Once you get far enough in quit....you really don't want them. Its not like, for over a year I wanted a smoke and I am missing out, still struggling.  You just reach a point where there is no struggle and you don't want one.

I got tired of feeling like a social outcast and being a slave to the next cigarette.

1. There is not one thing that I miss about smoking.

2. CRAVES become craves become triggers become thoughts become distant memories...

wanted to get my life back after i quit drinking.. didn't make since to slowly kill myself with ciggs while try'n to get the rest of my s*** together 

Fear.....thought of foot amputation...ya that done it.....quit now girl....

Watching someone with severe emphysema....ya that done it too.....

How about carrying a bottle of 02 around, that's a cool look when 75 and bent over as it is.

Trying to light your last cigarette even though its broken or wet lol

--I was embarrassed to always be clearing my throat

--I was annoyed at myself because (I was a closet smoker) always thinking about cigarettes.  I realize now I was almost always in withdrawal.  A real ****y way to live

I hoped by some miracle I would finally stick to a quit, then finally realised it was all down to me.

 

Past failures were always a lack of self confidence that I could actually do it, so would cut out the waiting till I failed and would light up.

 

The difference this time was just a case of 'no more, enough really is enough' of the self imposed torture of another failure.

I quit on a whim, wondering if I could do it and determined to give it my best shot.

I was more and more conscious of being an addict and hated everything about it.

• A customer told me "You have gone 24 hours without a smoke, well just aim for 24 hours each morning when you wake up... its not like you don't know you can do it, you already have" .... so for me taking it as a little picture... not worrying about a one month mark, or a 6 month mark, or a forever.... just focusing on a nice, achievable short term goal.
• Accountability of being in a group and publically declaring NOPE.

 

Reason for past failure:

 

1. Spent over 6 years of a quit trying to find a reason that I could justify tossing it in for without looking like a dick.... yeah right, there is no justification.

2. Not really wanting it, just going through the motions because it was what other people wanted me to do.

 

 

1. I was ashamed of being the only smoker in the group. 

2. I was feeling ugly and disgusting. 

 

Past failures:

1. Thought I was enjoying it. 

2. I sabotaged previous quit waiting for an excuse to smoke. I found it, obviously. 

12 minutes ago, brand.new.ela said:

2. I sabotaged previous quit waiting for an excuse to smoke. I found it, obviously. 

 

Me too... so need to say how different is this quit without that constant looking at everything to see if its the right excuse... how exhausting was that?.... So much easier with that not a part of the quit.

14 minutes ago, notsmokinjo said:

 

Me too... so need to say how different is this quit without that constant looking at everything to see if its the right excuse... how exhausting was that?.... So much easier with that not a part of the quit.

About a month into this quit my whole life turned around and as a result I moved to another country. In the previous quit that would have been a perfect excuse, so much stress! This time, nothing of that. I am not happy with that move and want to change again, still, not smoking and the old me would have. Somehow it resonated with me that smoking will not solve the problem in question. If you ask me how is this quit different there wouldn’t be one answer but many tiny things that combine into something strong. 

 1. It was now or never!!! Seemed my luck was running out!! (Once I admitted I was an addict and needed help I found an online support group where I could educate myself (QSMB) and receiving nicotine patches while in hospital helped me get through hell week....best thing I ever did was to quit when I did....as I had just had a stroke, the beginnings of COPD and coronary artery disease. Quitting stopped the COPD in it's tracks and I got through my stroke (2017)and then the CABGx3 in 2018 (triple bypass due to many blockages in coronary arteries) and am on road to recovery. ?

 

2. Admitting I was a nicotine addict and joining an online support group made all the difference....one day at a time!!

Edited October 10, 20187 yr by Rozuki

1. Education! On! Addiction! 

(Nicotine is a drug and you are an addict)

2. I fell in love love love with my quit. (This wonderful, beautiful piece of me that shows my strength and self worth)

 

I never quit in the past, only abstained for as long as I had to until I could smoke again.

Quitting is simple.

 

It could not be more simple.

 

You don't have to do anything.  You simply refrain from doing something that you once did.

 

S-I-M-P-L-E!