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Showing results for tags 'relapse prevention'.
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10 Steps to Starting Again (Quitnet Repost, 12/22/1997) Many years ago, I started a journy to stop smoking and found a lot of wisdom and support at a site called Quitnet. I did have long stretches where I stopped smoking as a result of the awesome support and wisdom from this site. I did save a large library of quotes and information from this site that I like to go back to from time to time to help me keep my quit strong. I will start to share some of the wisdom of this site in this thread in the hope that it will help others in their smoke free journey., Keep the Quit. Gene REPOST: 10 Steps to Starting Again From Pic on 12/22/1997 11:58:35 PM 10 Steps to Starting Again 1. "Try" to quit (try, as opposed to "do") 2. Idealize what life will be like without smoking 3. Associate your daily problems and disappointments with the fact that you’re not smoking. 4. Begin to buy into the idea that you’re more miserable now than before you quit 5. Start responding to your problems with, "If this keeps up, I’m going to smoke" then add "anyhow" then add "so why suffer anymore?" (Alternate 3-5: 3. Associate your success with the idea that you’ve licked the nicotine habit. 4. Begin to buy into the idea that you could smoke without getting hooked again 5. Follow-up this idea with, "I haven’t smoked in ___ days/weeks/months/years" then add "I haven’t had any cravings" then add "I could have just one" ) 6. Buy, borrow or steal a cigarette. 7. Find a quiet, secluded place where you can be alone with the substance to which you have attributed all power and promise for fulfillment of your needs. 8. Feel yourself calming down even before you light up, which is actually the beast ceasing to scratch at your insides as you prepared to feed the addiction. 9. Light-up and suck in all the poison you can get in that first drag, while beginning the battle against being disappointed in yourself, noticing that this fight is not half as ferocious as it was to get the nicotine. 10. Within a few hits, feel dizzy, cough a little, smell the stink, and realize you’re not going to stop smoking that cigarette, you’ll keep smoking despite the bad feelings, and wish you hadn’t given in. I hope this scenario scares you as much as it scares me. In writing it, I drew from my personal experience and noticed some things that might be helpful in the future: A RELAPSE STARTS IN MY HEAD Steps 1-5 all have to do with how I think. IT IS ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO FULLY RELAPSE without doing some or all of 1-5. A CIGARETTE IS NOT THE ANSWER AND THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ONE.
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Good morning. I am a long standing quitter and have been at this for a long time. I'm not proud of this. I have done a great job of overcoming the psycological reasons for smoking and I no longer romance the smoke. BUT I obviously have to work on the stinking thinking that smoking can give me anything: pleasure, satisfaction etc. I live with a partner who smokes and I started smoking with him again occasionally. Oh yes, that stinking thinking that I can have just one or I can smoke for the night with him and stop the next day. We all know how that story ends. I know that if I want to protect this new quit, I can't have one puff ever. I decided that I need to get back to basis and focus on not one puff ever. I am not going to smoke today.
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I have confidence in my quit and estimate my chance of relapse is low still...addiction is a wily condition and I am human. Here are my four maneuvers to avert relapse, ( Think again, Get right with yourself, Contact an ally, Post an SOS ) and a slew of red flags... When you know better yet, are purposefully leading yourself astray ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you have tiny tempting smokey thoughts that you are nuturing by not dismissing immediately and aggressively ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ I won't get addicted this time ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ Whenever you start to 'romance smoking' ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you seriously entertain the idea that smoking looks attractive or makes you feel carefree and part of the fun ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you are having silly thoughts like, my smoking friends are having a great time and I'm missing out ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you really wonder, what it would it taste like now, ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ Will I still get that, 'ahhhh' feeling ? ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ When you start to think that you are 'different' and that you can handle just one. ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ Do you think you can quit again without much effort? ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you want to give yourself permission for just one, once in a while, just this once ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you feel too secure in your quit and start to act cocky ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you propose to test your quit ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ Are you starting to believe, you've been quit long enough to handle a puff or two? ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you know too much to get addicted again ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ Whever you are doubting your commitment to your quit ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you ignore the reality that smoking is a terrifying choice with significant consequences ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ If you are dismissive of the fact that you can Never Take Another Puff, Not One Puff Ever. ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ I forgot the major red flag, I am not an addict ! ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ I'm an adult and I'll do wtf I want ! ~ think again, get right with yourself, contact an ally, post an SOS ~ Have you more red flags to add ? Different manuevers ?
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The other day I was sitting with a cup of coffee and a blueberry scone and my thoughts turned to this question: "What am I doing to protect my quit?" "Am I protecting my quit?" Like most ex-smokers with long quits will oftentimes say, I rarely think about smoking and when I do, it's a fleeting thought, a gentle reminder of my why I can never allow myself to smoke. But I asked myself, how am I protecting my quit? I pragmatically thought about this as if my life depended on it. As I went over the ways I protect my quit there was one specific mindset that blew everything else out-of-the-water; a concept for which all other means to stay quit fall under. I am a nicotine addict. Accepting that I was an addict early in my quit was the deciding factor if I was indeed going to not ever take another puff. Once you treat this as a drug addiction and accept it, the ways in which you stay quit are rank and file. In less than two minutes my brain was resounding with an unrelenting YES, I am protecting my quit. I think I'll ask myself this from time-to-time just to make sure I'm not getting complacent and keep my ego in check with reality. :) Are you protecting your quit?
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How Long Does It Take To Become Re-Addicted To Nicotine?
MarylandQuitter posted a blog entry in MarylandQuitter's Blog
This new video explores the question that some former smokers find themselves asking of how long it could take them to get re-addicted to nicotine after they have been off smoking for a long length of time.