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I want your positive outlook hellkat! And yay to only three more treatments Your air conditioner sounds awesome, we could sure use an air conditioner this week as it's been hot! There rare here on the Central Coast so we just have to suck up these hot days and eat ice cream lol. 

Team Deadpool for the win!!!

Glad today went so well hellkat

Michelle, you're not the first one to relapse time and time again and you won't be the last. I wish you would treat our board like one of your meetings. Instead of smoking, come here to a "meeting". Have the same mentality you did for your other addictions and I guarantee you will be successful.

Is it frustrating watching you give up so easily, yes, but that doesn't mean we're giving up on you. You can succeed you just need to believe in yourself.

How did your day go Michelle? 

What a good, honest post Michelle. Yes it is the two year old throwing a tantrum when she doesn't get what she wants. Ask yourself, would that two year old get what she wants if you knew it was going to hurt or kill her? The answer is no. Practice self discipline just like you did with your other addictions and you will succeed. None of us are special, well except me maybe  

Richard all of that is normal for the first two or three months. But I promise you you will feel better soon. Think of it as a reminder for if you ever think about relapsing. You can remember how sucky these first months were so you don't have to go through them again! I used to read my posts every monthaversary just so I wouldn't forget where I came from. 

And let me tell you, I had awful quit stuff going on. My gums bled, my tongue hurt, I couldn't sleep for weeks, it was horrible. But reading that each month reminded me that no way did I want to go through that again!

At 54 days you'll soon start seeing the great benefits instead of the bad effects. Heck you've already seen one by getting off the alprazolam  

Yes Michelle, you must apply the same self discipline to quitting smoking as you did to quitting drugs and alcohol and you will succeed.

Hi Richard, glad you're feeling a bit better today. And please take some comfort in knowing that what you are going through is completely normal for where you are in your quit. A lot of members have also found that once they were further along in their quit their anxiety actually lessened and the attacks were fewer and farther between. l Hopefully this will be true for you as well.

You also talked about hoping that once you feel better you wouldn't cave to a crave. One thing I did was each month on my monthaversary I would read my threads from the beginning just to remind myself of how brutal my first few months were and to not forget where I came from! I highly recommend doing that

That's right QueenB!

How are you doing @Solo?

You can do it again Kate and then after you do that five weeks you can shoot for six Just believe in yourself. I kept my mind busy by stating glued to the board as much as possible. Reading and interacting with others really helped keep my mind off smoking. The games were incredibly helpful at having to think about other things besides my misery

Solo, what you are experiencing is totally normal but I promise you it does get so much better. Just hang in there, at 2 1/2 months quit you're almost past the hardest months of quitting.

I'm going to bump a couple of my favorite posts, one called No Man's Land and one called Mental Balloons. Hopefully it'll help you feel better

Great post solo, you're doing great I have so much respect for people who can quit smoking while living with a smoker. You should be so proud of yourself I'm glad you're sleeping better now too. And I love that you took the one year pledge. I did and I'm convinced that I wouldn't have succeeded without the support of all my fellow quitters

You're doing great icanhike, and I'm sure come spring when the snow melts you will be in awe of the beauty surrounding you in Colorado. 

Talking about all the money saved, you ought to think about making yourself a ticker for your signature so you too can watch all the time, money and cigs not smoked add up.

I'm glad you got past that craving Kate, each time you do that the crave gets weaker. You're winning girlfriend! Have a good night's sleep xoxo

Glad you got past that bad crave Kate and reciprocity is totally right in that we can only be responsible for our own addiction. Though I do think that a long term quitter successfully quitting is encouraging to others who don't feel they can quit. 

You are in WTF week now Kate and it gets its name for a reason. It can be a tough week so just keep telling yourself that once you're through it you never have to do it again.

Thank you for sharing this part of you oldy. I hope that putting it down in writing will help you find the happiness that each of us deserves...

Great entry Tammy and one that will help many people in the future. Thank you for sharing....

Congratulations on getting through hell week redemption, you're doing great  

You're doing great Tammy, and right where you should be in your quit  

What worked for me redemption3 was tricking my brain into thinking it was getting the real thing by smoking my JAC (jillars air cigarette). Just pretend you're holding a real cigarette in your fingers and then go through the motions of "smoking" it. It worked great for me. Some people use cut straws, pens etc. Maybe try that?

There's no easy out of this addiction. If you're not willing to make the effort to not smoke, you will never succeed. You're not the first chronic relapser and you won't be the last. Don't be so quick to cave to a crave. 

I wish I could come to this point, but I don't feel I've made a commitment with myself to quit smoking forever. 

@christine 12, you don't have to make a commitment to yourself to quit smoking forever. Just make a commitment to quit smoking today. Then do the same thing tomorrow and the next day, etc.  You'll be amazed at how quickly the time adds up once you do the time. And I'll let you in on a little secret, the younger you are when you quit it seems the easier it is to bounce back from all the crap smoking did. Don't wait until you have breathing issues like me or something even worse!

Christine you CAN do it you just have to believe in yourself. The stress is still going to be there with or without a cigarette BUT you'll be richer and healthier without the cigs. Stop going through the worst few days and buckle down and do it! I promise you it WILL get better with each passing day/week/month. 

I used my JAC (jillars air cigarette) to help me past the first six months of my quit. I simply pretended I was holding a cigarette in my fingers and then went through the motions of "smoking" it. Taking deep inhales too, smoothest cig you'll ever have. It really tricked my mind into thinking it was having the real thing. Some have used cut straws, pens, etc. Maybe try that?

Love that you're already experiencing the joys of not being a slave to nicotine Rose, I'm really happy for you