babs609

my musical taste varies....love PINK!

I will not smoke..and that's no april fool's joke.....it's for life!

pledging nope for 3/31.. NOPE!! Not today! No smoking for me!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=XAbY2cmEsS0

The Cuckoo's Calling by J.K. Rowling Pretty interesting so far

I'm on the Quit Train Today!! Not One Puff Ever... and since it's The Quit Train's first daily pledge.....we'll start small :)

very well said jenny! Once you face each trigger head-on, that trigger is weakened. The addict thinking reprogrammed.

One of my favorites!

One of the most effective ways to proactively and permanently change the way you think is with daily affirmations. These reminders are uplifting truths you want to believe and heartwarming convictions about yourself or the world as a whole. They train your brain to think positively.

Me too!! As a matter of fact, I only watch Netflix. My son still watches the cable for sports too but once he leaves in July, I think I will cancel it. I actually just watched Hunger Games last night. Didn't think I would be into it but I really liked it. Look forward to the sequal.

Quitting tobacco is a process. It doesn't happen overnight, but compared to the amount of time most of us spent smoking, recovery from nicotine addiction is relatively short. Years of smoking taught us to react to literally everything by lighting a cigarette. When we were happy, we'd celebrate by lighting up. When we got angry, smoking would calm us down, or so we thought. Tired? Smoke a cigarette to stay awake. Hungry? Feed yourself a smoke. This list goes on and on. Between the physical addiction to nicotine and the mental associations that tie what seems like all of our activities to cigarettes, it can feel as though we're chained to the habit with links of steel. Successful recovery includes learning how to hear the message behind the urge to smoke and respond with more appropriate choices, such as a nap or a meal, for instance. Have patience with yourself. This skill takes some time to hone, but you'll get better at it. Eventually, cigarettes will fade as a fix for physical and emotional needs, and you'll make choices that actually address the signal your body is sending without thinking twice about it. When the Urge to Smoke Hits, Think H.A.L.T. H.A.L.T. (Hungry,Angry,Lonely,Tired) is a powerful checklist to help you decode the urges to smoke that you experience. Nine times out of ten, a craving can be traced to one of these four things: Hungry Have a snack or a meal. If you are hungry, food is the answer, not a cigarette. If you're concerned about weight gain, try drinking water before you eat a snack to help control the amount you eat. Keep healthy snacks on hand. Celery sticks, raw baby carrots and frozen grapes make good low calorie snacks. Normal weight gain due to quitting smoking is 5-8 pounds. Metabolism does slow a bit initially, so some daily exercise is a good idea. Things will balance out and that quit-related weight will drop off within a couple of months as long as you're eating the same as you were before you stopped smoking. Don't be too hard on yourself. Try to eat in moderation, but until you get your quit program under solid control, don't fret if you gain a few pounds. Quitting tobacco must be in the top slot of your priority list for as long as it takes. Weight can always be lost later. Angry Anger is a big trigger for most of us. Find healthy outlets for your feelings of frustration. If at all possible, deal with the situation that is bothering you head on and be done with it. Talk to friends and family about your feelings or write in your journal. The important thing is not to let anger simmer and get the upper hand. Reaching for a cigarette can seem like a quick fix, but it is a false fix. We may not always be able to choose the events that happen around us, but we do have control over how we let external situations affect us emotionally. Come up with a few ideas of things you can do to help you shift negative energy that bubbles up before it has the chance to do any damage. That way, when a situation arises, you're prepared. It will help you maintain control and get through it without smoking. Remind yourself that no one has the power to affect your emotions without your approval. You control your inner environment, for better or worse. Take responsibility for how you feel and it will empower you to control difficult emotions smoke-free. Lonely For most ex-smokers, loneliness is more accurately described as boredom. Smoking was such a constant companion it was an activity in and of itself. Early on in cessation, distraction is a useful tool that can help you manage feelings of boredom. Get out for a walk, watch a movie, or work on a hobby. Come up with a list of things you enjoy doing and do some of them. Make them fun and they will help you over the hump of this type of smoking trigger. Depression also falls under this category. People quitting tobacco are especially susceptible to the blues, at least early on. Leaving cigarettes behind can feel like the loss of a friend, albeit a destructive, life-stealing friend. After years of smoking, most of us feel the loss of smoking in this way to some extent. If you feel yourself slipping into a funk, take action. Change your environment(internal, external, or both) and it will help you change your attitude. It's ok to mourn the death of your smoking habit, but don't glorify it as something it was not. It was out to KILL you, remember that! Tired Fatigue can be a big trigger for the newly quit. Instead of lighting up when you're tired, give yourself permission to slow down and relax a little, take a nap, or go to bed early if you need to. Sounds so simple, yet people often push themselves too far with all of the demands of life these days. Be aware and take care. Don't let yourself get run down. A tired you is going to be more susceptible to junkie thinking and the threat of relapse. Protect your quit by protecting your health, both physically and mentally. It may feel like you'll never be free of cigarettes and thoughts of smoking will always plague you, but have some faith in yourself and the process, and please be patient. We taught ourselves to smoke, and we can teach ourselves to live comfortably without smokes too. Soon enough, you'll get to a place where smoking cessation is no longer a daily effort. You may even wonder why you didn't quit sooner, because life without cigarettes has become natural and easy. In the meantime, keep H.A.L.T. in your arsenal of quit tools and use it to decipher those urges as they come, one by one. great article by Terry Martin

