I stopped smoking Oct 19. Most of the time its ok but the past few days I have struggled a bit. Didn't crack but I've been a bit twitchy. So far deep breathing and thinking about the money im saving is keeping them away. We'll also I live in MA and smoked menthol. You have to find an underground store or drive to another state to get them. Lol

Hi @mammakim ,

Welcome to the train. Yes, deep breathing also worked for me. And keeping myself busy.

Money is only one of the improvements.

Hey @mammakim. Glad you are here and reached out!

Thirteen days of coping with the worst of your chemical withdrawal is a great achievement! Now the longer road of recovery begins, where the quit entails reckoning with other kinds of withdrawal… mental, ritual, social, etc. Smoking was baked into the daily rhythm of our lives for a long time, so it’s natural to struggle for a while.

The good news is that you have already proven you can make it through any cravings! You’ve built some solid quit muscles already. I agree with @GonSo that staying busy at this stage is helpful. I also found it useful to change up routines, to try and break old associations I had of times and places I would smoke.

You can do this! Hang in there!

Welcome to Quittrain @mammakim This is definitely the right place to be when you quit smoking! Read everything you can on here and watch the videos too. It's definitely not easy to quit, but very doable as you can see from all of us quitters. Do the Daily Nope pledge every day because I believe it will keep you focused. There is also a Games section on here to help you take your mind off of smoking, and if you need it, there is an SOS section. Since we are a group of people from all over the world there is usually someone on at all times. As @DenaliBlues said, change up your routines.

You can do this!👍

Welcome to Quit Train @mammakim and congrats on the start of your quit journey. It's certainly not easy but it IS doable!! Focusing on the positives you begin to see is the right thing to do rather than wallowing in the dispair we often feel in the beginning of our quits. As others have said, changing up your daily routines a bit can help you break the associations you have with lighting up a smoke. is a great startegy! There's such a habitual routine we all develop as smokers and half the battle in quitting is breaking up those routines and developing new ones that exclude smoking. Stay close to the train in your early days it does help to be around other quitters. We get it!! We do, so use our experiences to help yourself move forward.

Yes! Some of my routines are not able to be changed much. I work during the day from home and at night at Target. Daytime I dont really take breaks except for lunch. I usually eat, read and relax. That part hasn't bothered me. I think the worst time is in the car. Even that isn't taking over my thoughts I have a craving on the way to work but I have been able to fight through them. Target breaks I just haven't gone outside. I wander around and spend money 🙄😬

We are going on a cruise in a few weeks. That makes me a bit nervous but there's so much to distract me, I think it will be ok

Hello and welcome

Congratulations to making the great

Decision in taking your life back

Read all the information here , there are grest tips to help you though

We are here to help you along 🐸

I woke up this morning and looked for my butts, I took a nice deep breath and felt so good it didnt bother me.

The time change is killing me though. So tired lol

On 11/1/2026 at 10:43 PM, Doreensfree said:

Hello and welcome

Congratulations to making the great

Decision in taking your life back

Read all the information here , there are grest tips to help you though

We are here to help you along 🐸

Thanks for the welcomes 😊 still muddling through. Tonight while on break I bought halloween candy half price and a couple squishy penguins for my twin grandaughters

19 hours ago, mammakim said:

I woke up this morning and looked for my butts, I took a nice deep breath and felt so good it didnt bother me.

For me it was a surprise that no longer having the first one in the morning was in fact the easiest as my brain quickly became used to the no.

Two weeks now, the worst is behind you. Keep going!

7 hours ago, GonSo said:

For me it was a surprise that no longer having the first one in the morning was in fact the easiest as my brain quickly became used to the no.

Two weeks now, the worst is behind you. Keep going!

Its definately getting better. I just love that I can take a nice deep breath. So far that is getting me through the cravings

That is great isn't it! I also loved the fact that I had no cold feet any longer.

I used some of the money I saved to get my car professionally cleaned. Instead of wanting a smoke, I got to enjoy how nice it smelled.

31 minutes ago, Paul723 said:

I used some of the money I saved to get my car professionally cleaned. Instead of wanting a smoke, I got to enjoy how nice it smelled.

Ugh yes my car does smell but my son and his girlfriend still live with us and drive my car. (They are in their 30s rather complicated, smoking is the least of my worries with them ) so far i haven't tackled them for their cigarettes. Been a bit cranky with them as they are slobs and my house looks like a tornado came through it some days.

3 hours ago, GonSo said:

That is great isn't it! I also loved the fact that I had no cold feet any longer.

I am either super hot or super cold since they stole my thyroid. I feel like I cant regulate body temps

On 11/1/2026 at 1:08 PM, DenaliBlues said:

Hey @mammakim. Glad you are here and reached out!

Thirteen days of coping with the worst of your chemical withdrawal is a great achievement! Now the longer road of recovery begins, where the quit entails reckoning with other kinds of withdrawal… mental, ritual, social, etc. Smoking was baked into the daily rhythm of our lives for a long time, so it’s natural to struggle for

You can do this! Hang in there!

