Susana

Hi! Thanks got your words of encouragement! I have a friend at home for the weekend so I'm non-stop busy. Great time!!! She smokes. I have no desire to smoke. I don't even like the smell of fresh smoke. But my body craves. I'm using nico-gum, which is helping immensely. But as soon aa she is gone I want to start ditchig the gum. Sorry about my spelling. New phone ;-)

Where is everybody????? Come on, boys and girls, get up and pledge with me! It is a beautiful Saturday to reinforce our quits, or to actually quit if somebody was still looking for the "right moment" to get on the train. Choo choo... I will not smoke today. N.O.P.E. :)

WOW! What a positive and encouraging insight from a really clear and strong quit.... I hope this post will help you as much as it has helped me. Thank you. :give_heart2:

- I'm grumpy because I've quit smoking.... WRONG!!!! You are grumpy because it is the end of the month and you have no money left, or because you have been eating too much crap and you know it, or because that girl you like looks down at you... get real! - I can't sleep because I've quit smoking... WRONG!!!! You can't sleep because you are overworked and worried about 10.000 things at once. Quitting is just one of them. Tackle the other 9.999 first and then we'll see... - I've put weight. That's because I've quit smoking.... WRONG!!!! You've put weight because you are eating lots of comfort food and sitting around doing nothing. Keep your quit, and keep moving! - I can't stand people because I've quit smoking... WRONG!!!! People are awful. Horrid. You notice more when you quit because you are a notch cleverer than them. Don't step down that notch! If you do they will still be unbearable and awful and horrid... and so will you. - I can't quit. I'm too weak... WRONG!!!! You don't have to be strong to quit smoking. You don't need will power. You don't need magic. You just need to want to quit. If you want to, you will. If you don't want to... wait until you want too. It is only YOU here. Please feel free to add... I'm sure I'll come back with a few more entries. It's the weekend and I'll have a smoking friend staying with me. I'm sure I'll come back with a few more entries...

Tiffany, I´m sorry that you have to go through such a rough patch. After a nice holiday it must feel like crap to go back to real life. What a downer! But to think that relapsing is going to make real life more bearable is junkie thinking of the lowest kind. Come on, Tiffany´s nicodemon! You can do better than that! ... or maybe you can´t? Please Tiffany, don´t fall for such a con! What would happen if you smoke now, after over a month. Just that one? a) You may hate it. And then you´ll feel even more crap. You´ll still feel down and stressed, but on top of that you´ll also feel like an idiot. And then you´ll want to quit again and you´ll have to start from scratch. Grrrrrr... not a good idea b.) You may love it. And then you go back to being a smoker. You´ve been there, so you know that you will never be a happy smoker ever ever again. You´ll be a crappy smoker, a cupboard smoker, hiding for a while, you´ll start coughing and feeling bad, and then a few weeks down the line you´ll have to start from scratch. Grrrrr... not a good idea. So sorry, girl, the only way forward is.... forward. One day at a time. One step and another step. And another step. You were talking about how sad it is that our parents grow older. Of course it is sad. They are older than us. We know they will get old, and eventually they will leave us. It is sad. But we know. We are somewhat prepared to it. It is life. We can´t change it, just prepare ourselves to live it. Look at your patients. Not the parents, but the children. The sick sons and sick daughters. Nothing in this world can prepare a father or a mother, a grandpa, a granny, to even entertain the idea that they may outlive their offspring. That is not how life should go. We can´t change it and we can´t ´prepare ourselves for that. Hang on... there is something we can ACTUALLY do as children, as grandchildren, which is to look after ourselves. Sometimes life sucks and illness sucks, but it sucks even more when we had the chance to prevent it and we didn´t. Look after yourself, Tiffany, please. You must have noticed how much better you feel physically when you do not smoke. You are running, you must look stunning, you must have lots of energy. Why would you want to throw all that away? How would your dad feel when he found out? I don´t want to play emotional blackmail. I´m sure the above thoughts have crossed your mind regardless of what I may say here. Please let´s leave them as thoughts and do not harm yourself. ((((((((((((((Tiffany))))))))))))))))

WOW! I just saw this... THANK YOU!!!!!! Your support is very important to me.

Well done, Holski. You deserve to win. Go girl!!!!

