Reciprocity

I love reading these early quit blog posts because it reminds me so much of what my own early days were like so thanks you Rose I only wish I had done my own day by day blog. A couple of things that caught my attention in your post ..... I agree that you should go to your places where you used to enjoy smoking. If you go there knowing it will be a challenge you want to overcome then you will be successful 100% of the time. It's soooo important as a step in rewiring your brain to be able to just sit out there and really enjoy yourself again without a smoke.  You've taken a huge step toward that now.

The other thing you said was that "you'll choose not to smoke right now." That's right Rose! Smoking is a choice that we make. No one is forced to smoke. The power to choose is all ours.

Great job Rose! Your words above ring very true "a celebration of victory because I can do this not smoking thing and it's ok; i'm not gonna die from it; it's not impossible."

This quitting thing is VERY possible. Education about the addiction, a positive attitude toward it and a supportive community are all huge tools in building your quit and I believe you've checked all those boxes

Those quit symptoms all fade to nothing with time so carry on .... one day at a time for now.

Great post Rose - all is true and tomorrow is always a better day to quit than today unless .... those smokes you consume the rest of today are the ones that become the catalyst to some horrible disease? Go ask our Doreen who is currently going through a huge personal loss because of smoking and had her own close call with the impact of years of smoking.

I too had no plan to quit when I did. I, like you, took it 1 minute, 1 hour and 1 day at a time for the first while. I didn't know if I could make it or if I even want to make it badly enough. Here I am a year and a bit later still not smoking. I'm proud of that but sorry I didn't do this sooner and I know I'll have to be vigilant my whole life to avoid slipping back into the clutches of nicotine addiction. I can't change the past but I CAN shape my future - so can YOU! Go do it. We'll help in supporting you as needed

Nice update Marie

What you said seems pretty normal to me, from my recollection of my early quit.  I always thought of smoking as a physical thing so the fact that it's the mental urges that end up taking the longest to over come was a little surprising to me. I had both too - mental and physical. For me that uneasy, jittery feeling manifested in short temper, easy to become frustrated etc. That was with me longer than I would have liked but, all this stuff eventually disappears as you re-learn how to live your life without turning to smokes all the time as some kind of emotional band-aid? Now days, for me, when something in my life happens that stresses me or pisses me off .... I don't immediately think of going for a smoke, which is what I would have done before so, yeah .... it takes time but it does happen.

Good for you Marie! Stay smoke free no matter what. You CAN do this

Post often as you can. It really does help. Hope the college visit is a success!

I don't deal with high anxiety or panic attack issues so I can not give you any advice in that regard but I have read posts from others on this board who do suffer from these issues and have managed to quit for long periods of time and virtually all have said the same thing. Their level of anxiety after they had quit was much lower than when they smoked.

Anxiety created because of smoking is just that .... it's because of your addiction to nicotine. It's a never ending cycle that starts up again the minute you put out that cigarette. That smoking anxiety just gets added on top of whatever other anxiety issues one might have. This smoking thing only makes everything else worse in our lives. Do whatever you need to and get this out of your life. It will be the best thing you have ever done

That's it. 1 Day at a time. It does get easier down the road a little although you hardly know it's happening because the transition is very slow. And yes, smoking is not an option because .... you're a Non-Smoker now

Don't sweat the quit symptoms too much. They will ALL smooth out soon enough. Keep your focus on the BIG prize!

That's it Lisa! Focusing on the positives ( and, there are lots of them) will make it a lot easier to maintain your beautiful quit. And yes, as the weather gets colder, you will no longer have to submit yourself to those uncomfortable situations where you just need to have your fix

I'm glad things aren't too intense for you today Lisa. Nice to have a break in the "action" from time to time. When I was a little further into my quit, I got an urge to smoke one day and I tried to imagine myself smoking in my mind and ...... I couldn't!! I just couldn't see myself with a smoke hanging out of my mouth any longer. That was a very powerful moment for me. I have drawn on that visualization a few times since.

