Soberjulie

Oh gosh! I feel terrible. Bassman, I don't really dip toothbrushes in the toilet :( It's just a silly visual to keep me from blowing my top at times of stress.

6 Quit smoking message board Support for quitting smoking Give up cigarettes

(((Action)))) (((Rachel))) And I'm not normally a huggy-kinda-girl. I'm more likely to punch you in the arm or slap you on the back. I'm an awkward hugger. Stiff. Weird. But I'm working on it because y'all are all over the place with arms outstretched. Geez

Lol Markus!

I owe parts of it to a friend who wrote me something similar when I was getting clean and sober. She isn't with me anymore. She relapsed and we've lost touch. I hope she's ok wherever she is and I know she wouldn't mind me tweaking and adding to her letter if it was going to help someone else. So, wherever you are Shannon.....thank you.

some days are harder than others. but you don't pick up that first cigarette you just don't. it's less about willpower than it is about making a decision not to, in advance of the thought or the desire, no matter how scared, angry, jealous, happy, bored, horny, depressed, anxious, elated, insecure, arrogant, lonely or silly you feel. some days it seems that although yesterday life looked good, today it doesn't, and although you know the only thing that's changed is your attitude, it's hard to shake. but you don't pick up that first cigarette the one that always leads to all the others. you just don't. even though you might think about it for a minute. (but you're too smart to let that thought linger. Still ... for just a minute, the idea is there it feels like the Universe is leaning on every. single. button. so you make some phone calls but all you get is voice mail. but you don't pick up that first cigarette you just don't. you leave messages all over Quit Train and Facebook pretending to be doing a little better than you are, but sort of alluding to the idea that, gosh, if they could get back to you that would be cool... You feel stupid about what could amount to spamming your social networks but you log on and do the same thing again. and that thought from before, the one about smoking didn't leave, exactly. it's like a piece of food stuck between your teeth, or a little splinter on the bottom of an unimportant toe (not the big one, that you'd feel with every step -- this is there/not there -- uncomfortable enough to feel but not so much that you stop and do something about it.) so you get busy, and try to write, or read, or do that whatever-it-was you've been putting off, but that just feels futile or irritating. and you dare the universe to dazzle you with some amazing "coincidence" -- a call from your quit buddy right now -- a knock on the door right this moment, a particular song on the radio the second you turn it on -- a Sign you can share about at Quit Train then everyone will smile warmly and nod, and you'll feel all "right" with things and wise and connected ... but ... nothing happens. no call. no knock. an ad for discount mattresses on the radio. and you don't pick up the first cigarette you just don't. you judge yourself an ingrate, a poser, an impostor, a spoiled/wounded ass/sadsack, pathetic you judge yourself for judging yourself, you go to the refrigerator you look at porn you click through channels on tv you wonder if you need medication, you suspect you should try deep breathing and meditation but you don't. but you don't pick up the first cigarette you just don't. and it gets better. it passes. eventually. If you Just Don't.

what if you are exactly where you're supposed to be today. what if you're not supposed to be one single solitary molecule better, nor one bit faster, not one jot farther along. what if you're not supposed to be any smarter, or more spiritually evolved, better with money, braver, bigger or smaller. what if (just for today) you let being smoke free be the win. let that be enough. take the day off from self judgment, from comparing yourself to others and to the mythical stealth "ideal you" that you've somehow been sold (that you've somehow bought). what if just for today you banish the "should's" and "supposed to's." if there is a God (and while sometimes there's doubt and some days the evidence seems to go either way what if today you sit with "there is") then what if your foibles and mishaps and shortcomings are part of what you need to be what you're supposed to be eventually. if this isn't treacle, or smarmy pap, then you can relax, and have faith that (as the old expression goes) God don't make junk and there is a Plan and you really are exactly where you're supposed to be today.

I love that story. It helped me bunches during hell week. When I wasn't posting, I was reading and I read The Dark Room over and over.

Woot woot! Same here! There's just a patch of snow left in my yard. And this week is supposed to be nice warm temps too. Evelyn I am also waiting for the thunder and rain that is supposed to hit us soon :) I love thunder.

4 Deal with withdrawal from nicotine

2

Tomorrow is a new day :)

Just for you Bakon.....:)

I kinda think of it as the folks who quit heroin by using a methadone program. I dunno.....is it a lesser evil?

20 woot woot 20 20 20

Oh Bandito.....that is I, sober grandma who does not smell of smoke :)

Youre awesome TAC Keep on quitting smoking quit smoking now quit smoking the easy way quit smoking community quit smoking forum smoking related disease smoking related illness nicotine withdrawal give up smoking support forum for quitting smoking

The wee baby and I will be swaying cheek to cheek tonight to this:

Maybe its my little funny faced smiley......notice she has no bangs??

I picked myself up a bath bomb from Lush.....a store I normally only go in to sniff, because it smells so darned gooooooooood in there, but its too expensive. One bath bomb, one full tub in just a little bit.....thats a lovely treat for not smoking.

16

I quit smoking. I was a nicotine addict. I was afraid of health consequences from smoking. I was afraid of smoking related diseases. There were many choices to be made. Cold turkey, NRT, Champix/Chantix, Wellbutrin/Zyban, I decided with my doctor the best way to quit smoking. (there. Hows that for buzzwords TAC?)

You get a whole plate of cookies for that day. But Im glad you shared it.......Im grinning like crazy over here :)

There is a saying in some circles I run in: "Carry the message, not the mess": While I think its important to be true to ourselves, to be honest about what I am going through from day to day.......its also important for me to remember that when I was on these forums, still smoking or hours or days into my quit....I needed hope. I needed to know it could be done and that it wasn't always going to feel the way it does in the first few days or weeks. I needed to hear and learn that I am in control of my mindset........that if I look for trouble, I will find it. And if I look for beauty I will find it. So, where am I going to look?

Rain coat. With matching rain boots. Its all about the outfit :) chocolate or caramel