K. Lou

Thank you both for your support! i will just keep my head down and put one foot in front of the other. Just for today.

Thank you buMbleB!

N.O.P.E.

So I started my day smoke free. I am at work right now. I don't smoke at work so no triggers for me there. Thank you all for your support!

I keep trying to quit and keep failing. I cannot pass the two week mark. I start my quit really excited every time. I am all out of excuses. I cannot keep quitting and relapsing. My real problem is not the cravings and urges but the feeling of panic I get every time I think I'm no longer gonna smoke. I know this is not the right attitude, but I cannot help it. Anyways, this is my new quit date, I have one last cigarette at home waiting for me after I finish work and then that's it.

Good luck Tina and congratulations on your decision! I have never tried hypnosis and I don't know anyone who had so I have no helpful information for you. I am curious though about all this. I really hope this helps you to quit and stay quit. I really hope you write about your experience.

I always thought I had an addictive personality. When I was little I was addicted to sucking my thumb whenever I could even at school. My addiction led to three years of braces and a lot of discomfort, but I stopped sucking my thumb and got really straight teeth at the end.I replaced that addiction with another one, bitting my nails. My mum took take of that addiction coating my nails with a really nasty tasting polish. I now have the luxury to spend hours painting them and feeling pretty. My high school sweetheart was a smoker. As I was head over heels in love with him I found the smell and taste of stale smoke marvelous. I started smoking too, to look cool, sexy, mature and sophisticated. We broke up, I haven't seen him in years but the smoking stuck with me. I recently started thinking of quitting, after a discussion with a friend about our first cigarettes, I realised I have been smoking for years. After some quick calculations I was amazed at the amount of the cigarettes I smoked and the money I spent even when I was unemployed. Money I could have spend doing other more exciting things. How stupid I have been. I began realising how awful I smell, my clothes, my hair, my room. I looked at old pictures, I always have a cigarette in my hand, smoking... how sophisticated I looked (not at all). I did some research about smoking and smoking cessation and the benefits and read other people's stories of how they made the positive decision to quit smoking. I felt envy. I wanted to be like them. Could I? Would I? I definitely should. So here I am, turning a new smokefree leaf....

When you are a smoker and I mean a serious everyday pack smoker, your life revolves around the cigarettes you smoke. The first one with your morning coffee. The one during your break, the one when you get home and you want to relax, the one before and the one after lunch. The one after your nap. The one with your wine or beer or any kind of drink on your night out, the one before you go to sleep. and repeat, and repeat and repeat. Smoking becomes a part of expressing your emotions, when you are angry, or sad or happy or anxious or nervous or bored or exciting, when you are mourning or celebrating. Sometimes you remember the cigarettes that you smoke sometimes you don't. But you always remember the times when you were low on cigarettes and you had to go out and try to find a store to buy a pack or more to get your through your day. You also remember the times when you couldn't wait to go out for a smoke, work, classes, some meeting or other, visiting non smoking friends and relatives, hospitals, weddings, non smoking bars and restaurants. Thinking when this is going to stop so I can have a smoke? Regardless if it was a happy or sad occassion, or even a friend needed your attention and support. When smokers are not allowed to smoke you can catch a glimpse of the addiction you can find the similarities between other drug addicts (junkies, alcooholics). When a smoker quits you can catch a glimpse of the person they really are. They are good people with good intentions, they are caring and supporting. They become better because they become free. They can enjoy life to the fullest because they don't have a thought of having a cigarette over their heads. When you quit smoking you start a new life. You can reinvent yourself. Most smokers don't know life without cigarettes. They can't imagine life without the smoking routine. I couldn't, sometimes I still can't. It's a struggle. But sometimes for a few seconds I get a glimpse of the smoke free life...and during those seconds I realise that I want that life, I want to be that person... I want to start over...I want to become free. To those who are struggling like me to quit, try to focus on those few seconds of the smoke free life, and cherish those seconds until they become a reality.At least that's what I am trying to do...

I keep having cravings. I really want to smoke. I keep thinking I saved money, it gets better, this too shall pass, but none of it motivates me.

Thank you all for your thoughtful suggestions! I try to keep always busy and be on the move but sometimes you know the thought of smoking just creeps up on you! i find it helps a lot painting your nails. You have sth to do and you have to wait for them to dry before you touch anything else. I take my morning coffee to go so I won't have to stay still at one place and sip coffee.The cravings are that intense, I get by... I have more trouble with the habit part of it. you know adapting and readjusting....

What I am gonna do with all this spare time I have now that I am quitting....????? What I am supposed to do while I' relaxing????

my first day. I'm still optimistic. However I dread tomorrow and when the time of my first cup of coffee cames.