Keep that feeling you had today in mind as you move forward. Your brain is telling you that you want one but, when you just stop and think about it for a moment. You KNOW you don't! Does nothing good for you and puts you right back to square 1 again. NOT where you want to be. Carry on &, enjoy that home made Pizza (Yummm).

Absolutely Lisa. You are right. We are all individuals and have different ways of getting to our destination. We are all here to do our best to help new quitters along and we suffer through their difficulties as well as help them celebrate their victories. We are also devastated when one of our family falls off the train because we know how hard they have worked and how disappointed they must be to have to start over again but, the main thing is that you DO start over again. Don't let yourself be another hapless victim to this killer addiction!

You will get some members speaking more directly about things than others (tough love) because, as you state, we're all individuals but we all have the same goal in mind - to help you quit Rome wasn't built in a day. Sometimes it takes several attempts to find what works for YOU. We are here to help you do that - find your permanent quit by letting you know the realities as we have seen them and to let you know what has worked and what has not worked for us. This addiction is powerful and will try and trick you into compromising. Don't ever do that!! Stick to your plan and just NOPE!

^^^ YES! Commitment, commitment, commitment!! Be committed to yourself!

This is the way through the difficult times. There's no shortcuts unfortunately.

What Doreen said Lisa. Feeling terrible about "choosing to smoke" again will not help you at all. Use this disappointment to double down on your determination to quit and stay quit! You need to want to quit MORE than you want to smoke again. Post an SOS if this happens again and let someone talk to you about what you are throwing away if you smoke even just one. We know these early days are tough. They were tough for all of us. No one is special in that regard. There were some times when I wanted to crawl into a hole and just hide or sleep and just not be wanting to smoke any more. We all have those times but you need to do whatever you need to in order to get past those moments. They will not last forever but, the addiction will if you keep feeding it.

Let us help you with this Lisa. Come here as often as you can and read, post and interact with us so we know best how we can help you.

You CAN do this Lisa

That's it Lisa. These early days are for developing a tool-box of tricks YOU can use to help get by the early part of your quit. Distractions and other activities are key in helping you through those early days. It sounds as if you have learned probably the most important thing and that is to never fool yourself into believing you can have just one! That's why the daily commitment to N.O.P.E. is SO critical. Keep going forward Lisa - you're doing GREAT!

Pick yourself up and try again Wizmo! Anyone can do this quitting thing if they want it badly enough. You just have to be prepared to put in a lot of hard work for awhile as you not only rid your body of nicotine but as you also start rewiring your brain to function normally as a non-smoker. That's really the hardest part as far as I'm concerned and takes the longest too. Just say NOPE every day. It's really that simple :)

Great Job Jayhawk. That's exactly how it's done. Focus on the short term and before your know it, weeks and months will pass by in your new smoke-free life. You are over the worst of it now so you just have to remain disciplined and watch out for that Nicodemon who will try and tempt you at your weakest moments. Before you know if, those random thoughts about smoking will be fewer and fewer. Keep up the good work :)

In terms of a reward??? Just go with what ever you fancy and seems appropriate I guess. As far as future BLOG entries, I think I would just make an entry every week from here on. Summary of challenges faced or benefits realized. It seems to me that earlier on there are changes week to week. Later on, those changes get less pronounced I think. Maybe just post something when you realize something has changed later on? I wish I had have done a BLOG because it would have been interesting to see the progression after the fact. Things become less clear pretty quickly so writing things down is a great idea I think :)

You're coming up on 1 month quit tomorrow B57 :) It would be really interesting to hear what things are like for you now compared to this blog post when you were 6 days in. I see you posting in the Nope thread every day which is GREAT! Are you finally starting to see the benefits of quitting rather than just the crappy stuff?

Sounds pretty much normal for early days - it's like nothing you have ever had to do but, it will not last like that for long so ..... embrace it.

Yes - good idea to record stuff as you progress. Wish I had done that. You tend to forget about the small things over time and, the progression of quitting is so slow to happen, it's good to go back a couple of weeks and refresh your memory as to where you were at then compared to now. It will help you see the progression.

