November 18, 20187 yr Hi everyone....I am new to this site and am trying to find my way around so if I am not in the right place for this post I apologize in advance. So here goes it! I am 70 years young and have been smoking since I was 14 (you do the math) over the years I have made half hearted attempts to quit but always managed to find an excuse as to why I "needed" to smoke. I tried it all, patches, gum, drugs nothing helped. Finally with my 4th attempt at using Chantix (for 2 months) I have been smoke free for 6 months, longest time ever. I love being smoke free and am turned of at the thought of smoking and the smell SO WHY CAN'T I GET MY BUTT OUT OF THIS CHAIR!!! I have gone from being active and ALWAYS working on a project to having no motivation to do anything! This recliner and the tv have become my new addiction. HELP!!!
November 18, 20187 yr Congratulations on taking your life back!! Hooray! 6 months free from the chains!! I know alot of us felt a brain fog/laziness in our early quit. There is also what we call No Man's Land(you find lots on that if you type it into the search glass at the top of the main page); a time when the quit excitment is gone but you are still trudging thru the mental hurdles. You nees to get back the excitment of loving the quit! Embrace it and take it out on a nice date! Try something new; something you maybe didn't like doing as a smoker because you've changed and the new non-smoking you might like different things. Maybe start a small exercise every morning for a boost? If you feel something is odd or wrong with you tho; I'd see a dr. to rule out anything medical. To me, it sounds like a mental block...keep pushing thru; make a daily goal to clean one closet a day or to walk around the block before dinner...something small but doable. Hope I helped some (I tend to ramble)...let us know how you are getting along, stick around and you will get tons of support and knowledge along the way!! Congrats again
November 18, 20187 yr Hi Sandy, welcome to quittrain First, congratulations on half a year quit, that's awesome As far as not having any motivation to do anything, I can totally relate. What works for me is as Jane said above, set your mind to doing one project a day. I've been doing that since I quit and although my circumstances may be different than yours, it's been working well. And it never hurts to get a checkup after we quit. If for no other reason than to hear all the kudos on quitting
November 18, 20187 yr Hi Sandy! Congrats on your awesome quit! That is a very important thing you have finally managed to do for yourself Just throwing out a wacky idea here about your sudden lack of motivation to get off your butt and do stuff but here goes ............................ when we smoke, we tend to use that sometimes as as distraction in the midst of doing something and then again after we have finished some activity we were doing. Smoking was literally tied together with everything we did day to day. Just wondering if maybe there's a subconscious fear that if you go back to your normal routines, the urge to smoke will become stronger again even after this long? I'm probably full of crap but ..... best I can do at the moment. I hope you find a way to re-start your activities or find some news ones and maintain that great quit at the same time! Edited November 18, 20187 yr by reciprocity
November 18, 20187 yr Congratulations on 6 months smoke free, Sandy. That is a truly great thing. There is some good advice already given regarding the feeling of laziness. Brain fog and the feeling of being in "no man' land" are common, especially when the excitement of the quit wears off. There are several threads on this site about that and the one below is useful.
November 18, 20187 yr Welcome to our merry band of nicotine free creatures, Sandy. Congratulations on your quit ! I'm going to give you some links to some posts that you may find helpful. The first is how quitting smoking is a journey The Journey 10 Ways To Effectively Use This Forum and The Great Smoke Free Mental Fog I'm with @c9jane29 and @jillar in that I make myself get up and do something....anything and then I usually find something interesting to get into. I'm so glad you have joined us ! s
November 18, 20187 yr 5 hours ago, sandy1 said: Finally with my 4th attempt at using Chantix (for 2 months) I have been smoke free for 6 months, longest time ever. Great job Sandy. Congratulations on 6 months of freedom. 5 hours ago, sandy1 said: I love being smoke free and am turned of at the thought of smoking and the smell SO WHY CAN'T I GET MY BUTT OUT OF THIS CHAIR!!! I have gone from being active and ALWAYS working on a project to having no motivation to do anything! This recliner and the tv have become my new addiction. HELP!!! Remember Newton's First Law of Motion: "An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion..." Works for people too. Sometimes when you just don't feel like doing anything, you just do something. It doesn't need to be extreme, but once you get going you'll tend to keep going.
