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Congratulations @Sunshine59 on three years quit! I hope you celebrate your accomplishment and treat yourself to something nice today

Congratulations @garry mhudsonon six years free! And thank you for sticking around to support those that are where we once were I hope you have a great day!!!

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Abby Quit Date: June 30 2011 Posted July 2, 2016 Having to push the restart button over and over was so exhausting , so discouraging and so defeating . I felt hopeless that "I" may one day be quit. I learned that to keep a quit I had to make a firm committment to MYSELF that I could not continue to do what I had always done. Some craves can be really tough but everyone we get through has less power the next time. I remember how exhausting it was, battling craves and battling my mind, battling craves; battling my mind ; until one day miraculously I totally and completely understood that smoking was not an option anymore ; for ANY REASON ! That mean’t my cigs were NOT on the TABLE , NOT on the CHAIR , NOT ANYWHERE ! They were NOT on the counter , NOT at the store ! Letting go of the romance I was giving to cigarettes brought relief . Only then did I REST in PEACE knowing what my goal WAS and what MY job was : FOCUSING on the journey to SUCCEED . Why be our worst enemy ? Thats what I was : my own worst enemy ! Don’t look at success being distant and far away , look at success as being now : today. One crave beaten is success / one day beaten is success ; its One day at a time--- NO LIE ! Because we have been prey to addiction, it takes some hard work to retrain our thinking to physically and emotionally recover , but hard work does pay off , and we will never have to deal with Day 1 again . I learned after many months quit that what we feed ourselves determines EVERY DECISION we make ; and our decisions will determine the FINAL OUTCOME . We must not let anything --- how we feel---- our circumstances ------ or how hard it is, snatch our quit from under our nose. Be good to yourself — work through every day …there is a big payday coming .Sherri L. Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/7233-over-and-over-again/

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I'm so sorry to hear she's passed..............

@gonfishn21!!!! Oh it's so good to hear from you Your ears must have been ringing, (or is it eyes watering?!) because you've popped into my head several times over the last few days What a great update too, say hi to little sis for me

I'm here!

All normal @Fermosalua, it will get better in time

That's awesome @ClaireP1973 , thanks for the update

@overcome, I think its saying that we tend to "need" A smoke in unpleasant times giving us the sense that smoking will help us feel better. As the pleasant feelings wear off the want for a smoke returns hoping to get back to that pleasant place...

From the American Cancer Society... Staying Tobacco-free After You Quit Nicotine is the main addictive substance in tobacco. When a person uses tobacco, many parts of the body get used to having nicotine in them. When a person quits tobacco, they also quit nicotine and will likely have withdrawal from it. This is because the body has to get used to not having nicotine. Dealing with withdrawal Withdrawal can be uncomfortable. Withdrawal from nicotine has 2 parts – the physical and the mental. The physical symptoms are annoying but not life-threatening. Still, if you’re not ready to resist them, they can tempt you to go back to smoking or chewing. Nicotine replacement and other medicines can help reduce many of these symptoms. Most people who use tobacco find that the mental part of quitting is the bigger challenge. If you’ve been using tobacco for any length of time, it has become linked with a lot of the things you do – waking up in the morning, eating, reading, watching TV, and drinking coffee, for example. It will take time to “un-link” tobacco from these activities. This is why, even if you’re using nicotine replacement therapy, you may still have strong urges to smoke or chew. Rationalizations are sneaky One way to overcome urges or cravings is to notice and identify rationalizations as they come up. A rationalization is a mistaken thought that seems to make sense at the time, but isn’t based on reality. If you choose to believe in such a thought even for a short time, it can serve as a way to justify using tobacco. If you’ve tried to quit before, you might recognize many of these common rationalizations: “I'll just do it once to get through this rough spot.” “Today isn’t a good day. I’ll quit tomorrow.” “It’s my only vice.” “How bad is smoking/chewing, really? Uncle Harry smoked/chewed all his life and he lived to be over 90.” “Air pollution is probably just as bad.” “You’ve got to die of something.” “Life is no fun without tobacco.” You may be able to add more to the list. As you go through the first few days without tobacco, write down rationalizations as they come up and recognize them for what they are – messages that can trick you into going back to smoking/chewing. Look out for them, because they always show up when you’re trying to quit. After you write down the thought, let it go and move on. Be ready with a distraction, a plan of action, and other ways to re-direct your thoughts. Use these ideas to help you stay committed to quitting Avoid temptation. Stay away from people and places that tempt you to smoke or chew. Later on you’ll be able to handle these with more confidence. Change your habits. Switch to juices or water instead of alcohol or coffee. Choose foods that don’t make you want to smoke or chew. Take a different route to work. Take a brisk walk instead of a tobacco break. Choose other things for your mouth: Use substitutes you can put in your mouth like sugarless gum or hard candy, raw vegetables such as carrot sticks, or sunflower seeds. Some people chew on a coffee stirrer or a straw. Get active: Do something to reduce your stress. Exercise or do something that keeps your hands busy, such as needlework or woodworking, which can help distract you from the urge to use tobacco. Clean out a closet, vacuum the floors, go for a walk, or work in the yard. Breathe deeply: When you were smoking, you breathed deeply as you inhaled the smoke. When the urge strikes now, breathe deeply and picture your lungs filling with fresh, clean air. Remind yourself of your reasons for quitting and the benefits you’ll gain when you do. Deep breathing may help you also remember that you’re cleaning the toxins from tobacco out of your body. Delay: If you feel that you’re about to light up, hold off. Tell yourself you must wait at least 10 minutes. Often this simple trick will allow you to move beyond the strong urge to smoke. This works for smokeless tobacco too: wait 10 minutes until the urge lessens. Reward yourself. What you’re doing isn’t easy, and you deserve a reward. Put the money you would have spent on cigarettes or tobacco in a jar every day and then buy yourself a weekly treat. Buy a book or some new music, go out to eat, start a new hobby, or join a gym. Or save the money for a major purchase. You can also reward yourself in ways that don’t cost money: Visit a park or go to the library. Check local news listings for museums, community centers, and colleges that have free classes, exhibits, films, and other things to do.

