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14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 2778

Hey Samuel!!!

Just keep plugging away, buddy!!! You know, when the going gets tough... yeah, you know where I'm coming from!!! It's you against the nico-demon, mono a mono!!! Each and every crave is a battle, one that you really do not want to lose, but if you win, you get stronger and the demon gets weaker!

You CAN do this!!!

Jim

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 3/5/2008
Smoke-Free Days: 567
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 14,175
Amount Saved: $2,338.88
Life Gained:
Days: 96 Hrs: 2 Mins: 13 Seconds: 34

Quit Meter

$44,242.50

Amount Saved
Quit Meter

Days: 1058 Hours: 22

Minutes: 36 Seconds: 7

Life Gained
Quit Meter

5899

Smoke Free Days
Quit Meter

176,970

Cigarettes Not Smoked

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 19

You know in the climax of Apollo XIII, we´re all waiting to see if the capsule has survived re-entry and the NASA technicians are staring nervously at their monitors? Gene Kranz (ably portrayed by the magnificent Ed Harris) is pacing up and down and it seems like hours since we last heard from Jim Lovell?

I feel like one of those NASA techies now, waiting for RSW to come back on the radar. Except rather than studying a lot of complicated telemetary, I´m simply clicking the "refresh" button every few minutes.

I can´t believe that all these years I´ve been oblivious to the parallels between quitting smoking and space travel.

"Com Check, Com Check - RSW this is Houston"

Regards

Steve

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 8/24/2009
Smoke-Free Days: 29
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 1,015
Amount Saved: �152.25
Life Gained:
Days: 4 Hrs: 5 Mins: 1 Seconds: 39

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 377

RSW- It's normal to have smoking thoughts after certain time periods. What happens is you put so much energy to quit and even though you may not have major withdrawal symptoms when you reach certain milestones you still can kind of go into letdown mode where you start telling yourself to have just one, or that you can quit another time. Since you have quit past your last time you slipped, after that the one week mark you could be experiencing a little letdown after you reached that goal. Just watch it, be aware of it without acting on it. That's the key, you don't have to act on the thoughts. You will find It goes away in days and then may come back after 2 weeks (another milestone), maybe after a month period and so on. The point is it's very normal, and even though we experienced the same as you are going through, we pushed through them and you can to. Keep up the great quit. Ron

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 6/17/2008
Smoke-Free Days: 462
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 8,316
Amount Saved: $2,910.60
Life Gained:
Days: 71 Hrs: 4 Mins: 12 Seconds: 34

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 19

I understand exactly where you´re coming from. The first week you can kind of trick yourself into getting through it, its all a temporary situation, you sleep as much as you can etc. The second week is the realisation that its actually over for good, quite hard work and not a great deal of fun. Now you have to decide whether you´re in it for the long slog, or whether you cave in.

You start analysing the pros and cons of quitting. You´ve saved some cash, but you´re miserable. You don´t feel like Superman all of a sudden either, which is a smidge disappointing. I think its very easy to lose sight of why you were giving up in the first place in the second week which is why I imagine they place so much emphasis on preparation here. Its now that you need a reminder of what your goals were - kicking the smoker´s cough, the smell of your clothes, the rewards you were going to have. Stuff you wrote down when you were sound of mind prior to quitting.

If you did any of that, go back and have a look at it. If not, don´t worry. I can tell you from experience that were you to light up a smoke now it wouldn´t taste half as good as you thought it was going to, which is the first kick in the teeth. Added to that you have the feeling of disappointment that you´ve let yourself down again, and that now you´re going to have to go through another week of grief just to get back to the point you were half an hour ago. What´s more you´d probably buy a pack of smokes, and even though the first one was revolting you´d smoke 5 more in pretty quick succesion, you´ll have a headache, your hands will tremble and your eyes that were just starting to look pretty clear and sparkly are already looking like a road map again.

Its just so not worth it. Do anything but light up. Buy yourself a Happy Meal instead, the craving will pass. As I said, it does get easier, and I´ve no reason at all to lie about that.

You can do this, I know you can.

Regards

Steve

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 8/24/2009
Smoke-Free Days: 29
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 1,015
Amount Saved: �152.25
Life Gained:
Days: 4 Hrs: 4 Mins: 35 Seconds: 14

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 29

Orinoco, you honestly just stopped me from making a pretty big mistake. I have wanted to smoke so bad since I woke up today. I don't know why. I keep telling myself, how can today be worse than yesterday or the first day? It doesn't seem very logical to me. It should be getting easier, you know. It helps to know that the second week was pretty hard for you also. How are you feeling now? Anyway, I decided to get on here before I did anything rash. It's been 8d 18h. I'm sick of counting, lol.

