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Browse through 411.750 posts in 47.055 threads.

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5 years ago 0 180 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Another quit attempt.

Yay, welcome back!  You're wiser this time around and see the dangers of having "just one" or "just this one night."  Knowing that dirty little nicotine trick has saved me a multitude of times on this quit - as much as I would sometimes like "just one", I don't want the inevitable hundred that would follow. I don't want to be on Day 1 again.  I don't want to have to go through the first week again.  I don't want to have to find the motivation to quit again.  When I think things through to the end, then I see that ultimately smoking one just isn't worth it for me.  My nicotine-susceptible brain wiring sometimes tries to make me forget that there is life beyond the next 5 minutes. It is only concerned with right now, consequences be damned.  Learning to separate its "voice" from my own voice helps me to leave it in the dust.
5 years ago 0 180 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Tired of Stumbling, Quitting in a Few Days

Wow, you're going strong!  It feels so good to be in personal best territory, doesn't it? And to realize that it's easier to simply keep going than to give in :)  I was wondering about you after not posting for a while, but I guess you were out there simply living your life, free of smoking. I'm glad the wedding turned out to be no big deal, and I hope you post about your time abroad as a non-smoker.... I'm very curious to see what that's like.
5 years ago 0 180 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
June quitter

100 days, baby!  Now *this* one feels good.  I'm so relieved that I don't have to think about smoking all the time now.  I am so free to tackle other subjects, to pursue other aspects of living.  I never have to think about when my next smoke is ever again if I don't want to.  I never have to mindlessly walk in [theoretical] chains to the smoking section. I get to choose where I walk next. I'm not controlled by nicotine, and I'm not falling for the tricks anymore.  I had enough, and now I'm free.  I smoked THOUSANDS of cigarettes in my life.  I finally see that one more smoke isn't going to be any more special, or any more unique, than those thousands I already sampled.  There's nothing new at the bottom of that barrel.  There's a whole life outside the barrel, though. And it smells nicer outside the barrel, too :P
5 years ago 0 180 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Need some kudos

Hi Camper, welcome to quitting version 2.0 :)  You basically articulated my biggest fear for myself - that one day, years from now, I will suddenly think just one smoke sounds like a reasonable idea.  I'm going to log your post in my brain bank for future reference... I also used Champix to quit, and it messed with me big time, to the point where I had to tinker with the dosage just to be able to tolerate it.  Keep posting here, I love following quit journeys :)  
5 years ago 0 180 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
June quitter

Day 106.  Aside from that weird blip on the radar a week or two ago, I feel like a non-smoker.  The past 6 days since my last post have passed with nary a thought of smoking.  Even now, when I am on a smoking board and typing about smoking, I don't feel anything like I used to.  I feel like I'm writing about a neutral topic. I could be discussing types of wood varnish for all the emotional investment I feel.  I think I've leveled up again - now instead of easily dismissing thoughts of smoking, thoughts of smoking just don't show up to begin with. There's no pull. The next level that I am really looking forward to, ever since someone mentioned it downthread (Timbo or Penitent maybe?), is the stage where I say, "I wanted a what?!" I'm not quite there yet.  I don't want a cigarette at all, but I can still identify and relate to the smoking version of myself.  It'll be neat when the whole idea seems like a bizarre and foreign concept. So you mean, I wanted to stick something in my mouth and light it on fire?? Sure, pal. Likely story.
5 years ago 0 180 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
June quitter

One more side note - I had a wisdom tooth extracted yesterday, and for the very first time, I got to say, "Nope, I don't smoke!" when discussing the aftercare.  Even better than that, I am not in the throes of trying to MacGyver a way to smoke through the healing process (as I did THREE SEPARATE TIMES in the past, as I have had them removed one by one over the past ten years.... thank god this is the last one).  I remember being particularly impressed by my brother-in-law's invention of reversing a vacuum in order to suck in smoke from the cigarette and blow it into his mouth through the hose.  Ha! That sounds so sad to me now, to be that desperate, and yet THREE TIMES in the past I was eyeing up my shop vac wondering if I could rig up a smoke-machine for myself.  And then in the end risking a dry socket with those pathetic little front-of-mouth inhales that any smoker who's been through dental work knows about.  This time around, how to get my cigarette fix is not one of my post-op problems.
5 years ago 0 180 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
June quitter

