Ramona

Yeah, feel like I maybe went too in depth!! Should have just said "welcome"!

!!!!!Eight Months!!!!!

Nope

Welcome NI!!!! Nice to greet a new member. As a smoker I always got bronchitis in the winter. As a non-smoker I never got bronchitis in the winter. Simple as that. Stay here to stay healthy.

Life happens. Whether we smoke or not - - it does what it does. People will die, health problems will arise, family members will infuriate us. You can't allow that wiggle room to exist. The wiggle room, the fissure in our resolve - - that's where our drive for nicotine will invade. The addiction will find any excuse - the smallest of entry ways - - and it will invade. When you jump back on the train - know this and keep your new life rock solid & sealed.

Keep on keeping on! Don't ever give in. Never take another puff.

Alright Gabby!!!! Well done. You rocked that year. NTAP NOPE What's been the top 5 benefits of being a non-smoker?

Lots of people up at odd hours NOPE

How about Chrysalis? Where is she?

NOpe

Nicotine is a drug - you're a puppet on a string! Every time you need some, you gotta go get some. That's the nature of any dependency - all other considerations fall to the wayside. I love this forum. 99% of the time the users here try to pick each other up and boost esteem. Here is a compassionate, forthcoming place to post your struggles and successes. You will have plenty of both. I got sober March 7th 2011 but didn't stop smoking cigarettes until November 6th 2014. For those 3.5 months of sobriety I didn't need any help at all. God removed my desire to drink and I puffed away along the way. But trying to get clean from nicotine? Totally different. Without nicotine coursing through my blood I have found I need AA, this forum, and a counselor. It's a bloody war!!! But I'm determined to be victorious. I've changed my official sober date to my cigarette date. I'm 32...we're comrades in age! Unfortunately we're also comrades in anger. I call my non-smoking anger my "fury ball." Every once in awhile something (or someone) will happen and I'll feel this terribly real & solid cyst type knot inside my body. It sort of bounces around my being (physical, emotional, social, spiritual, psychological) - - - permeates all the levels - - - and sends me into a state of panicked, hurried, anxious, RAGE. I figure as long as I do not seriously harm anyone, or myself, then I will work with this rage. I'm tweaking other aspects of my being in order to alleviate this syndrome because I will not use my anger as an excuse to light up. Lastly, something I've recently noted: I am now more susceptible to other peoples' "vibes." Without a protective smokescreen I receive all sorts of messages and feelings when I'm in groups of people. It's a little overwhelming!!! BUT - that's what makes this journey so exciting and worthwhile. Because while we do feel these negative aspects, we also feel a heightened positivism...more beauty...more color. An expanded spectrum - almost as if we had been living our lives in black and white and now we're in color! You can do this. Stay close here and NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF. In the end, that's all that it takes.

Hope this happens to me.

Noped

I'm 32 now. Wish I'd quit 10 years ago! You have such a beautiful face - don't screw it up with ciggs. Quitting now will make you more confident - - you will stand taller and hug harder. It's worth it.

....NoPe....

Rooting for you! Go Laura! No excuses! Smell nice! Breathe deep! Big hugs! Stand tall! It's all good - just gotta get through the shit.

Stimulate endorphins = so key. Just sitting around and crying will not make quitting an enjoyable experience. Getting out and taking advantage of our lung improvement WILL. Get out!!!

So true Markus. It is a war.

Well done Colleen - two years! What's the biggest difference between YOU TODAY and you 2 years ago?

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Tracey))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

I love that FROG!!! NOPE! (happy 2 year!)

My NOPE is fatter than your NOPE :D NOPE

In just 5 days (June 6th) I will celebrate 7 months nicotine/smoke free! And I gotta say: month 6 to 7 has been, for the most part, darned breezy. Phew! Leading up to this time has been difficult and uncertain. I almost cracked and relapsed when I had 5 months - I came insanely close to sabotaging this new life of mine. Indeed, for those first months I came close to smoking time-after-time. But I didn't. And that's all it takes - that's all that really matters at the end of the day. Tonight's dinner with my family was beautiful. Food has taken on gargantuan proportions of thrilling delight. Before each meal I make sure to thank god for the experience of eating. How blessed I am! Blessed to have a life where food is commonplace - - and now a new life where food tastes IN-F$#%KING-CREDIBLE. I am more present when I eat, I've slowed down (no longer am I trying to rush my way to my next fix). I'm immensely grateful to the members of this forum - for baring all. Most of us here are open-books and we're not afraid to divulge our very personal experiences. I need this!!! There's a high level of trust here. Trust that our words, expressions and confessions will be met with compassion. But also met with honesty and tough love. We are comrades, soldiers in our pursuit and this bonds us in ways 'never-smokers' and 'forever-smokers' can not understand. I will stay on this board until I make my year (and probably beyond that). My year will be the proudest moment of my life. I've done some cool things in my 32 years of life, some stuff I'm pretty proud of. But nothing as remarkable, and hard-fought, as this current battle. If I can beat nicotine/cigarettes then I can pretty much do anything. I owe this burgeoning self confidence to NOPE and to all of you here at the QT. Thanks guys.

This is so damn cute.

I too like this thread. Succinct.