Nancy Quit Date: 07/07/2013 Posted March 25, 2016 From the American Cancer Society... Why is it so hard to quit smoking? Mark Twain said, “Quitting smoking is easy. I’ve done it a thousand times.” Maybe you’ve tried to quit, too. Why is quitting and staying quit hard for so many people? The answer is mainly nicotine. Nicotine Nicotine is a drug found naturally in tobacco, which is as addictive as heroin or cocaine. Over time, a person becomes physically dependent on and emotionally addicted to nicotine. This physical dependence causes unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when you try to quit. The emotional and mental dependence (addiction) make it hard to stay away from nicotine after you quit. Studies have shown that to quit and stay quit, smokers must deal with both the physical and mental dependence. How nicotine gets in, where it goes, and how long it stays When you inhale smoke, nicotine is carried deep into your lungs. There it’s quickly absorbed into the bloodstream and carried, along with the carbon monoxide and other toxins, to every part of your body. In fact, nicotine inhaled in cigarette smoke reaches the brain faster than drugs that enter the body through a vein (intravenously or IV). Nicotine affects many parts of your body, including your heart and blood vessels, your hormones, the way your body uses food (your metabolism), and your brain. Nicotine can be found in breast milk and even in the cervical mucus of female smokers. During pregnancy, nicotine crosses the placenta and has been found in amniotic fluid and the umbilical cord blood of newborn infants. Different factors affect how long it takes the body to remove nicotine and its by-products. In most cases, regular smokers will still have nicotine and/or its by-products, such as cotinine, in their bodies for about 3 to 4 days after stopping. How nicotine hooks smokers Nicotine causes pleasant feelings and distracts the smoker from unpleasant feelings. This makes the smoker want to smoke again. Nicotine also acts as a kind of depressant by interfering with the flow of information between nerve cells. Smokers tend to smoke more cigarettes as the nervous system adapts to nicotine. This, in turn, increases the amount of nicotine in the smoker’s blood. Over time, the smoker develops a tolerance to nicotine. Tolerance means that it takes more nicotine to get the same effect that the smoker used to get from smaller amounts. This leads to an increase in smoking. At some point, the smoker reaches a certain nicotine level and then keeps smoking to keep the level of nicotine within a comfortable range. When a person finishes a cigarette, the nicotine level in the body starts to drop, going lower and lower. The pleasant feelings wear off, and the smoker notices wanting a smoke. If smoking is postponed, the smoker may start to feel irritated and edgy. Usually it doesn’t reach the point of serious withdrawal symptoms, but the smoker gets more uncomfortable over time. When the person smokes a cigarette, the unpleasant feelings fade, and the cycle continues. Nicotine withdrawal symptoms can lead quitters back to smoking When smokers try to cut back or quit, the lack of nicotine leads to withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal is both physical and mental. Physically, the body reacts to the absence of nicotine. Mentally, the smoker is faced with giving up a habit, which calls for a major change in behavior. Emotionally, the smoker may feel like they’ve lost their best friend. All of these factors must be addressed for the quitting process to work. Those who have smoked regularly for a few weeks or longer will have withdrawal symptoms if they suddenly stop using tobacco or greatly reduce the amount they smoke. Symptoms usually start within a few hours of the last cigarette and peak about 2 to 3 days later when most of the nicotine and its by-products are out of the body. Withdrawal symptoms can last for a few days to up to several weeks. They will get better every day that you stay smoke-free. Withdrawal symptoms can include any of the following: Dizziness (which may last 1 to 2 days after quitting) Depression Feelings of frustration, impatience, and anger Anxiety Irritability Sleep disturbances, including having trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, and having bad dreams or even nightmares Trouble concentrating Restlessness or boredom Headaches Tiredness Increased appetite Weight gain Constipation and gas Cough, dry mouth, sore throat, and nasal drip Chest tightness Slower heart rate These symptoms can make the smoker start smoking again to boost blood levels of nicotine until the symptoms go away. (For information on coping with withdrawal, see the section called “Dealing with smoking withdrawal.”) Other substances in cigarette smoke There is some evidence that other chemicals in cigarette smoke may act with nicotine to make it harder to quit smoking. The effects of smoking on monoamine oxidase (a brain chemical) is still being studied. For some people, withdrawing from smoking causes more severe mood problems, which can result in worse cravings and more trouble staying quit. Smoking affects other medicines Smoking also makes your body get rid of some drugs faster than usual. When you quit smoking, it may change the levels of these drugs. Though it’s not truly withdrawal, this change can cause problems and add to the discomfort of quitting. Ask your doctor if any medicines you take need to be checked or changed after you quit. Last Medical Review: 02/06/2014 Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/6836-why-is-it-so-hard-to-quit-smoking/