Minnie Mouse

That incessant voice running around in a loop in your head needs to be stopped in its track. Replace the thoughts with something else even if it is you just saying the alphabet over & over & over again. Get up and do something physical ... anything .. go for a walk, take a shower, and keep kicking out the smoking thoughts and replacing them with something else. You control your thoughts. You. Tell yourself "NO". Don't give yourself permission to smoke again. You already made that great choice to stop 5 years ago. You will never be satisfied as a smoker ever again. You would just need to start all over again to get to this same place. Do whatever it takes to wake up tomorrow with no regrets.

Ten months is awesome! Keep enjoying your smoke free life and never ever go back!

@Jane Not one puff IS the correct and only path. Keep it up! I encourage you to change your quit date so we can see at a glance your progress (and for you not to be reminded of the past cause you're never going back there).

How you doing @Jane ? Your post seems to have been buried. Hoping this posting gives it visibility in the community. @DenaliBlues You got this! And yes, as we help others we help ourselves.

Awesome! Keep enjoying your freedom!

Wishing you the best but as you know "luck" has nothing to do with it. YOU are the deciding factor in your quit and stay quit. It's easy to smoke that first one and fall quickly back into the full fledged nicotine addiction trap again as many of us can attest. I was one of those that found it hard to get back on the train and each attempt seemed to become harder and harder. I knew I needed something to switch on in my brain to stop the white knuckling and change my focus into my free choice of never going back to smoking. Being quit for 5 or 10 years and still thinking about wanting to smoke when seeing others smoke was not the future I wanted for myself. I wanted to feel gratitude and achieve peace in my smobriety. I found the switch by reading and educating myself about nicotine addiction (the why, how, and what I could do to help myself) and then reading some more. Each time I read I took away a few words or thoughts that spoke to me and added them to my pile of "never wanting a smoke" and "never going back". Find your switch. Then it really doesn't matter how long it's been since we last smoked. All that matters is that it no longer is a want or option to anything in our life. We are then free. You can do it too. Pledge daily (you don't break promises to yourself do you?). Post an SOS as needed and as often as you need to the community for help. Nobody says you have to do it alone. Use the community. "Best Wishes".

Ya ... none of us could justify our smoking either. You just celebrated your 3 month smoke free anniversary. What is the longest you've ever not smoked? You left smoking as an option open instead of taking the "Commitment Oath" to smobriety no matter how you feel, no matter what you think or tell yourself, and no matter what happens to you. Take smoking off the table. I hope you get back on the train and ride it to the end. It IS doable for you.

Congrats on 5 Years! Keep enjoying your Freedom!

Thinking of you and your family as you go through this life changing event. Go get the great care you need and deserve! Post as often as you feel like it. I think you topped the list on the "bestest" reason to keep your quit! 🙃

Nothing to be embarrassed about. That's how we ride the merry-go-round after we quit in the early days. Life events are absolute triggers where our thoughts tend to run in loops in our mind. Keep kicking the thought(s) out and use your tools no matter how many times you have to do it and for as long as you need to do it. It will "eventually" pass if you just don't smoke. Smoke and you'll be back to the starting gate again. You can do this! Say NO to yourself. Great job posting.

"Spilt milk" for you. (Hopefully someone reading and contemplating quitting will be helped by it.) You look and sound like a winner to me and that's all that counts. Congrats on 7 days! Keep it up! One day at a time for now ... .

Congrats! Three months is an awesome milestone! Keep it up!

@johnny5 Clearly I didn't do my homework when I was on QSMB! Or maybe it's just me again lol. Again @Doreensfree, Congrats!

What the heck is a Mini-Quit? It’s not a “practice” quit but it sure can help you begin a quit if you are having trouble launching one for yourself. It helped me. A Mini-Quit is changing up WHEN, WHERE, and WHY you normally smoke. It’s purpose is to give you a head start on breaking some of the smoking behaviors, habits and associated cues you made for yourself. As smokers we all had our rituals, patterns, and pacifier moments when we used smoking to soothe & calm ourselves. Although not the purpose of a mini-quit, a normal consequence is usually less smoking because it does not feel normal or as satisfying. Smoke as much as you want just not in the normal places and at the normal times. ********** Change the When. If you smoke right after a meal for example, or first thing when you wake up … don’t. Wait 30 mins instead. Do something else first to distract & delay smoking to change up your normal routine. Do the dishes, brush your teeth, take a shower, exercise, meditate, whatever you choose. Change the Where. Smoke in different places. If you have a specific place you smoke at home outside, don’t go there. Smoke somewhere else. Don’t get comfortable either. Don’t listen to music, read, text, or talk on the phone. In other words, don’t multi-task; just smoke. Keep your sole focus on smoking. Observe what it looks like & notice how you feel when the smoke swirls around you. (Personally, I felt an overwhelming sense of all the time I was wasting just smoking.) I’m assuming you already don’t smoke in your home or in your vehicle. With all the known health hazards nobody should be exposing their spouse, children, pets, loved ones, or friends who visit you in your home or ride in your vehicle to second & third hand smoke. If you do smoke in your home or vehicle, stop it! Make those places off limit now for smoking. Change the Why. Change your smoking patterns/behaviors. If you are used to smoking when angry or upset, to concentrate or think, while stressed or talking on the phone, etc., (and who of us as smokers didn’t) … don’t. Wait 30 mins. Do something else to distract yourself & delay smoking. Walk around & breathe to give yourself time to let the “go to” ingrained smoking behavior pass. The only way to change is to make/do the changes. Don’t focus on wanting to smoke either during the wait. Kick the thought(s) to the curb. ************ Try changing up 3 or 4 of your cues/smoking association behaviors for a few days or a week. Then add 3 or 4 more change-ups. It takes 3 weeks to change a “habit” or before we become comfortable or “normalized” with it so I don’t recommend using the Mini-Quit process for more than a week or two (but whatever, it’s your quit; do you!). The ultimate purpose is to launch your quit with fewer cues/smoking associations. It IS important & necessary to replace the old cues/smoking association behaviors with something else to fill the void. Strictly speaking, we don’t eliminate our “habits” … we change them into something else. Make sure what you choose to replace them with is positive and can be sustained for the long term regardless of mental & physical status. As far as being “ready” to quit smoking goes many of us weren’t ready or even wanted to but we chose to quit anyway and made the commitment not to smoke. It’s not about will power either. It’s WILLINGNESS, CHOICE & COMMITMENT. If you can quit for one day, you can quit for two days, and so on. One day at a time in the beginning. Again, the purpose of Mini-Quits is not smoking reduction although as you learn about yourself & change it up it is a wonderful side effect. Be aware that If you intentionally focus on just reducing the number of cigarettes “way down from normal” (especially if it is 5 or less cigs/day) you may be putting yourself into constant nicotine withdrawal or you may be treating cigarettes as a reward which is the last thing you want to do. You do not want to make a cigarette a “precious” commodity to yourself. Remember you are a nicotine addict; it’s not just a bad habit. You might want to consider doing Mini-Quits and then “just” jump off the scary cliff whether you feel ready or not & build your wings on the way down. That IS how it’s done

I'm a bit confused (not unusual 🙃). Your quit date showing is July 8th (2013). I didn't see a celebration on that date though so whether it was then or is today I hope you keep on enjoying your freedom from nicotine addiction for many years to come. Happy 13th! It's an awesome milestone! Celebrate!