done. You don't have to be smart, you just need to use the courage and will that you have, in the right way, and get that brain of yours aligned to make it happen. Just quit. Do it now. There, you just quit. It's that easy. Now you are craving a smoke of course. It gets better, just as soon as you set your mind to being a non smoker and you free yourself from yourself, and from how you choose to live your life. This place cannot help you quit, it can't give you a quit, and it can't keep you quit. Only you can do that, and it's a choice. Either smoke. Or quit. The only thing that can happen to you here is to get encouragement and support. All that people here can do for you is to tell you how and to promise you that it can be done. You are absolutely going to have to hold yourself accountable and commit to staying quit, all on your own. This place can be effective in teaching you how to start walking after you've been crawling (quit) on your own, if you use it the right way. Understand that you are an addict first, and that's why you smoke because smoking is your answer to everything. If you are quitting you should realize that smoking is the answer to nothing. This also includes the journey ahead of you. A cigarette will never be the answer to anything you need. Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/589-want-to-quit-smoking-consider-this/

Sirius Quit Date: May 27, 2014 Posted August 16, 2019 What?!?!?! Say again? Well according to a few studies and some peripheral observations there ARE a few benefits to regularly using tobacco products. Lower's risk of total knee replacement in men. Lower's risk of Parkinson's disease. Lower's risk of obesity. Lower's risk of unwanted pregnancy..b'cuz you ain't getting any Ashtray-breath. The Joys of momentary gratification as you feed your habit. There are suggestions that smoking alleviates ulcerative colitis. No need to plan for your 80th birthday. There is some blurriness to this list. For instance, you may not need total knee replacement because you weigh less because of smoking BUT if you DO need total knee replacement as a smoker your chance's of complications are much, much higher. In just about every other way smoking increases your risk of acquiring or worsening every other disease or medical complication, for instance (and just to name a few): Alzheimer's Dementia Glaucoma Macular degeneration Coronary Heart Disease Aneurysm Peripheral vascular disease Stroke Heartburn Peptic ulcers Vericose Veins Crohn's disease Gallstones Osteoporosis Asthma Lower respiratory tract infections Stained teeth Premature tooth-loss Various gum diseases Premature aging of the skin (your largest organ) Persistent coughing Smelly hair Yellowed fingers Bronchitis High cholesterol Weaker immune system Infertility (see benefits #4) Major diabetes complications Blood clots Early menopause COPD High blood pressure Decrease in sense of smell Pregnancy complications New born complications An increase of varying degrees of just about every kind of cancer Renal failure Increased chance of falling asleep and dying in FIRE. Yes, this has happened. Increased chance of complications and lengthened recovery periods of many medical procedures and surgeries ...and most significant of all...erectile dysfunction (see benefits #4; again). And these are just the medical disadvantages to smoking. We won't bother considering the disadvantages related to personal expenses, taxes, social stigmata, or the medical disadvantages of second hand smoke that impacts those YOU ARE CLOSEST TO YOU, or the resale value of that ashtray-on-wheels you call your car or the stench rising from your cloths. Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/12878-benefits-of-smoking/

Aine Quit Date: 2-26-2014 Posted May 4, 2019 The Law of Addiction Most quitting literature suggests that it normally takes multiple failed quitting attempts before the user self-discovers the key to success. What they fail to tell you is the lesson eventually learned, or that it can be learned and mastered during the very first try. Successful recovery isn't about strength or weakness. It's about a mental disorder where by chance our dopamine pathway receptors have eight times greater attraction to a nicotine molecule than to the receptor's own neurotransmitter. We call it the "Law of Addiction" and it states: "Administration of a drug to an addict will cause re-establishment of chemical dependence upon the addictive substance." Roughly half of relapsing quitters report thinking that they thought they could get away with using just once. The benefit of fully accepting that we have a true chemical dependency and permanent priorities disorder can't be overstated. It greatly simplifies recovery's rules while helping protect against relapse. Key to arresting our illness is obedience to one simple concept, that "one is too many and a thousand never enough." There was always only one rule, no nicotine just one hour, challenge and day at a time. Navigating Withdrawal and Reclaiming Hijacked Dopamine Pathways Like clockwork, constantly falling nicotine reserves soon had hostage dopamine pathways generating wanting for more. Sensing that "want" thousands of times per year, how could we not expect to equate quitting to starving ourselves to death? Again, the essence of drug addiction is about dependency quickly burying all memory of our pre-dependency self. Thus, the first step in coming home and again meeting the real us is emptying the body of nicotine. It's amazingly fast too. Cut by half every two hours, our mind and body become 100% nicotine-free within 72 hours of ending all use. Extraction complete, peak withdrawal now behind you, true healing can begin. While receptor sensitivities are quickly restored, down-regulation of the number of receptors to levels seen in never-users may take up to 21 days. But within two to three weeks your now arrested dependency is no longer doing the talking. Quitting fears and dread are gradually thawing and melting into "like" or even "love." You're beginning to sense the truth about where you've been. It's critical during early withdrawal to not skip meals, especially breakfast. Attempting to do so will likely cause blood sugar levels to plummet, making recovery far more challenging than need be. Why? A stimulant, nicotine activates the body's fight or flight response, feeding the addict instant energy by pumping stored fats and sugars into the bloodstream. It allowed us to skip breakfast and/or lunch without experiencing low blood sugar symptoms such as feeling nervous or jittery, trembling, irritability, anxiousness, anger, confusion, difficulty thinking or an inability to concentrate. Minimize or avoid those symptoms. Eat little, healthy and often. If your diet and health permit, drink some form of natural fruit juice for the first three days. Cranberry juice is excellent. It will aid in stabilizing blood sugar while accelerating removal of the alkaloid nicotine from your bloodstream. Also, heavy caffeine users need to know that (as strange as this sounds), nicotine doubles the rate by which the liver eliminates caffeine from the bloodstream. One cup of coffee, tea or one cola may now feel like two. While most caffeine users can handle a doubling of intake, consider a modest reduction of up to one-half if feeling anxious, irritable or unable to sleep following caffeine use. One caution. While we need not give-up any activity except nicotine use, use extreme caution with early alcohol use as it is associated with roughly 50% of all relapses. The above is an excerpt from John Polito's article, "Nicotine Addiction 101". It explains the science behind why it is so darn difficult to quit nicotine and to stay quit. The full article is here: https://whyquit.com/whyquit/LinksAAddiction.html Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/12338-the-true-nature-of-nicotine-addiction/