Jonny5

You were always supportive, and a huge inspiration mate :-)

You're very welcome You're very welcome

Thank you Cristobal

6 years ago I smoked my last ever cigarette. Had I have continued I'd have smoked a further 87,600 cigarettes! If my chain smoking hadn't cut short my life. The turnaround in my life has been tremendous since quitting. I also quit drinking and got myself a BlackBelt in Karate amongst other personal triumphs :-) When you set your mind to it, there's nothing you can't achieve. Your life, your choices, your successes and consequences.

Thanks TAC :-) yes I got my Black Belt in Karate on 12th December. Just in time for my 5 year quit anniversary :-)

5 Years ago I put out my last cigarette and went to bed, I didn’t realize that it was my last one, I only knew that the next morning, when I woke up and decided that I wasn’t doing it anymore. Little did I know of the amazing journey upon which I was about to embark, or of the people I would meet, the friends I would make, and the adventures that I would have. I was 37 Years old, and had been “Trying” to stop smoking for as long as I could remember. I was a 40+ per day chain smoker. My health was poor, and my self esteem was low. I was a prisoner to my addiction, I was old before my time, and I felt hopeless and helpless. My big revelation happened when I realised the most simplest of truths. I realised that nothing was going to make me not want to smoke anymore. Nothing was going to suddenly make me a non smoker and erase my cravings and longings and habitual behaviours. There was not a single product on the market that could do that. I realised that to stop smoking I had to really honestly want to stop smoking, not want to not want to smoke, but I genuinely had to mean it. I realised that it’s hard to force yourself to do something you don’t really want to do, but easy and simple to stop doing something that you don’t want to do. To stop smoking, you just stop smoking. And that’s pretty much it, nothing terrible would happen to me if I didn’t smoke, but a future of uncertainty and ill health awaited me if I did. 5 years later and I have saved myself from spending approximately £35,000 by not buying 73,000 cigarettes, and I have turned my life around. Quitting smoking was like a catalyst that unlocked my mind from self doubt and empowered me to find self realisation. I have subsequently Quit Alcohol, and I’m currently 4 years and 8 months sober. And just last week I was awarded my first Dan Black Belt in Karate. It’s your life, and your choices. Dare to dream and become whatever you want to be…. I’m Jon, and I’m a non smoker :-)

I love the sentiment Rez, personally for me, I had to move on from "try" to "do" I found it too easy to say I tried, it still gave me too much wriggle room, I had to pin myself to a commitment to Do :-)

Suz, like I said on FB... You are Awesome :-)

:-)

Every new chapter is a step further away from your former smoking life. Hope tomorrow is better :-)

Love It Sarge :-)

over the last few weeks I've had some interesting experiences, which threw up some observations about triggers. I was on a photography job, and took my camping stove, it was not stressful, and there were no emotions attached, other than a little reminiscing that the last time I used the stove was while touring europe, and that my coffee stops were also smoking stops... and a trigger hit me, it annoyed me more than anything, I recognised the feeling and ignored it. a few days ago I went to the English Open Karate Championships, it was a very exciting but also nervous, and at times frightening experience, I was up against fighters from around the world, including the current world champ. but no triggers hit me at all. there were tons of emotions but no trigger at all. Now bear in mind that the last big tournament I fought in was before I became a smoker... my conclusion personally was that triggers occur when you do something that you done previously as a smoker. it's the brain remembering the sequence of events, and reminding you that it's time to smoke, based upon what you used to do. therefore it is not a desire to smoke, or a crave as some may call it, but instead just a fading memory, and autocue. I have used the stove since, and the trigger did not reappear. I also conclude that had I have started smoking earlier than I did, then more life events would be attached to smoking and triggers, likewise had I continued to smoke and not quit till later years, I would have accumulated more smoking related experiences. Therefore I believe that it would be easier to quit had you smoked a shorter time, than if you had smoked a longer time. and easier if you had smoked less cigarettes than if you had smoked more. I still think that the physiological change when we quit is similar in anyone who has smoked long enough to get addicted to nicotine, but it's the emotional part of the quit that I think is different in all of us. therefore be patient with yourself if you see someone appear to be doing the quit easier than you, chances are that they have less relearning to do, and be patient with your loved ones and peers who aren't doing as well as you, they may have a lot more relearning to do :-)

brilliant :-)

