Connect with others living with health conditions
I am especially in need of helping me quit smoking. Bills and physical health. I had a kidney removed January 31 of this year and I already have had cardiac failure, but still OK I have a lot of a fib, and diabetes, and high blood pressure to the point of being in a hypertension crisis, but ended up being OK. This was just about a week ago. Now that is something to feel stupid about I won’t call myself stupid due to trying to be positive, and I am desperate to get off the nicotine monster, but I just haven’t been able to do it yet. It is very unhealthy for me and fortunately my friends and family are incredibly encouraging and accepting and loving me still. I’ve gone through quite a bit of depression getting very close to suicidal thoughts, but I would never do that but I don’t like to be that close to feeling the pain. Mentally a wreck.
Thanks for posting here and letting us know how things are going, @smeyer1212. Don't be too hard on yourself and like Barb said, you can rely on this community to help you on your quit journey.
This might be a helpful resource: https://www.becomeanex.org/ex-resources/about-quitting/get-ready-to-quit/
Remember, you got this!
- Danielle
EX Team
It's harder to quit if you are forcing yourself to IMO. Telling yourself that you must or you have to is a very punishing way to quit, not sure that it works. Is there anything you can do to get yourself to be willing to quit?
For sure we are all nicotine addicts, but some of us see nicotine is the most important thing in our lives. Take that away and there is not much to live for. Of course this is insane!!! But in feeling this way it makes facing any time without smoking seem an impossible thing to do. It's important to work on what can ease you away from believing you must smoke. It's hard to quit, but if it is this difficult for you, perhaps you should reconsider NRT or medication in combination with support.
I quit alone and cold turkey in 2013. I was 54 then, thought I'd given up my power, my secret ingredient to life. Though I persisted, it took a while until I saw how useless smoking was. It was not magic. The addiction had screwed up my thinking. But we all get better in time. Considering how many have succeeded in quitting, and that we all have addiction in common, it has to be true that we really are stronger than addiction...one step, one day at a time.
Never give up, like Barb said. Keep looking for your way out of your nicotine addiction.