November 18, 20187 yr Hi Sandy. First of all, you should be very proud of yourself for quitting smoking after so many years. I am working on my 4th month and I too am finding myself really tired. As others suggested, I have to force myself to do one chore a day. I have been working on ridding my house of smoke. Even if I wash a small section of wall a day, it helps keep me moving. It is amazing how much the glass shines when you get rid of that smoke film! So glad you have joined the forum. Great group of people here. Hopefully we can help you along your quit smoking journey. Linda
November 19, 20187 yr Hi Sandy ...Welcome aboard.... Our bodies are all over the place when we quit...we have to be patient .....it's been used to being fed hundreds of chemicals so many times a day... It takes time to adjust.... I'm not far behind your age...and I can tell you not smoking has taken 20 years of my years...its giving me tons more energy... I'm going to suggest Qi Gong..( you tube )....it's very gentle ..but powerful tool.....good the body and mind ....what have you got to lose....nothing .... Be kind to yourself ...treat yourself... You can do this ...
November 20, 20187 yr Author On 11/18/2018 at 11:22 AM, jillar said: Hi Sandy, welcome to quittrain First, congratulations on half a year quit, that's awesome As far as not having any motivation to do anything, I can totally relate. What works for me is as Jane said above, set your mind to doing one project a day. I've been doing that since I quit and although my circumstances may be different than yours, it's been working well. And it never hurts to get a checkup after we quit. If for no other reason than to hear all the kudos on quitting On 11/18/2018 at 10:59 AM, c9jane29 said: On 11/19/2018 at 3:55 AM, Doreensfree said: Hi Sandy ...Welcome aboard.... Our bodies are all over the place when we quit...we have to be patient .....it's been used to being fed hundreds of chemicals so many times a day... It takes time to adjust.... I'm not far behind your age...and I can tell you not smoking has taken 20 years of my years...its giving me tons more energy... I'm going to suggest Qi Gong..( you tube )....it's very gentle ..but powerful tool.....good the body and mind ....what have you got to lose....nothing .... Be kind to yourself ...treat yourself... You can do this ... Congratulations on taking your life back!! Hooray! 6 months free from the chains!! I know alot of us felt a brain fog/laziness in our early quit. There is also what we call No Man's Land(you find lots on that if you type it into the search glass at the top of the main page); a time when the quit excitment is gone but you are still trudging thru the mental hurdles. You nees to get back the excitment of loving the quit! Embrace it and take it out on a nice date! Try something new; something you maybe didn't like doing as a smoker because you've changed and the new non-smoking you might like different things. Maybe start a small exercise every morning for a boost? If you feel something is odd or wrong with you tho; I'd see a dr. to rule out anything medical. To me, it sounds like a mental block...keep pushing thru; make a daily goal to clean one closet a day or to walk around the block before dinner...something small but doable. Hope I helped some (I tend to ramble)...let us know how you are getting along, stick around and you will get tons of support and knowledge along the way!! Congrats again Wow! Thank you all for the input! I took your advice and literally FORCED myself to go into my studio and grind at least one piece of glass and wound up grinding six went back a little later in the day and worked until my legs hurt from standing. I have always known what I had to do but some how your push and support got me up and moving...Thank you so much! I hope it lasts! Quitting has been the most mentally emotionally and physically challenging thing I have done in my entire life. But, I had two choices smoke or breathe....I cannot do both! Thank you again! Sandy
November 20, 20187 yr 47 minutes ago, sandy1 said: Quitting has been the most mentally emotionally and physically challenging thing I have done in my entire life. Add: the most rewarding, exciting, best thing any of us could do!! Glad to hear you got back at it! Felt good, I bet! Keep it up; one day at a time!
November 20, 20187 yr 54 minutes ago, sandy1 said: Quitting has been the most mentally emotionally and physically challenging thing I have done in my entire life. Yeah its pretty gangsta. I mean i heard some people have it easy but... Its worth it. Its one of the best things you can do for yourself. Keep marching lad. Edited November 20, 20187 yr by StewieTech
November 20, 20187 yr Hello, Sandy, Great to hear you got up and ground your glass ! We have a gallery page where you can show us your work and inspire us to get up off our rusty dusty too ! QT Gallery
November 20, 20187 yr That's great news @sandy1, and six pieces even, wow We'd love to see them if you get the chance
November 20, 20187 yr 3 hours ago, sandy1 said: Wow! Thank you all for the input! I took your advice and literally FORCED myself to go into my studio and grind at least one piece of glass and wound up grinding six went back a little later in the day and worked until my legs hurt from standing. I have always known what I had to do but some how your push and support got me up and moving...Thank you so much! I hope it lasts! Quitting has been the most mentally emotionally and physically challenging thing I have done in my entire life. But, I had two choices smoke or breathe....I cannot do both! Thank you again! Sandy Congratulations on 6 months, and I'm with you all the way on running out of choices if I continued to smoke and finding it very mentally and physically challenging to quit. Since there's nothing good to go back to, you just have to keep going forward. The more active and involved in any nonsmoking activities you are, the faster your get up and go will come back to you. Great job on getting into the studio and back to work like a champ -- you've already exceeded and blown away your own expectations.
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