I can see everyone's view, it's a personal observation rather than a rule, and it's based on many things. Personally I do not miss smoking. Maybe it's because I group all of the side effects as a whole package, or maybe it's because I know that My enjoyment was only the relief of my withdrawals. And although my logic suggests that we all had the same physiological reaction to smoking and withdrawals, I can't say what it was for anyone else, as we all attach different emotional connections to cigarettes. What I'm sure we all agree with is that we all know that we can not go back to cigarettes. We know that they are no longer an option that we can afford to choose. So maybe finding a way to remove the romantic memories of smoking is a good mental strategy? I think my hate of cigarettes is extreme in reality, but it works for me :-)

make it a living choice, not a dying one.

thanks Doreen :-)

Laura, You will feel exactly how you choose to feel. it's about perspective. bear with with me while I paint a picture.... it's 20 years from now, You have been on oxygen for 5 years, your lovely face is weathered and worn. You can bearly recognise the beautiful woman you once were. You are sitting in the hospice, with your family around you. Your kids are looking at you, feeling angry and robbed, they hate cigarettes and what they have done to you. there isn't much time time left for you anymore, your body is failing, yet your mind is still sharp enough to reflect on the poor choices of the past, everytime the morphine wears off, you recall when you once tried to quit but couldn't get it together to see it through, You live and die with this regret. You dream and imagine being able to go back 20 years to today, You see yourself struggling to motivate yourself, you see yourself looking for a reason to quit. and you tell yourself what will happen, but she doesn't listen, she doesn't find the motivation. Now imagine that you have seen this future, and that you are back in the now, and that you do still have a chance and a reason. grab it with both hands Laura and don't you let go. I can push you, but I can't pull you up that rope.

I bought a bicycle :-) and used it to have some escape and excercise time, I would ride to do my weekly visit to my Grandmother instead of driving, and listen to "the easyway" audiobook whilst riding :-)

It will get easier for you if you stick to it, and keep your commitment and focus

I don't know entirely Sarge, we do a pretty good job of recieving and accepting the brainwashing and programming of Phillip Morris, our peers, and the media, regarding how hard it is to quit. You know "them" what "They" say (private Jonny/Sarge joke ) that program kept me trapped in my own mind for too long. I believe that Hypnotherapy is simlply NLP under a very relaxed state. pretty much like all the other brainwashing :-) at the end of the day, it is what it is to our own individual perspective and belief, it's kinda like a placebo, if you think it will help you, then it probably will :-) easy peasy lemon squeezy ;-)

and such a painful quit just reinforces our own delusion that we can't succeed :-( it was revelation and education that helped me save myself.

another trigger bites the dust :-)

several years back, in one of my failed quits, I decided to try hypnotherapy. I saw a real life hypnotherapist, and I got an audio tape of Paul Mckenna's stop smoking trance stuff. none of it did jack. I finished each session and went and got a cigarette and put it in my mouth and smoked. they had failed to make me not want to smoke. I later learned why. Years passed and the day of the ipod came. I downloaded a new hypnotherapy track about better sleep, and relaxation.... it worked! I was shocked and surprised. the same author had a stop smoking track, so I thought I'd try it.... it didn't work! but some of his words stuck in my mind... ......"You must be determined that you will never smoke again" I realised the major flaw in my mindset and my attitude towards quitting.... I did not want to quit my beloved smokes, I wanted something to painlessly just stop me from loving them, and to make me repulsed by them. until that moment I never realised that 'something' was me. I had to be determined that I would never smoke again the hypnotherapy, gums, patches, groups, counsellors, etc etc... were all just things to assist my own desire to quit, they could not envoke the desire, I had to do that. some of you are waiting for something to change your desire to smoke... it's rare that anything will do that, this is why so many of us smoke ourselves literally to death. You have to will yourself quit smoking. no one and nothing can do that for you.

thanks Al :-) Yes I love that film :-) especially the message about believing, sometimes we feel embarrassed to hope, and have blind faith in what can seem like nonsense, but belief is crucial to the quit.

that will soon rise I'm sure :-) I can envisage a big influx of newbies soon :-)