Carlos, I've been hiking pretty much every day. I know I'm not giving anything up. I've been telling myself that. Actually, I haven't really needed to tell myself that. I just know it. I think the problem I'm having is that I haven't had any cravings to smoke. They are just random thoughts and they are very easy to dismiss. So, I really haven't been fighting this. It's been pretty "easy." In the past 24 hours, that's changed though. It can't possibly be a physical thing though. It's been too long for that. It's something else, something mental/emotional.

This sucks. I can tell I am teetering on the edge of another failure right now. Any excuse will do! I've got one already lined up. "I made it further than last time, so I'm making progress." It actually makes me laugh seeing myself writing that. It is total addict talk. It's so clear to me that I do not want to smoke. I wish I understood why I am suddenly being overwhelmed with the "desire" to do something I don't want to do. This is why I have not been overly excited. I think I really question my ability to be able to follow through with this.

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 9/13/2009
Smoke-Free Days: 9
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 180
Amount Saved: $36.99
Life Gained:
Days: 1 Hrs: 4 Mins: 38 Seconds: 48

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 19

RSW, we all know just how bleak those first few weeks are. All I can tell you is that it does get better, if it didn´t nobody would ever quit! As Bugger says, you really need to try and focus on the positives, which i appreciate is easier said than done but how about in your case:

If you´re 32, and smoked for 16 years, we can assume that there were 16 years you didn´t smoke. 832 smoking weeks, and now 833 smoke free!

I have to wait until 2018 before I can say "I´ve smoked less than half my life". lol

I spent most of the second week of my quit contemplating just how much additional income the governement would generate out of me if I continued to smoke for another 40 years and how much state pension I was likely to lose by dying 10 years earlier through a smoking related disease. I imagined all these politicians and treasury bean counters rubbing their hands gleefully at my foolishness. You just have to find something that works for you. I mean, you know deep down what a mug´s game it is anyway.

I know you can do this. See how you´re feeling at the end of week 2, I´m sure there will be a marked improvement.

All the very best,

Steve

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 8/24/2009
Smoke-Free Days: 29
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 1,015
Amount Saved: �152.25
Life Gained:
Days: 4 Hrs: 4 Mins: 26 Seconds: 56

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 47

Jim,

Powerful words and inspirational too. I like it.

Regards,

Scruffy.

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 9/6/2009
Smoke-Free Days: 16
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 384
Amount Saved: �164.16
Life Gained:
Days: 2 Hrs: 10 Mins: 5 Seconds: 20

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 278

I smoked for sixteen years. That's 832 weeks. Out of 832 weeks, I've spent one of them smoke-free. That's a drop in the ocean. It would be foolish to think of it any other way...

It could have been 832 weeks with 0 weeks smoke free. Give yourself some credit! Feel good about quitting, and not bad about how long you smoked. You will need that positive attitude to get you through the next little while. Then you can look back and say, "what did I do to myself?"

You are doing fantastic, don't sell yourself short.

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 4/3/2009
Smoke-Free Days: 171
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 2,565
Amount Saved: $1,282.50
Life Gained:
Days: 18 Hrs: 17 Mins: 38 Seconds: 45

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 90

I week down and a lifetime to go! Embrace your freedom, remember " you gave up ..nothing!!" Get hiking!!!!!
My Milage:

My Quit Date: 7/1/2009
Smoke-Free Days: 82
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 2,050
Amount Saved: $615.00
Life Gained:
Days: 12 Hrs: 8 Mins: 22 Seconds: 22

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 639

Congratulations on making it through Hell Week. You are on a roll.....Remember, one minute, one hour, one day at a time.

Keep the Quit and Never Quit Quitting!!!!

Dave

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 1/19/2009
Smoke-Free Days: 245
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 7,350
Amount Saved: $1,929.38
Life Gained:
Days: 40 Hrs: 1 Mins: 10 Seconds: 10

Quit Meter

$50,453.01

Amount Saved
Quit Meter

Days: 1124 Hours: 1

Minutes: 1 Seconds: 32

Life Gained
Quit Meter

5578

Smoke Free Days
Quit Meter

167,340

Cigarettes Not Smoked

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