DenaliBlues

“The trap I always fell into when trying to quit smoking was feeling that smoking somehow calmed me or helped me cope.  The reality is, the only thing it did was feed an addiction to nicotine.”

^^^ 100%! 

Yes, this is what addiction does.  So liberating to be done with all the evasions, the minimizing, and the justifications. Freedom is sweet on a lot of levels. 

Thanks, Jill. To anyone who still struggles, or who got sucked back in to smoking and feels lousy about it, please (re)join us. The only things that await you here are a warm welcome and  a little  help along your road to freedom. We hope to see you soon.

Through all this adversity, smoking would not have helped one little bit. A timely reminder as I grapple with my own medical issues.

And along the way, you not only kept your own quit… but you also supported me and many others in our bids for freedom. So grateful!

There are some good souls riding this train!!

Love this thinking! Great ideas here. 

SADNESS

-Do a kindness for someone else

-Do outside chores or take a walk to get sunshine on my face

-Cook a pot of soup, rice or curry to make the house smell really nice

-Cuddle the cats

REWARD

-A tall cold drink on ice

- Stream my favorite show episodes

-Cuddle the cats

LONEY

-Talk or text with a friend

-Read Quit Train posts to remind myself that others, too, have struggled but succeed

-Oh, and cuddle the cats…

"..what I did do was close responses to normal dopamine that take time to heal and recover...."

Yes. I, too, found quitting to be a deeply disorienting experience.  To this day, I firmly believe that smoking scorched my brain chemistry. By force-feeding nicotine to my dopamine receptors, I desensitized them to other signals. Now that I have quit, I need to rebuild the neural pathways that allow me to experience other sensations of gratification and fulfillment. The path is slow and circuitous at times... but healing does happen.

So much truth in this. As we ride it out, the cravings lose their power. Thanks for sharing!!

Thanks for bumping this Jill.

I relate so much to this article. I had deep feelings of loss and sorrow when I quit. It felt like a brutal amputation for a while, like I’d never feel joy again. That was my addiction putting up a fuss… my brain kinda went sideways for a while due to withdrawal.

Early in my quit I was worried those feelings would last forever. But they truly got better with time. Grappling with this was an important aspect of healing from the damage of smoking. Some of those wounds are emotional, not just physical. 

And this forum was a lifeline. A supportive community helps so much… as does a belly laugh once in a while. Quit Train is a little bit of magic!

Well said, Jo. Miss you.

Nicotine is an addiction. 100% Never doubt it. 

We sacrifice our health, deprioritize our loved ones, waste our money, waste our time - all to get our next fix. We smoke through illnesses and organize our lives around when and where we smoke - all to get our next fix. We try to quit but sabotage ourselves, then writhe in shame - all to get our next fix. We fundamentally alter our brain chemistry to rely on one particular stimulant, diminishing our ability to experience joy from other things - all to get our next fix. We minimize how much we smoke (or lie about it or hide it) - all to get our next fix.
 

And when we don’t get that fix, our hands shake. Our soul screams, the world goes upside down. 

But only for a little while.
 

If we hold tight to our quits, recovery begins. Healing (emotional and physical) happens. And a precious new freedom becomes ours. No more bondage, no more shame.

Never ever doubt the power of this addiction… but never ever doubt the power of quitting, either.
 

You’re doing Great! I love your determination and positive attitude. They’ll carry you far.

Way to go @Dejvis93! You are doing great! I love your commitment to breaking free of nicotine… determination is the most important part of a successful quit.
 

Sleep disturbances, brain fog and the jitters are all a natural part of detoxing. Staying hydrated and exercising are great ways to cope, so you’re being smart.
 

But be sure to diversify the toolkit of things you do to manage the cravings… have things to do with your hands (I used fidget spinners and silly putty), make lists of little chores/tasks to do to stay occupied (fix a drawer, take out the trash, pull a weed), do a few pushups or jumping jacks. And read all you can about addiction here on the forum. Even if you already know the info, it’s important to reinforce the idea of quitting over and over again, because the brain in withdrawal will try to trick you into vaping again. Stay strong! It definitely gets easier. 

Congrats on day one! You should feel really proud of what you are achieving. It’s tough at first, but the longer you stick with your quit, the easier it gets. Day two of your new freedom awaits!

^^^ True that! It’s a totally awkward phase (including a few tantrums). But it passes!

This info is so important and so true! Thanks for the bump @jillar. Smoking is not just a “bad habit.” We’ve been chemically hijacked, so we can’t see the cycle of addiction clearly while we’re still smoking. But quitting changes everything!  NOPE (not one puff ever) is more than a handy saying… it’s a neural necessity, and the only path to freedom. 

”Take control of your life, reclaim your mind and body, and get it straight about who owns you. Is it you? Or your addiction?”

“You can't fix a cigarette crave with a cigarette.”

^^^ True that!!
 

Perpetually chasing the cravings (which can never be truly satisfied) is exhausting and futile. Freedom from the bondage of nicotine is beautiful. 

This is a GREAT post that so vividly captures the pain of relapse. So many of us suffered through this: “And all the pressure that drove you to grab that cigarette in the first place - it's all still there. Nothing has changed, except now you've added one more problem: you just blew it.” Lost in the wilderness indeed, but the Quit Train can be a rope that pulls us out of the quicksand.
 

NOPE

^ ^  So true!! I quit more than 18 months ago and I can tell my brain is not fully healed yet. It is happening, but slowly. The “deceiving allure” still calls me. Well NOPE on that! Gonna face forward, no going back.

Yep, me too. I put smoking above friends and family in this same way. Addiction does this. 

Yes!

This is great advice @jillar… thanks!!

Such a great story, thanks for the bump. Needed this reminder today:

“….The only thing I got from it was emptiness…”

A great post to read when I am  romancing the smokes. Thanks for the bump.

3 hours ago, darcy said:

Can't string a thought together....

^^ Oh yes, this happened to me, too! Total tapioca brain for a while. It passed.
 

It’s great that you are approaching your 24-hr mark, @darcy. One hour at a time… those are hard won hours to be proud of, and they really can add up surprisingly fast. 
 

I got through many anxious and ambivalent early hours by reading a lot of the posts here (like you are), staying busy with small uncomplicated tasks, sipping ice cold diet root beer, and doing countertop pushups. Lots and lots of pushups. 
 

Each person’s strategy is different. Let us know what’s working for you? It will surely help someone else! (Plus posting often helps to strengthen your quit.)