DenaliBlues

2,600 unsmoked smokes to add. Keep that fire where it belongs... on the ground, not in my face!

Congrats on making it through your first Monday, @FunkyMonkey. The "Ticker Shock" was pretty startling for me, too. It called me into reckoning with how much time and money turned to ash, and what a distorted view of smoking I had. The addiction spun a tale inside my head that smoking was gratifying, but the reality was actually quite different - just a constant miserable pursuit of the next fix. My ticker reminds me of how often I fell for the false logic, and how deep my bondage was. A good motivator to keep going. What's today? It's NOPE-day!!

Me, too!

6. Sing along to a certain Pink Floyd album…

Ritz

NOPE

Parfait

Congratulations and well done @Mee!

Sorry you got dream-clobbered again, Yoda. So strange that using dreams often feature “magic” or “accidental” smoking… that happens to me, too. Unnerving. The subconscious is so baffling. Take heart in your reality - you have a really strong quit. They’re waiting for you on the lido deck.

Church choir

Bell bottoms

Take a bow

Cower

scrod

I’m glad you are on the Train, still sharing and staying connected and staying determined, @Linda. Your voice of experience is helping me ( and others, I’m sure) fight stinkin thinkin… the illusion that smoking again will make us somehow feel better. So thanks for you. It’s not hard because you’re weak. It’s hard because nicotine messes with our brain chemistry and is an emotional as well as physical addiction. I know that when I lost a really long quit once, my addiction came back with a fury - twice as strong as before, like it was determined to win. I let it boss me, for a very long time. But you’re standing up to it! Sometimes I think we are meaner to ourselves than we would ever be to another human. If you were supporting a friend who had relapsed, what would you be telling her?

Cruised to Greece

N O P E

dried coconut

injera

thyme