1. It's not as hard as you think. Once you begin to be honest with yourself and to look at the facts about smoking, it will become a pleasure to remove this addiction from your life. 2. Square off with your smoking habit. Look at it and size it up. Ask yourself exactly what it is doing for you; then ask yourself what it is not doing for you. You can begin with your hair and work your way down to the tips of your toes. It is a medical fact that smoking affects every organ in the human body in a harmful way. 3. Look at quitting cigarettes as giving yourself a gift-a very big gift. You are giving yourself a better quality of life and, very possibly, a longer life. You are giving yourself a healthier body. You are giving yourself more self-esteem. Wrap all this in a package and took at it for the gift it really is, then "Go for it!" 4. Set a date. Make a commitment. Give it a try. Remember, it is alright if you don't succeed at first. Just keep trying. The only way you can lose is by ceasing to try. 5. Don't look at it as if you are giving up something. This makes it seem too much like a loss. What you are really doing is tossing something out of your life that has done you harm and doesn't belong here anymore. You are throwing away pure garbage. No longer are you going to allow your lungs to be a resting place for nicotine and tars. 6. Always keep a positive attitude. After all, this is one of the most positive things you've ever done. Stay away from negative people and worrisome situations. 7. Quit for yourself. Even though your family and loved ones will benefit tremendously from your quitting, it is you that will benefit most. 8. Treat giving up smoking with the respect it rightly deserves. Become willing to go to any lengths to remove it from your life. 9. Look up the word 'nicotine' in your dictionary and write down the definition in big letters: "A poisonous alkaloid used as an insecticide.' Put it where you can see it. 10. Don't say "I'll take my chances' and continue to smoke. They are not ours to take. We didn't give ourselves life and we don't have the right to "take our chances" on giving it away. 11.Don't fool yourself by saying you have too many pressures in your life right now to give up cigarettes. If you are smoking, this in itself is a pressures very great pressure. Every day is a gamble and your life is at stake. By getting nicotine out of your life, other things will become easier to handle. You will feel better about yourself and you will have more energy. You will have accomplished something more meaningful than all the money and material objects you could ever acquire. You will have given yourself what no one else could give you. You will no longer have the pressure of being a smoker. 12. Don't use the excuse that you might gain weight to justify your continuing to smoke. Even if you do gain a little, the fact that you will be more active and will get more exercise should counteract any weight gain. Remember, overeating, not stopping smoking, causes weight gain. 13. Plan to do things that will keep your mind off smoking. Sometimes our minds can be our worst enemies. They will tell us that we need a cigarette for just about any reason that is handy at the time. 14. Quit smoking one day at a time and think only about the part of the day you are in. "I am not going to smoke before noon." "I am not going to smoke before three o'clock." Sometimes just do it one hour at a time. This is a lot easier than trying to quit forever. 15. Don't subject yourself to smoky situations. If you do come in contact with someone who is smoking, just say to yourself "He HAS to smoke. I no longer do" and walk away. 16. While you are quitting. Look at it as an investment. Once you have quit for one hour, you have invested this hour in becoming a healthier person. Now, invest one more hour Continue to add to your investment hour by hour. It will grow and become more valuable as the hours go by. You will begin to see and feel the rewards from this investment more and more. Protect and guard it just as you would a treasure. 17. Start being kind to yourself, It is the beginning of a new way of life for you and you are the most important one there. Treat yourself with respect and love and, remember, you are no longer filling your system with poison every few minutes. Breathe the clean air and breathe it deeply. Smell the different and wonderful fragrances. Begin to spend time outdoors close to nature. Many new sensations await you. 18. Don't get too angry. If we are angry, our minds tell us we need a cigarette to cope. Until your mind learns that it doesn't need a cigarette to cope, try to avoid situations that might be setting you up. Avoid certain people that may bother you. If there is a lot of tension at work, try to get a few days off. If you can't get some time off, quit smoking on a long weekend. Avoid, as best you can, things like getting stuck in traffic. Use a lot of caution. Anger can be very destructive. 19. Don't get too hungry. It is amazing how our minds will tell us that everything's wrong when all we really need to do is eat. 20. Don't get too tired. If we are tired, it is easy to become irritated and when we get irritated our minds will tell us that a cigarette will help. Our overall resistance becomes weak and it is easy to say, "Oh well, I guess I'll smoke." 21. Don't get too lonely. It is good to know some people who are going through the same thing. 22. You can remember these four things by the word "HALT." Hungry, angry, lonely, tired. If you feel you need a cigarette, check. Make sure you are not experiencing any of these. 23. Don't get too bored. It is hard to just sit and not smoke. Keep busy. Find things to do that you enjoy. Bike riding, hiking, swimming, exploring new places, trying new restaurants. This is the time to indulge yourself. 24. Have something to fidget with. We are accustomed to holding a cigarette; being without one might leave our hands at a loss. Get a small rubber ball or a yo-yo. Paper clip, rubber band. 25. Have something handy to put in your mouth. Life Savers are good, or any slowly dissolving candy. Beef jerky and lollipops help, too. Avoid fattening foods like cookies. They don't last long and they fill you up. Experiment while you are still smoking to see what will relieve the craving. If Life Savers work, then stock up. Just a note of caution: don't use this type of substitute on a long-term basis. I preferred to keep healthy snacks handy such as carrot sticks, celery, nuts, fruit. 26. Nicotine somehow doubles the rate by which the body depletes caffeine. This may make some jittery. Reducing caffeine by half usually helps. 27. Don't drink alcohol while you are quitting. Once alcohol is in your system your defenses will diminish greatly. 28. Remember that the discomfort you experience in the first 2 weeks will definitely come to an end and you will never have to go through it again. 29. Remember, every minute you were sucking on cigarettes they were sucking on you. They were sucking the very life out of you. Don't let them have anymore. 30. Remember, it is the first cigarette that gets you started. It takes only one. This is the one you don't have. You can always put off lighting that first one for a little while. Don't fool yourself and think you can start and stop at will. You can't. Many people have tried this and gone on to live the rest of their lives never to experience freedom from nicotine again. :)