16 days so far

[irishcharm]

Hi, My name is Joni. I have smoked for 40 years. 2 years ago I was diagnosed with non Hodgkins Lymphoma of the chest wall. You would think that would make anyyone quit. Not me. I convinced myself that smoking was something I could control. That was very hard to admit. I am in remission now, doing good. I quit 10/25/15 cold turkey. I started getting out of breath walking around. Emphysema had arrived. Great. So I finally decided I had better do something soon, or die from it. I can breathe alot better now, but the chatter in my head is still loud. You know the voices in your head that scream. I hate them. It's always a negotiation going on in my head. Like when I smoked, I will quit tomorrow, or I will cut down, smoke half, one or two hits. Ugh. Then when I quit, it's oh you should be smoking. go ahead, just one hit. Hopefully someday the noise in my head will shut up! Anyway, it's been 16 days, and I am looking for support and friendship. Thank you.....

[JonesCarpeDiem]

welcome.

The most difficult part of quitting is unlearning smoking.

The reason people fail is because they give up too early.

The following link explains the process and what you will go through.

https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/blogs/jonescarp.aka.dale.Jan_2007-blog/2011/06/26/what-to-expect-...

[summer-07-06-15]

Do go to jonescsrp aka dale page. "Freedom from Nicotine, the Journey Home" by John Polito on www.whyquit.com. 

[JACKIE1-25-15]

Welcome and congratulations on 16 days smoke free.

Welcome Irishcharm  You have come to the right place if you are making the decision to commit to quit smoking.  At EX our resolve is to never smoke again.  NOPE “Not one puff ever.”  I suggest that you follow the steps on the web site pages along with reading, writing, studying, researching and blogging if you like.  

This is all about you and what you are willing to do to be a nonsmoker.  If you haven’t read it, here is a link to Allen Carr’s book, “Easy Way to Quit Smoking”.  It is an easy read suggested by the “elders” (those with1+ yrs. Quit).http://media.wix.com/ugd/74fa87_2010cc5496521431188f905b7234a829.pdf

Also check out www.whyquit.com. there is a lot of additional beneficial information to read and study.  Look for Freedom From Nicotine My Journey Home and Nicotine Addiction 101. Both were extremely helpful for me.  Stay close to the site and learn, ask questions. Read the blogs and most of all enjoy your commitment to quit smoking.

If you should need something to do here is a link that will help https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/blogs/Youngatheart.7.4.12-blog/2013/02/25/100-things-to-do-instea...).

 If you take the time to do the work you will have success. 

[YoungAtHeart]

Welcome to our community!

I am happy that your disease is in remission, and happier still that you have decided to quit smoking.  It is the BEST present you could give yourself!  I am glad you found us - stay close; we can help!

The most important thing you can do right now is to educate yourself on what nicotine does to your body and mind. To that end, I also highly recommend Allen Carr's “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking.” This is an easy and entertaining read.

As well, read the sections on this site, and read the blogs, responses and pages of folks you think might be helpful. You might visit whyquit.com and quitsmokingonline.com for the good information contained there.

The idea is to change up your routines so the smoking associations are reduced.  Drink your coffee with your OTHER hand. If you always had that first smoke with your coffee, try putting your tennies on right out of bed, going for a quick walk, then taking your shower and THEN your coffee! Rearrange the furniture in the areas you used to smoke so the view is different.

You need to distract yourself through any craves.  You can take a bite out of a lemon (yup - rind and all), put your head in the freezer and take a deep breath of cold air, do a few jumping jacks, go for a brisk walk or march in place, play a computer game.  Don't let that smoking thought rattle around in your brain unchallenged. Sometimes you need to quit a minute or an hour at a time.  You will need to be disciplined in the early days to distract yourself when a crave hits.  Don't let that smoking thought rattle around your head alone.  Get busy!

The conversation in your head in response to the "I want a cigarette" thought needs to be, "Well, since I have decided not to do that anymore, what shall I do instead for the three minutes this crave will last?"  Then DO it.  You will need to put some effort into this in the early days, but it gets easier and easier to do.

Stay close to us here and ask questions when you have them and for support when you need it. We will be with you every step of the way!

Nancy

[sataolives]

Congrats to you for becoming an ex. I will never forget the emotional roller coaster I was I when I first quit but after a year and few months of being an ex, I thank God for giving me the strength to stick with it. If you can quit smoking you have the ability to accomplish anything. At least that is what I tell myself when I think I can't do something. Quitting is the hardest thing I've ever done but also the most rewarding. 

Stay strong. 

[TerrieQuit]

Welcome, and Congratulations on 16 days free! Please, do the suggested reading above along with being commited and willing! Glad to have you on the site!

[Barbara145]

Welcome.  So glad you found us.  Yes the voices will shut up but it takes awhile. Give it time.  You can do this,  Congrats on 16 days.  If you quit for 16 days you can quit forever.  You will be so glad you did!

[djmurray]

Hi, Irish!  You've come to the right place.  Stay close and you will find that as long as you are here, reading blogs, commenting on blogs, writing blogs, your voices will subside.  I spent many hours on this site in the first 100 days of my quit.

