El Bandito

Take a deep breath - and pat yourself on the back. You are doing great. My life is utterly transformed by quitting. Yours will be too.

You have moved from February into March without smoking. I am really proud of you. You should be proud of yourself. You have looked the addition in the eye and kicked it in the balls. Good work.

Newsflash. A cigarette is a distraction not a help. It is not physical - it is mental. Your mind is incredibly powerful. If it tells your body that it is physical, your body will believe it. Why wouldn't it?

Breathe. It gets better soon

Yo. Old fella here.

Nice work CPK.

Welcome Kit Cat. Keep sipping water and fruit juices. Enjoy the process. You are taking control. WELL DONE you!

Amen.

Fantastic work! Well done Kristin.

Hey Oneistoo. Doh! The trick to this thing is not to smoke. Harsh? Moi? From my personal experience here - people are not harsh. They do feel frustrated for you. They feel hurt that you did not give them a chance to help with a SOS post. Well done for getting back on the train. Next time it all gets too much. A: Come here and rant B: Send Bakon a naked selfie C: Post SOS You choose. We all want to see everyone succeed. We all want to help where we can. Now - don't smoke dopey.

Post first world war Britain. Gangs. Peaky blinders were real gang. Sewed razors into their caps which they then used as weapons.

NOPE

Happy Birthday!

Ah this old chestnut. I have absolutely no idea of the 'clinical' truth of whether there are 'Social Smokers' or whether these are abstaining addicts etc. For me personally - I know that the question is irrelevant. My wife was a self-proclaimed social smoker. She would go long periods of the day without smoking, sometimes whole days. She quit a few days after me. Often she would go in for a bit of romancing the smoke - and tell me that it was different for her. She could smoke one and then not again. I replied - "OK. Why don't you then?" "I don't want to go through that first week of quitting again" I knew a few people that would buy a couple of packs a year. Smoke at a social event, then leave the event and leave the remains of the packet much as CPK describes above - social smokers? Maybe. Rare beasts I think.

Definitely had them. A lot earlier in the quit then at 9 months, 12 months. For me, the dreams were my Sub-Conscious testing the water... How serious was I? Did abandoning the quit have consequences? Surely a milestone was an achievement - and we always smoke for achievements don't we? I would wake a bit panicky....then as I realised it was a dream, felt a flood of relief. Sending the old sub-conscious a very clear message that we no longer smoke. For achievements or anything else. As you know, I have several degrees as both a rocket surgeon and brain scientist - and that there is therefore no factual evidence to support my theory - but - Not had a dream since I hit one year. So, nutter cat. You are no madder than usual ;)

Legal Disclaimer II Regarding recent events North of Boston. I would like to clarify that any and all bad things done by someone fitting my description were not in fact done by me. All the good things were though. and Red...It was the coolest thing. Thank you. Carry On.

Legal Disclaimer I would just like to clarify that my willie has not, is not, nor will ever be hiding in Bakon's cheeks. Thank you. Carry on.

Expect a: to hear some gutsy blues about the house b: new headwear

Damn! Too late. Peaky Blinders Peaky Blinders Peaky Blinders although - I haven't watched Breaking Bad. Maybe I should

NOPE

Morning Rob! How's the head? I think that you are most of the way there - but why do you think that you pressed the 'aww F u c k it' button last night? I am asking because understanding that very thing is what switched the lightbulb on for me. The sub conscious (SC) has been characterised in a million ways, each of them true to a certain extent. I have learned that MINE is a bit of a sceptic, cynic even. I suspect that this is something shared by most addicts. It goes like this: As a kid, I tried a cigarette. It was horrible. My body was revolted. But I persevered. Why? I persevered because my sub conscious saw all of the smokers, puffing away. Some of them were incredibly important role models. My parents for a start. Surely all of these people would not smoke if it was not pleasurable? My SC worked all of this out and came up with the solution. "You are revolted because you are a kid. You want to be grown up and cool. Smoking is grown up and cool (see all the evidence) therefore we are going to suppress all of our natural responses to poison - and push through" Years later, I quit. When not being a jovial fat guy in a kilt, I build businesses. Frankly, I am a bit of a ruthless SOB. If I decide that cigarettes are counter-productive, then I will not smoke them. So I didn't. I abstained. My SC knew that I was in the cool gang and enjoyed a smoke - but my conscious will imposed itself. SC had years and years of empirical evidence, and thousands of learned behaviours to back up its assertion that I was in fact "An abstaining Smoker". As I said, I can be a ruthless SOB. Job done. My will is iron. Things is, will power is finite. That is why people who diet, yoyo in weight. Eventually the SC works out a way to revert to learned behaviour. So, after a few drinks, at a party or whatever, the SC says things like "Lets take a night off quitting tonight. Let's be in the cool gang. tomorrow - back to quitting." What harm could it do? Obviously, the harm is that a night off can become a week, a month etc. Possibly - nights off might become regular things until there are more nights on than off. But here's the thing. The real damage is this; You confirm everything that your SC believes. You confirm that smoking is good, that it is cool and you like it. Sure, you can wake up in the morning and apply your willpower and abstain again. In fact you should. Smoking is s h i t. But the real task is to take on your SC. You need to teach your SC the truth about smoking. You need to teach it the lie. You need to minutely examine each trigger, each benefit, each perceived use of the cigarette - and PROVE them to be lies. This is where the battle is fought. Get your SC onside and you are in the world of 'Easy Peasy.' Your SC is a cynic. Saying "I don't smoke anymore" is not enough. Here is the test. When you can post here with your hand on heart, that if I could prove to you that you are a special case, and can smoke a pack a day for the rest of your life with no ill effects - that you would still not smoke. Then my friend, you have cracked it. There are plenty here reading this post saying "Yep" and there are plenty here reading it with a little gulp, not sure that they are there yet. It's true though. ;) You can absolutely do this Rob.

I played Rugby and drank Scotch. Kept spilling it so gave up the Rugby.

Classy Lady.

Nice work Sonic!

'Atta girl!