notsmokinjo

Down here we love the independents...why do you think Starbucks failed?

Well clearly way of the frickin mark. Onya Fluffy for solving that one.

9

I quit this time with NRT. My crutch of choice was the gum. For me this was the best decision to ensure my forever quit. I learnt from past quits. For me the psycological/habitual aspect of quitting was the biggest hurdle...I knew I could fight the physical side, no biggy, but for me breaking the rituals/habits and breaking the emotional/psychological dependency were my stumbling blocks. In total honesty i stumbled into this quit, no intention to quit. I bout 1 pack of 30 nrt chewies and 1 pack of 200...when i stopped the nrt i still had over 70 gums left...but i was ready..sure for the next 12 months or so if I was stressin i'd have a normal not nrt chewie to get me over the anxiety line but I remain nicotine free. I previously had a long term quit that was cold turkey. I don't talk about this much, not because of shame but because I don't want to give any newbies or early quitters the wrong idea. So please note: This is just my experience, influenced by the events of my life and essentially who I am...it is in no way indicative of the 100s of people here who have quit cold turkey...cold turkey is brilliant, just not for me. I only count a quit a quit if it lasted more than 2 weeks AND it wasnt because of pregnancy...so in that regards i have had 3 quits, 1 cold turkey, 1 Champix and 1 using NRT gum. Champix - I'm not touching this beyond saying for me it did not work in the worst kind of way. You want details im happy via pm because i know for many this is a kick start that saves their lives but you will notice I tend to avoid discussion on this. So my cold turkey quit lasted well over 6 years, almost lasted 7. This quit (the nrt one) is nearer to 3 years than it is 2. The cold turkey quit (CTQ)... every single day, I wanted a smoke, I analysed everything that happened and I looked for an 'acceptable' reason to smoke until I found one that fitted my twisted logic and breathed a sigh of relief as i took that first drag. Mental right!....the whole time I sought out the chance to pass smoke, to breath deep of others poisonous clouds. I burned with an aching want for any excuse to light up...I carried an emergency smoke every single day...I held it...i put it to my lips....I played with a frickin lighter constantly and then one day I found an excuse I was 'comfortable with (car bingle) and like the idiot I was I lit up. This quit didn't fail because it was cold turkey, it failed because I didn't deal with my emotional or psychological addiction...i romanced the smoke and grieved its absence from my life. I was still drinking...i was still using drugs during this time..i was messed up in so many ways. This quit....the thought of smoking makes we wanna chunder....the smell literally makes me gag and my eyes water...I don't envy smokers, I look at them in their shackles and know that never, ever again will that be me. The NRT didnt do this..didn't make me reach this level of enlightenment, freedom and self respect...but it did help get me there because it took that mental edge off for me to deal with educating myself, creating new patterns and rituals and coping mechanisms without the gnawing, burning ache that was 99% psychological...it allowed me the breathing space to become emotionally strong enough to love myself enough not to need the nicorknw crutch. When I was strong enough to not need it I ditched it...my nicotine legs were still wobbly and newborn...but my mind was strong enough to deal and I had an amazing support network behind me just a few key strokes away. NRT is not what makes this my forever quit, in a way it prolonged the whole experience BUT for me it was a vital aid I needed to get me to where I am....FREE.

See look @Mac#23 we're goin' to the polls! Ok...so a million years ago (Um 2 years 8 mths) I joined a quit forum and needed an Av...then entered a rapid fire few weeks of swapping and changing until I settled o the magnificent boobie..cos im kinda a boob, think @reciprocitywas involved in the suggestion why do I tell you this..well I'm trying to give ya the heads up (on the off chance youse missed the memo) my mind is a bit...well...odd f o r want of a better word. So just throwing some things out there.. The Coquit-20 The Rainbow Warriors (COS after every storm their is a rainbow) The Buttoutskis...cos the butts stop here The Yeah-nahs The Nopesters

THANKS @jillar .... yep, I'm a Smokebuster. @Mac#23 gives us some options, we'll run a poll, might even spring for some democracy snags.

So....I think @jillar or @reciprocity or @Rozuki might have the official list somewhere...but from memory... 2019...The Ashkickers 2018...The Resistance 2017... and you'd think I knew this cos I am one Yeah-nah...lost it...I know there were Smoke Busters...and Butt Kickers in amongst it...come on you mob help a mate out would ya. Quitting in the dying days of November a fair wack of my peers were in the The Resistance so I straddled 2 camps. See I reckon being in a group, with a name and a badge adds something, especially when your a newbie, just finding you quit legs, waiting for your hairy quit balls to grow and drop...in your heart you know you belong but you're so wobbly you don't feel fully integrated into the rest of the pack, being part of a group gives that extra layer of community and protection. Gives you mates at ya back. Gives you an identity amongst all the established personalities. So 2020 has been pretty crap, with the shining lights being our new Tennessee princess (i dont give a fat rat's clacker what @Boo says she's ours) and our shiney newbies and their quits. So c okme on peeps don't let the insanity that us 2020 leave our Newbies nameless and aimless...let's get them an identity so they can fly their flag with pride and have another tool in their arsenal ...not letting their team down.

Time for this thread to be bumped....this is pure gold...throughput your quit you will get those ahh-has moments where something just clicks....this was one of mine. Kudos to the great goat that wrote it.

Don't have a fave, love spring n summer fer the cricket and autumn and winter for the footy.... but other than that there just same-same-different. How can ya not love em all?

Why isn't voting compulsory?

Oh look, the strine is strong in this one.... congrats on passing speak like an aussie 101

And who were you barracking for?

Oh..did any of the inny chicks...did you get a belly nose when preggas? (COS the baby turned your inny into an outy)

You don't have verandas or pagolas like we have here?

Can I say both? (Although nuthin beats an watery Irish stew with fresh baked soda bread)

17

So @reciprocity you want me to send the fur boys over...they'll get all that ugly green stuff our for ya in no time. Me...I'm eating dinner...Fish Sinigang(Filipino fish soup)...minus the chillies and bagoong...but so nice for a change. Figers crossed the flathead doesn't upset me. It's like a sour guava broth with fish n veggies...normally I'd add chillies but not game.

It's not the food I'm used to seeing at an Irish pub that's fer sure...i would feel odd goin to an irish pub an eating mexican, american, asian or German food....so i'd probably have to go the bangers n mash or the shep pie...Do you ya think I'm being to picky?

Says it's good for his bones @jillar so probably calcium. He goes to the vet university vet science hospital because he is an on call blood donor.

Sarge is the only one allowed egg shells. Dunno why but the vet says he is too skinny and the greater said the same thing about the egg shells. They only ever get raw bones.

Do you serve it with sour apple sauce?

I give my boys chicken necks (raw) and also whole chicken frames that I get from the butcher. I buy a box of frames f o r 10 bucks, use a few for broth then give the rest to the dogs. I even give my Sarge the Bordeaux egg shells. The vet said he should be having at least 2 egg shells a day and raw egg mixed in his dry food.

Well I was always an inny....3 belly button surgeries later...still an inny.

Where's the frickin Boxty?

Early signs have this as Innies being the majority...come on outies, surely you exist...don't be shy now, cast your vote...noone will think any less of you....promise.