Here's a thing I've posted several times that I found really helpful in the early days of my quit (I'm at Day 313 and I never would have thought I could do this):

  

   

How do you feel about a friend who has to go everywhere with you? Not only does he tag along all the time, but since he is so offensive and vulgar, you become unwelcome when with him. He has a peculiar odor that sticks to you wherever you go. Others think both of you stink.

   

He controls you totally. When he says jump, you jump. Sometimes in the middle of a blizzard or storm, he wants you to come to the store and pick him up. You would give your spouse hell if he or she did that to you all the time, but you can't argue with your friend. Sometimes, when you are out at a movie or play he says he wants you to go stand in the lobby with him and miss important scenes. Since he calls all the shots in your life, you go. Your friend doesn't like your choice of clothing either. Instead of politely telling you that you have lousy taste, he burns little holes in these items so you will want to throw them out. Sometimes, he tires of the furniture and gets rid of it too. Occasionally, he gets really nasty and decides the whole house must go.

   

He gets pretty expensive to support. Not only is his knack of property destruction costly, but you must pay to keep him with you. In fact, he will cost you thousands of dollars over your lifetime. And you can count on one thing, he will never pay you a penny in return.

   

Often at picnics you watch others playing vigorous activities and having lots of fun doing them. But your friend won't let you. He doesn't believe in physical activity. In his opinion, you are too old to have that kind of fun. So he kind of sits on your chest and makes it difficult for you to breathe. Now you don't want to go off and play with other people when you can't breathe, do you?

   

Your friend does not believe in being healthy. He is really repulsed by the thought of you living a long and productive life. So every chance he gets he makes you sick. He helps you catch colds and flu. Not just by running out in the middle of the lousy weather to pick him up at the store. He is more creative than that. He carries thousands of poisons with him which he constantly blows in your face. When you inhale some of them, they wipe out cilia in your lungs which would have helped you prevent these diseases.

   

But colds and flu are just his form of child's play. He especially likes diseases that slowly cripple you - like emphysema. He considers this disease great. Once he gets you to have this, you will give up all your other friends, family, career goals, activities - everything. You will just sit home and caress him, telling him what a great friend he is while you desperately gasp for air.

   

But eventually your friend tires of you. He decides he no longer wishes to have your company. Instead of letting you go your separate ways, he decides to kill you. He has a wonderful arsenal of weapons behind him. In fact, he has been plotting your death since the day you met him. He picked all the top killers in society and did everything in his power to ensure you would get one of them. He overworked your heart and lungs. He clogged up the arteries to your heart, brain, and every other part of your body. In case you were too strong to succumb to this, he constantly exposed you to cancer causing agents. He knew he would get you sooner or later.

   

Well, this is the story of your "friend," your cigarette. No real friend would do all this to you. Cigarettes are the worst possible enemies you ever had. They are expensive, addictive, socially unacceptable, and deadly. Consider all this and NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF!

  

[irishcharm]

Thank you everyone for such a warm welcome! I really appreciate all your advice! It's still hard not to smoke. I remember the last thought at night was I will quit tomorrow, and the first thing I said in the morning was I will just smoke half of one. Lies!!! The junkie chatter in my head was insane! it is a little better now, but still there. Im sure it will all calm down at some point. The loudest is when I am on the phone or at night. I just tell myself for the next 5 minutes, I won;t smoke. It seems to work for now. Anyway, thanks for letting me talk so much, and for all our advice.

[Puff-TM-Draggin]

I'm late to the welcoming party but glad your here and looking forward to traveling with you on your journey to freedom.  Those voices of which you speak are very familiar.  They do subside as they come to realize you are not going to pay them any attention.  When they nag remind yourself, out loud if necessary, "I don't do that anymore," and move on to the next task.  (It's good to have a list of tasks on hand on to which to move, i.e. staying busy is a great way to beat craves.)

Stay close to this site and blog often.  That, in itself, is a crave busting task.

Best success!  If it gets too loud in there holler for HELP.  We're here for you.

[sparky26]

Hello Irish , congratulations on 16 days that's great !  As you can see you found plenty of support and friendship here. 

We found freedom from nicotine and we know you can to , it takes some time after all smoking was ingrained into every aspect of our life . Happy ,sad tired, stressed , board .

You get the picture . So now you get to create a new life , free from your addiction. We are here to help you with tools that we have found helped us .  I came here and found my freedom 529 days ago and you can too . Welcome  

[joedice711]

hi irish you are doing it.16 days is great.i,m not to far ahead of you,so i know what your going through..29 days smoke free...

[Strudel]

Welcome to the best support group around! You can do this! I smoked for 40 years also....and I quit by coming here, doing the reading, and getting the support here. That was over 5 years ago! Stick close - keep blogging! 

[irishcharm]

Well today is 21 days. I still want to smoke just out of habit. The physical withdrawl is better, but the psycological withdrawl is still at times intense. Thats the addict part of my brain that likes to have a death grip on me. When my head starts that I just tell myself for 5 minutes I wont smoke, just 5 minutes. That what usually works. But thank you all for your support!