DAY 111. So, I think the data is in, and it officially took me approximately 100 days to "get over" smoking.  I wonder if knowing that from the beginning would have made this easier or harder.... Something has definitely changed since I hit triple digits.  Smoking is very low on my priority list of things to be concerned about - it basically doesn't even register as an item of interest anymore.  I know there will be unexpected cravings still to come, triggers I have forgotten about but will encounter some day down the road, but overall smoking is just not something I deal with anymore.  What a relief to finally have done this. Near the end of my smoking days, I really feared that I would never get to a place where I could quit, or maintain a quit. I was so ambivalent, and both options (continue smoking or quit smoking) seemed like terrible ideas. I'm so glad I tried just one more time.  It is a tremendous relief to not be debating about quitting anymore.  It's done. I get to move on with my life.
5 years ago 0 180 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Another quit attempt.

Steveo88, your post put a smile on my face this morning.  I love the idea of us coming back to life, or getting a whole new lease on life as you put it, after quitting smoking.  It sounds like you had a really lovely time of gratitude in action with your son :)
5 years ago 0 180 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
June quitter

Day 119. I am a non-smoker.  I even forgot about this site over the past week because smoking is so far from my mind.  It no longer affects me in any way when my partner smokes in front of me (except wishing that he could quit for his own sake). I don't mind being around smokers (except for the smell). I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. I definitely do not miss smoking itself anymore. There is no struggle, at all, ever.  I just go about my day, and I don't think about smoking.  Tomorrow is 4 months free.  I'm so glad I finally bit the bullet and did this, and now I don't have to go through it ever again if I don't want to.  It's so funny, when we are in the middle of it, we are so willing to spend the rest of our lives in chains rather than slog through the discomfort of a couple months.  From the other side, it seems ridiculous.  Trading a couple of months in for a lifetime of freedom is a NO BRAINER!  Any one of us would be willing to hand over $20 today in exchange for a million dollars in 2 months, right?  That's what it feels like I did.  Accepted the temporary loss, slogged through all the feels about it, and then got a big fat pay-out a short time later.
 
Keep on quitting, folks! 
5 years ago 0 180 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
June quitter

Aww, thanks guys for the compliments.  I wish I was writer because I love words, but I really don't have anything to write about. Or it feels that way, anyway.
 
Timbo - I'm in no danger of the legalized pot in Canada, haha.  The strongest thing I put in my system these days is English Breakfast tea.  But speaking of second-hand smoke, I had the strangest experience maybe two weeks ago.  I was sitting across the table from my partner on a patio, and he was having a smoke while we talked.  At one point, I got up from the table, and when I went to speak, a huge cloud of smoke erupted from my mouth!  I somehow inhaled his entire smoke cloud from across the table and let it out myself??  I was so startled by it I jumped!  I didn't notice it going in - how is that possible?? In all my years of smoking, that never happened to me before. It was so bizarre to see smoke come out of my mouth for the first time in months.  Luckily I don't think I inhaled any of it (I would have felt that, I think), but I did have a tiny moment of panic haha.
 
Sparrow - You sound sooooooooo much like I did when I was finally approaching this Quit That Stuck.  I started really dwelling on the fact that it would have all been over by now if I'd just stuck it out any one of the umpteen times I tried and failed.  I do believe anyone can quit. It did, in the end, come down to a shift in mindset that made it possible.  And for me, this shift wasn't like flicking a light switch.  It was more like a slow and painful turning down of the dimmer over the course of 2 years until finally the switch was completed.  I envy the people on this board who were able to throw the switch in one fell swoop, but that was not my experience.  At this point, you basically watched my entire quit in real time, right?   Did it feel like a long time as an objective observer? I'm all kinds of biased because I lived it, but today it feels like it didn't even take that long to get from point a to point b.  I used that during my quit, too - reminding myself that everything always seems easier after you've done it (think of school assignments, big work projects, etc), and one day I'd look back on smoking the same way.  Starting any project kind of blows.  After it's done, though, it seems so much easier and I wonder why I was so intimidated by it.  And then the next project comes up, and I go through the whole process again. I find it reassuring to know that anything that feels challenging today, will one day seem simple and easy when I look back on it from the perspective of having completed it.
 
P.S - 4 months today