Cigarette Free Since 9/7/12!!!

[Father Bill]

Congratulations and well done! Discipline born of terror can be very effective!

[xman]

Happy Monthiversary!



I'm 11 years as of last month. You can do it too, just keep at it, one day at a time.

[tulloch]

Thank you all for the support. I'm taking it one day at a time!

Congratulations. You're half-way there. I remember quitting - 31 years ago - It took a lot of resolve and self-searching to be in the right frame of mind to do it. Once done I endured a break-up with a girlfriend and did not resume, I endured pursuit of girls who smoked and did not take it up. I did have very vivid dreams that I took it up again - for perhaps the next five years - and was dismayed when I awoke and it was not true.

Interestingly I have talked to heroin users who describe the same thing. Gives me some common ground with clients.

[NorseCelt]

Keep up the good work. I haven't had one since August of 2007. Food tastes better. Clothes smell better. With the money I've saved I've purchased three guitars, three kilts, a mandolin, a banjo and a ukelele.

[Riverkilt]

Hey NorseCelt, you reminded me of a local friend who quit smoking a few years ago. He got one of those big restaurant size mayonaise jars and he took the money he used to spend on ciggies every week and put that much into the jar. At the end of a year or so he had enough money to pay for a raft trip through the Grand Canyon and he did that as a reward - to celebrate too. Thought that was a great idea.

A couple behavioral things that helped me a lot were when I had a bad craving I'd pretend I was smoking... Hold my hand up by my mouth and inhale deeply like I was taking a drag. For some reason that extra burst of air/oxygen would take away the craving.

The other trick someone taught me was when I was craving a ciggie I'd go through the motions of putting one out...something about going through the motions of snuffing one out made my mind think I'd just had one...

And a great way to cement your resolve is to go out and clean the inside of your car's windshield and look at all the icky gunk that comes off...

One day at a time, one hour at a time, one minute at a time, one second at a time - whatever it takes.

NOT smoking ain't gonna kill you....

[tulloch]

Day three! Hope all is well. Persevere!

[cessna152towser]

Well done, all the more credit to you for quitting while you are still young enough. There is less of an incentive to quit when you are still young and the thought of living till the age of sixty seems an eternity. Luckily I never got hooked on nicotine but I did get too fond of the alcohol for a number of years which I am now so glad I was able to quit.
My Uncle Tom (mother's twin brother) was a heavy smoker for fifty years till he quit at the age of 62). Too late though he died of lung cancer age 65. My mother who was a non smoker outlived him by 12 years. A friend was a heavy smoker and quit in his sixties, now he's in his seventies and been told he will be housebound and on oxygen for the rest of his days due to lung damage caused by smoking.

[frank_a]

Good for you man! I smoked for years (in my case starting at 13), and quit maybe 15 years ago. And it was day to day. I had this horrendous cold or flu that kept me home, and one day there was no way I could have a cigarette I was so sock. The next morning I wake up in a fog but the 1st thing I think is that I feel good enough to have a cigarette (just barely). The next thing I think is wait a minute, I didn't smoke yesterday. Then it was I wonder if I could not smoke today? That's how I quit, one day at a time, and man o man, I was just lucky. It's a terrible addiction for which anyone that can quit is to be commended in my book!

Kee up the good work.

Frank

[Peter Crowe]

Well done! I quit on August 20, 2004 (aged almost 38 at the time) after discovering I had permanent damage to my lungs (I subsequently discovered I had been born with a connective tissue disorder called Marfan syndrome) and should never have smoked, far less a pack a day for twenty years.

The good news is that there is a good happy and fulfilling life ahead without smoking, I know because I am living it.

Good Luck!

[bikercelt1]

Congratulations. Now hang in there. I quit 30 years ago and there are still days when it's not easy. I had dreams of smoking that were so vivid that I was looking for the empty packs so I could hide them! For me it was the absolute conviction that I was "now a non smoker" and the power of prayer. "Hang in there, I'm pulling for you, we're all in this together"

Jamie