Hahahahaha! I understand how puzzling it must be for Americans that in such a tiny space (Europe) you find so many different languages, cultures, religions, foods, ethnic types... I live in a holiday resort, by the Mediterranean sea, and my neighbours are from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, The UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Ecuador, Mexico, Spain (some), Finland, Holland, Belgium, Germany... let me think... Poland, Russia, Romania... and that´s just the residents, now in Summer, this is buzzing with tourists from all over the world. I saw a car with Oregon plates the other day. Weird place to live.

Sharon, that is the loveliest hut I´ve seen. Really pretty! Huts are a great idea. So British and clean and proper! I´ll go to the beach on Sunday and post pictures of the contraptions the Spaniards put up here... hahahahahaha!

Hot and steamy in Costa Blanca too. Today, Stu, I´m going to embrace my freedom, and a mojito or three. And I´m going to kick nicodemon right on his stinky ass if he dares to show his wares at me. N.O.P.E. Smoking stinks.

And what a hell of a week it has been!. At points I thought I wasn´t going to make it. I really had to fight hard against my worst junkie thoughts. I encountered really bad cravings at odd times. I posted a semi-SOS and found the courage to be honest and describe how (crappy) I felt. Thank you all for being there for me. Then the last two days.... plain sailing. Amazing! Also I´m already seeing some benefits: - My mouth is full of ulcers. This is good because it means that the lining of my mouth is healing and renewing and soon I will have nice pink gums and whiter teeth. :D - I don´t have smokers cough any more. Funny how it disappears after just a couple of days´ quit and it comes back after just one day´s smoking. However I do cough, a lot after exercising, and I´m chucking out garbage. Which is good. Better out than in. - I smell nice. And I can tell because I can smell a smoker from a distance, and it is revolting. - No more smokey hangovers!!!!!!! Last night I celebrated my driving licence and drank quite a lot. But today I feel GREEEEEAT!, OK,a little bit woolly-headed, but nothing compared with that horrible feeling the day after drinking AND smoking. Yesssss!!!!!!! - I´m actually putting my 4.5€ in a wine glass every night, and I can see it piling up now. I need a larger glass... and soon a jar. I recommend every new quitter does this. The visual is really amazing. So bring on Heck week! I can´t wait! B)

Great news, Jay!!! You set at quit date and you quit. that´s two steps forward already You are quit now... keep your quit safe, nurture it, one day at a time. Well done you! :good:

Autobahn in Germany. Autovía in Spain. hee hee hee :P

Hmmmm.... given the replies, maybe what the mum meant is "yes, but we can´t say anything to them here - because we may end up with a broken leg, a black eye or a tirade of abuse - it is not like in Texas - where you can address a smoker nicely and say "sorry, Mr. smoker, do you know what you are doing is killing you and could damage my little girl?" and the nice Texan smoker replies "oh, I´m ever so sorry, I´ll put it down without further delay, my dear. Have the nicest of days you and your little one :) " ;)

Oooops.... I bought a car last year when I first quit and I felt so empowered that I passed the theory exam.... I spent 3 years´ worth of non-smoking money.... oooops... and then relapsed... thanks god I finally quit, or I might have had to give the car back. it is just like this:

Spain went from "smoking absolutely everywhere" to a very strict law where you can´t smoke anywhere indoors, in nor outside hospitals, in nor outside schools, and no smoking in or around children´s play parks. Most bars and restaurants do their best to have a bit or a lot of a smoking area outside. Airports are strictly non-smoking, and so are train platforms, train stations, tube stations etc. Although people don´t comply with non-smoking on outdoor train platforms. And doctors, nurses and patients still smoke outside hospitals, only not at the very entrance door.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YTSF-EsLHk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSfKcZYcLiU

Oh, Cher, I´m so sorry. (((((((((Cher))))))))))))))

Holy Molly! I´ve passed my driving test!!!! I passed the theory test on my first sitting, and have just passed the practice test on my first try. "Elation" is an understatement. This is f***ing unbelievably amazing! I don´t know anybody that has passed both tests at the first try... What a boost for my self-esteem!!! And I´m at day 6 of what is going to be my last and final quit. If I haven´t smoked today, I don´t see what would "make me" think about smoking. Holy Molly. Thank you for believing in me even at times when I didn´t believe in myself. :give_heart2: wroom wroom...

I will not smoke tomofrow ;-) Nor will I smoke today. NOPE

"Keep busy" you said... "keep your dingera buzy" you said... ;-);-):-P

I have a new phone. Reading and liking what i reqd. Just found out that if i tilt the phone the keyboard gets BIGGER!