In terms of your "foggy head"; I had this pretty bad the whole first month of my quit. It eventually cleared up but was frustrating at the time because it made me so unproductive. Just couldn't focus on stuff for long. Someone suggested drinking fruit juice would help. Blood sugar levels or something. Of course, I paid no attention and just suffered through it - lol. The anxiousness and quick to anger issues -well; I wish I had a quick cure for those but I don't. Deep breathing maybe when you feel yourself getting all worked up. I still get a little overly riled at small stuff and I'm over 4 months in. It isn't as prominent now as it was earlier on though - thank God!

Although the nicotine is gone, the receptors in your brain are still craving that stimulation that nicotine used to provide. That will gradually die off. Also, think about when you smoked. How much of your day was consumed by smoking related thoughts and activities? Not smoking itself but all the stuff surrounding smoking. All that time you used to spend planning and thinking about smoking related stuff is no longer a factor so you need to start to develop new routines to fill all that free time productively.

You also need to learn new ways to deal with all life's situations: stress, happy times, sad times and just relaxing times. These were probably all times you relied on smoking as an emotional response to those life situations. Now that's no longer available and was never really necessary in the first place. This is the part that takes time. It's a slow process but as you go through it, your reliance on smoking as a go to for life experiences will be less and less each day from here on in until, after a while, you won't think about smoking right away when life situations arise. That's when you know you really have a handle on this addiction :)

I have also been feeling somewhat messed up with digestion since my quit. Have felt bloated and fat in my tummy most of the time. Not like what you are experiencing but still very different from what I have felt like before quitting. I have ready some things that seem to indicate these things return to normal with time. Hoping that it does as I prefer my former self in this regard.

Best of luck on getting your situation fixed :)

You are doing fantastic B57 !! :)

Day 3 cold turkey, the nicotine is almost completely washed from your system so you will then only have to focus on the mental aspects of quitting. I choose cold turkey for that same reason. Get it all done at once! It's not for everyone but it was right for me.

I'm shocked the session leader told you CT was the least successful method of quitting. From virtually everything I have read, the opposite is true. Cold Turkey quitters have a much higher long term success rate. In the end, it doesn't matter though. What ever method you think is right for you is the right one - as long as you never smoke again, that's the only important thing.

Please think about posting some of this stuff on the main board in coming days. Maybe in the quit smoking discussion page. Just start a thread and yammer away about what you are doing and how you're feeling. You'll get lots of other members here responding in support and we quitters love to hear about other peoples quitting experiences. You sound like you've really got a well thought out and workable plan. Stay strong and execute your plan and you'll do just fine :)

Will probably be much like here only live and in person. Others at various stages of their quit will likely discuss issues faced and ideas for combating those issues. Will be interested to hear what it was like :)

Welcome back Kell :) Technically yes, even one puff sets you back to the start of your quit but I'm not going to split hairs here. The important thing is that you are back on quit (I'm assuming you had no more cigs or puffs since at the bar?). Now you know your boyfriend is back to smoking, you need to have a plan as to how you will deal with the next similar situation.

If he had several cigarettes the other night, you can bet he's back to smoking full time. You can't just turn it on and off at will - it's an addiction. Feeding it, even one or two puffs, makes it stronger and weakens you as a non smoker. Don't foorget to join us on the main board too Kell. Others I'm sure would like to respond to your posts and comments too. We all need assistance along the way at some point or other.

Wishing you the best on your renewed quit.

R.

Good for you B57!! Make sure you start posting in the daily NOPE thread here. I do it pretty much first thing in the morning each day as a reminder to myself NOT to smoke for just today. That's what we do initially, just deal with today or this hour even. Don't look too far ahead.

Make sure to post in the other threads too as more people will see you posts and don't even be timid about asking for help. That what we are here for ! We will only be disappointed if you don't lean on us for support :)

Welcome to you first steps toward freedom.