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Share your quitting journey

Good morning Ex land

crazymama_Lori
1 3 19

Holy-Moly, what a week this was. Monday was freezing rain. Nothing was moving. Several power outages due to falling trees and downed power lines. Work is finally picking up for me. December and January are always slow months due to the holidays and no court. I'm what they call a scopist and I work for court reporters. When I lived in Phoenix way back in the very early '80s, I was going to be a court reporter. I was going to be trained as a scopist by our court reporter when I worked in traffic court in Waukesha back in the '70s. I turned it down. And then 20 years later, I graduated from my training and have been doing this ever since. Absolutely love my job. Hate being an independent contractor because I never seem to get that estimated tax right in line, but I come close.

 

For over 20 years, I sat in my office and chain smoked while working away. My keyboard snowed when turned over. My tray that held the keyboard to my desk had ashes stuck in the back. Now it's basically crumbs and the tray is ever so clean. It's so nice not to have that perpetual yellow ET finger. I'm so looking forward to spring so I can paint my office. My bookcase filled with my smelly reference books will have to survive as is. It would cost thousands of dollars to replace all of those. It's just a reminder to me of yesteryear. Oh, and did I mention in about 4 days I'll be quit for a year...... hard to believe.

 

I may not be able to visit these sites myself personally on a daily basis. This is just a helpful suggestion for those of you new to this site. Give yourself a break once in a while. Be gentle with yourself. We all know life is full of stress, frustration, but you know what, that's just the way it is. It's important to learn how to reactdifferently to the actions that we did for so many years, light up and puff our problems away. It's also important to look on the positive side instead of the negative. Check out Positive Affirmations for Success: You can take what you want and leave the rest. And you can always find and contribute your own. When you click the Group Button just to the right of the Blog button and when that window comes up look for the featured group button we are the first group listed   Also we are on the Home Page under Featured Groups or just click this link https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/groups/positive-affirmations-and-support

 

But don't miss the daily interactive discussion called Love Yourself. Whether you're dropping in to say hello, offer love and support to your friends or need a place where you will truly feel listened to, we are there - every single day! Take a look and feel free to join us! ALL are welcome!

https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/thread/3533-love-yourself

 

Sometimes we just need a laugh to get our minds back on track. Be sure to visit https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/groups/laughter-is-the-best-medicine to bring a smile to your face daily or just a pleasant distraction. Sometimes that little hit of dopamine from laughter is the trick.

 

At times it helps to reaffirm our quit by pledging with others to not smoke for that day. Be sure to join others by going to: https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/groups/daily-pledge/ to virtually hold hands with other members and pledge not to smoke for that day. “That day” adds up to 30 days, 60 days, for the rest of your life.

 

We'd love to have you join us!

3 Comments
About the Author
Never be afraid or embarrassed about your "smoking thoughts" while quitting, they're there to remind us how strong we truly can be. Always remember, you will always WANT to smoke, but you have to CHOOSE not to. We can't break the ties that bind us without first changing the cycle that created it.