Today i have a half day of my day job and do not work my night job. Im still hanging in but find myself with a few more cravings than normal. Im puttering around the house cleaning. Staying busy but my thoughts keep wandering 😒

On 11/1/2026 at 7:37 PM, mammakim said:

Yes! Some of my routines are not able to be changed much. I work during the day from home and at night at Target. Daytime I dont really take breaks except for lunch. I usually eat, read and relax. That part hasn't bothered me. I think the worst time is in the car. Even that isn't taking over my thoughts I have a craving on the way to work but I have been able to fight through them. Target breaks I just haven't gone outside. I wander around and spend money 🙄😬

We are going on a cruise in a few weeks. That makes me a bit nervous but there's so much to distract me, I think it will be ok

I went on a cruise in the early days of my quit and found it to be OK. So many people not smoking and just being in an anvironment where there's NO Smoking helped me develop a good mindset for not smoking. Just stay clear of the smoking area, usuallu near one of the pools. Have a GREAT trip!!

5 hours ago, Reciprocity said:

I went on a cruise in the early days of my quit and found it to be OK. So many people not smoking and just being in an anvironment where there's NO Smoking helped me develop a good mindset for not smoking. Just stay clear of the smoking area, usuallu near one of the pools. Have a GREAT trip!!

Yes that's what makes me nervous. I dont want to wander by. We are going royal so I think we are going to go to the pool in the solarium. And I believe they have a small non smoking casino. The only outdoor pool we will go to is the splash pad for my grandaughter. I cant wait to go.

Your doing great

I kept busy too…

Play the games we have here , it keeps your mind active and busy too 🐸

7 hours ago, Doreensfree said:

Your doing great

I kept busy too…

Play the games we have here , it keeps your mind active and busy too 🐸

Yes I will have to poke in there sometime 😊

Your doing great! Keep at it and YOU WILL MAKE IT! Stay close and S.O.S if you need to. Best wishes.

On 11/5/2026 at 10:37 PM, mammakim said:

Yes that's what makes me nervous. I dont want to wander by. We are going royal so I think we are going to go to the pool in the solarium. And I believe they have a small non smoking casino. The only outdoor pool we will go to is the splash pad for my grandaughter. I cant wait to go.

The other thing that I found when I was quitting and went on a cruise was that when I did walk by the smoking area, for some reason I felt sorry for these people stuck under the roof of this area by the outdoor pool as they puffed away. I was glad I could walk around freely in the sunshine and go where ever I wanted to go without needing to stay in that one covered smokey area. And each time I did go by there in the coming days ... always the same people in that shaded, smokey place. It occurred to me, what a waste of time & money to go on a cruise and just sit there smoking in the same uninteresting area the whole time. Might as well have just stayed home and smoked. Would have saved the cost of the cruise!

Now that was my experience but others may have a completely different reaction to the same situation. We're all different which is what makes life interesting. We experience things differently at times.

The detail about the smoking area by the outdoor pool resonates with me. Framing it as people spending cruise money to sit in the same shaded spot says a lot about how much of a trip smoking can take over, and liking the freedom to move around the ship sounds like the better deal. Mammakim's plan to use the solarium pool and the small non-smoking casino while keeping the splash pad visits for the granddaughter seems sensible, and it's a good reminder that having a plan for the tempting spots can make a difference. The games suggestion is a practical way to stay busy too.

The detail about the smoking area by the outdoor pool resonates with me. Framing it as people spending cruise money to sit in the same shaded spot says a lot about how much of a trip smoking can take over, and liking the freedom to move around the ship sounds like the better deal. Mammakim's plan to use the solarium pool and the small non-smoking casino while keeping the splash pad visits for the granddaughter seems sensible, and it's a good reminder that having a plan for the tempting spots can make a difference. The games suggestion is a practical way to stay busy too.

We are 2 weeks away. I cant wait. My daughter and I are doing a paint by the sea for an excursion. Something different from our normal route hopefully my grandaughter will be content with her daddy and papa for a bit. She's very attached to her mom

The point about the shaded smoking area sticking with you makes sense, and it lines up with what mammakim described about coming back to the same faces each day. Planning around the solarium pool and the non-smoking casino sounds like a reasonable way to keep the trip from being shaped by where smoking is allowed. With two weeks to go, the paint by the sea excursion sounds like a good change of pace, and having the granddaughter with her daddy and papa for a bit gives you and your daughter some time on your own.

The point about the shaded smoking area sticking with you makes sense, and it lines up with what mammakim described about coming back to the same faces each day. Planning around the solarium pool and the non-smoking casino sounds like a reasonable way to keep the trip from being shaped by where smoking is allowed. With two weeks to go, the paint by the sea excursion sounds like a good change of pace, and having the granddaughter with her daddy and papa for a bit gives you and your daughter some time on your own.

The paint by the sea excursion sounds like a nice way to break from the usual routine, and having that window while your granddaughter stays with her daddy and papa probably makes it easier to relax. The point about the same faces showing up at the shaded spot each day is what would stick with me too — it makes the pool area feel smaller than the ship. Planning the solarium and the non-smoking casino in advance seems like a sensible way to keep the day from drifting toward old habits.

The paint by the sea excursion sounds like a nice way to break from the usual routine, and having that window while your granddaughter stays with her daddy and papa probably makes it easier to relax. The point about the same faces showing up at the shaded spot each day is what would stick with me too — it makes the pool area feel smaller than the ship. Planning the solarium and the non-smoking casino in advance seems like a sensible way to keep the day from drifting toward old habits.