Sazerac

Hello Suz, Congratulations on your quit and welcome ! We have some things in common, long time smoker (40+ years), a cold-turkey quitter, a lurker, and a now, a member of this fine community. I am so glad you are here. Post a bunch and have some fun. 'At your age', you have saved yourself from addiction. You are a hero. s

Have you read about the Significance of Rewards ? I need to find more science about it but, what I know is, an important part of rehabilitation includes re-routing the receptors in your brain to acknowlege natural reward and pleasures. Nicotine robbed all these receptors and now, we can claim them back by rewarding ourselves. Your machine is a great reward and it will be really nice when it you it gives you cleaner air, your lungs are going to be so happy. Your Lungs ARE so happy, you quit smoking and bought them a really nice gift. It is your job to reward yourself intentionally and often while you are quitting smoking, especially for the first year. After that, with all that rewarding practice, you realize, it is always good to treat yourself kindly.

Welcome Iml, Congratulations on making an important decision for yourself. You will appreciate the myriad of benefits that accompany quitting, a boost in self-esteem, to name but one. As others have recommended, educate yourself on nicotine addiction and post here freely. We have lots to read, lots to think about and a vibrant section of word/number games for brilliant distraction. Be kind to yourself, reward yourself. You Quit Smoking ! That is fabulous.

Contratulations on your Four Months of Freedom, Wren !

Congratulations, Kev, on your two months of Freedom !

Here is another article with the chapters on nicotine pulled up The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. The more I learn, the more I realize the jeopardy I put my body in while I was 'smoking' or, more accurately, freebasing amonia + a zillion other chemicals with tobacco. Did you check out The Great Tobacco Plague blog by Frank Ashall ?

Once you weed through all the mis-information (promoted by Big Tobacco and Vaping interests) you can find information from reliable scientific sources. Here is a paper from the NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) Harmful Effects of Nicotine. Nicotine is a poison

I lurked here and there and read about what my body was going through. I did a meticulous house cleaning and of late, I wonder where that washer woman is. She was great and I miss her. I walked and walked. I gardened. I doodled . I wrote. I bided my time when I was too foggy to do much of anything. I napped. Stay alert about HALT, any craves you may be having can likely be attributed to boredom or because you are hungry, thirsty, angry, emotional, lonesome, bored, tired...

I'm just now seeing this ^^^^^whole conversation about your amethyst crown/imminent Queendom. It was a complete coincidence I found you an amethyst tiarra last night. I was looking for 'nine, purple' and who could resist a tiarra with 9 amethysts for your 9 month ? Funny about syncronicity. All Hail ! Happy Beltane, Queenly one.

Yay Jack ! Nine months of Freedom.

I have confidence in my quit and estimate my chance of relapse is low still...addiction is a wily condition and I am human. Here are my four maneuvers to avert relapse, ( Think again, Get right with yourself, Contact an ally, Post an SOS ) and a slew of red flags... When you know better yet, are purposefully leading yourself astray ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you have tiny tempting smokey thoughts that you are nuturing by not dismissing immediately and aggressively ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ I won't get addicted this time ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ Whenever you start to 'romance smoking' ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you seriously entertain the idea that smoking looks attractive or makes you feel carefree and part of the fun ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you are having silly thoughts like, my smoking friends are having a great time and I'm missing out ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you really wonder, what it would it taste like now, ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ Will I still get that, 'ahhhh' feeling ? ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ When you start to think that you are 'different' and that you can handle just one. ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ Do you think you can quit again without much effort? ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you want to give yourself permission for just one, once in a while, just this once ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you feel too secure in your quit and start to act cocky ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you propose to test your quit ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ Are you starting to believe, you've been quit long enough to handle a puff or two? ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you know too much to get addicted again ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ Whever you are doubting your commitment to your quit ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you ignore the reality that smoking is a terrifying choice with significant consequences ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you are dismissive of the fact that you can Never Take Another Puff, Not One Puff Ever. ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ I forgot the major red flag, I am not an addict ! ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ I'm an adult and I'll do wtf I want ! ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ Have you more red flags to add ? Different manuevers ?

Happy Four Months of Freedom, tocevoD !

Happy Four Months of Freedom, Fab !

Happy Three Months of Freedom !

An Amethyst Tiarra to celebrate your nine months, Wee Fluffy Me.

Hi Farmgirl, Welcome and congratulations on your quit ! Four Months is an important accomplishment please remember to reward yourself. I love your line, 'nicotine wasn't going to give me anything but a feeling of defeat' You got that right !

p.s. John, start a new post and call it 'PROUD of Myself' or something , there is no shame about failing and starting again. You quit smoking today and that is splendid

Welcome back, John. It's a brand new day. Congratulations on the first few hours of your new quit. Educate yourself more and more and more....and continue your education about nicotine addiction because addiction will activate immediately with ONE puff for the rest our lives, FOREVER. and the more we know, the more power we have.

Thinking of you, wish that included bringing you something delectable to tempt you into eating. Whinge on and rave on. Things really suck for you right now except that you don't have to smoke anymore, at least there's that and arnica and witch hazel. Better days ahead just wish we could push the river a bit, a lot. Try to sleep.

You know that huge long list that contains all the chemicals that are in cigarettes ? Here Well, it got me to thinking how some of those chemicals affect us. Amonia ? Amonia was added so when you light up, you essentially 'free base' nicotine. This skyrockets the effect of nicotine, the addiction. Tobacco Facts #4: Smokers are freebasing nicotine! and, y'all are going to love this one ! Tobacco Fact #8: Tobacco companies added pheromones and weight loss substances to cigarettes! His whole blog is amazing, his work, heroic, check it out. The Great Tobacco Plague Dr Frank Ashall's experience of the horrors of tobacco

Congratulations, Gigi. How does one year feel for you ?

Sarge is still around. Likely tending his orchard and planting this year's crops or out climbing mountains with Mrs. Sarge. 'Embrace The Suck' was helpful to me, too.

As our friend, The Sarge, used to say, "Embrace The Suck" I took that to mean, yes, it may be as grimy as it gets but, bring it friggin on ! I am going to live through it. I am going to succeed.

Happy Five Years Of Freedom, Jen.

Good Post from way back in the crypt.