After 8 months of being nicotine free I smoked a cigarette yesterday. I am completely ashamed of myself and my weakness. There is no excuse. There is no good reason. I failed. I will, however, continue to not smoke. So here it goes again. Day 1.
Gringita I have been worried about you since your last post and visited your message board today....Do not beat your self up...You DID let this happen...You let the addiction win but you are back NOW and that is all that matters...I got the following from an online quit coach:
A ‘lapse’ is when a person has one or a few cigarettes while trying to stop. It is best to not have even a single puff while trying to stop, but many people do lapse on their way to successfully stopping. A lapse does not have to become a full relapse, or a return to regular smoking.
After a lapse, the best thing to do is try to quit again right away. The longer you wait, the harder it will become. Try this plan if you should happen to lapse:
1. STOP tobacco use immediately.
Throw away all tobacco products.
Call someone to help you get back on track.
Change your surroundings.
Go for a brisk walk.
Think of all the reasons why you quit.
Imagine yourself handling this moment without resorting to using tobacco.
2. THINK
What happened that led up to the lapse?
What was going on? Who were you with? Where were you?
What were you doing? Feeling? Thinking?
3. RECOGNIZE the problem.
Ask yourself how it felt to use tobacco again.
Was it what you thought it would be? Did it help?
Did it make you feel better or worse? Did it make the problem go away?
Did you try any other ways to cope?
4. DECIDE
How will you handle the situation next time?
5. DON’T FEEL GUILTY. YOU ARE DEALING WITH AN ADDICTION.
And just to be very clear: You do NOT suck...you are a lovely and beautiful child of God and deserve the very best that life has to offer...just by being born...I adore you! xo
You don’t suck! You smoked one cigarette in eight months. You can restart your clock, but four months from now it will be still be one cigarette in a year. Let it go! You blogged you were having a tough time. The faulty logic of smoking “just one” is there – and we know that doesn’t work. You have eight months of good habits and non smoking memories – use that to your advantage! Hang in there!
You don't suck but you sound really disappointed and that's OK! You gave up on yourself and that is sad! There was a group of us that all started together and I'm really sorry to see it dwindle!
I am thrilled to hear you are already starting the new count! Back in the saddle my friend! Come here daily....we want you to succeed in this!
Chris is right...4 months from now it is just one in a year!!! You are done with it...Stay close for a while and share the stress stuff you talked about in your last blog...private message your friends here if you don't want to do it it in a public blog but let us help...we can help! xo
Hey, head up and moving forward. Don't be ashamed, and don't put yourself down. You stopped for 8 months. So, you already KNOW that you can do this.You are back on track, is all that matters.
Dang - I totally give you huge kudos for coming here and telling us! You don't suck - you're human and hooked. That's how they planned it. Don't let them win. YOU be the winner. YOU decide not to pay them to kill you. You CAN. 🙂
According to Teddy Roosevelt, "It is hardto fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."
One is not the end, it is a bump. Okay so you failed. Don't give yourself the excuse to continue. I have failed. We all have. The choice is to learn from the failure and start again.
You are a winner!!! You've gained lots of skills and support... keep up the good work, you showed a lot of courage to come on and share with us! I'm learning every minute from all in the Excommunity!!
Coming here and admitting it right away is the way to go. I joined this site years ago and relapsed after 10 months. The moment I smoked I never came here again. I was a regular blogger and had a lot of friends and I just disappeared. As a result I smoked for 5 more years.
Some of the people I knew back then succeeded and are still here like Giulia and Linda N. Some of them I am Facebook friends with and they are still smoke free. I am going to be one of the Elders this time around. And so will YOU!
As others have posted, many people are so ashamed after a lapse that they don't come here and blog again and go into a full relapse. You are STRONG! And look at all the support you have here! People who lapse are afraid everyone else might be ashamed of them too but you still have all the support we have to offer. Good for you for starting back up right away.
