New Ex'r

[jbniceguy]

Hello Everyone! New guy from Grand Rapids, Mi and look forward to being a part of this community. Today is my first day of quitting (again) and this time i am doing it with chantix and zyban. I feel pretty good but of course have my cravings about every 15 minutes. It helps reading the blogs as it is keeping me distracted and the time is passing quickly. Good luck to everyone and please wish me luck as i start this journey. I cant wait to officially be a non-smoker for good.

[JonesCarpeDiem]

I wish you willingness as luck hasd nothing to do with quitting.

Don't fight with yourself. Accept quitting and let it flow!

Take my 130 day challenge.

[Puff-TM-Draggin]

Wishing and luck really will have nothing to do with your success.  Your resolve to honor, (honour, for jimmypage,) your commitment to yourself to not smoke, no matter what, is from where your success will come.  READ UP, my friend.  Learn about the insidious nature of addiction.  Get mad!  Build your STRENGTH.  Embrace the discomfort like a rite of passage to FREEDOM!  You can do this.

That said, I wish you "good luck," my friend.  More than that, I wish that you will to succeed.

[sparky26]

Hello there New guy . Welcome to ex , and congratulations on your first day to freedom. 

What helped me any many others is when a smoking a cigarette thought comes , you say I don't do that any more .  Yes , say it out loud , unless it's to weird , people do tend to look at you weird when you say it , LoL . But it really does reinforce the idea in your head , and to your personal commitment. 

You can do this ! 

[YoungAtHeart]

Welcome to our community!

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 highly recommend Allen Carr's “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking.” This is an easy and entertaining read. I think you will be surprised at what you didn't know!   Here is a link to a free PDF version of it:

http://media.wix.com/ugd/74fa87_2010cc5496521431188f905b7234a829.pdf

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!  Here is a link to a list of things to do instead of smoke if you need some fresh ideas:

https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/blogs/Youngatheart.7.4.12-blog/2013/02/25/100-things-to-do-instea...

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

[TerrieQuit]

Great advice above! and you have the links up above too, for information that will help you stay quit!! Read and educate yourself and come to this site everyday, read, blog, and comment! It all helps! Congratulations on your decision to quit! Now make that commitment to yourself and go, go, go!

Terrie  3  months of smoke freedom!

[kristen-9-7-15]

Welcome!

[Deena-A-Yenni]

Welcome aboard!!!  Quitting IS doable!!!

[djmurray]

I highly recommend reading the Allen Carr book for which Nancy gave you the link.  It changed the way I think about what smoking is and isn't forever.  In my opinion, the first thing we need to do is stop feeling deprived when we don't smoke.  The Carr book will explain why we're not deprived at all.

[SkyGirl]

Hello there, jb!  Welcome to EX!  I am always glad to see people from Michigan (as I lived in Ann Arbor for 40 years!)  Nancy gave you the first links to the readings that we recommend for all new EXers.  

And dj (comment just above this) explained why reading the Allen Car book is a game-changer for so many of us.

It's all about learning to think about quitting as FREEDOM from your nicotine addiction, instead of the usual thinking that newcomers have...which is "doing without", "sacrificing" and "giving up something I enjoy".

You see, so much of quitting successfully is dependent upon the WAY YOU THINK ABOUT IT.  It isn't easy to stop the line of thinking that you are "depriving" yourself, but it can be done.  

We usually recommend that new folks here don't quit immediately.  Experience has proven that more people quit successfully (meaning forever!) if they take a couple of weeks to prepare themselves.  

This means doing the reading that is recommended.  Do the Tracking exercises and the Delaying exercises that are explained here on EX.  

Set a Quit Date a couple of weeks down the road.  And go into this journey with the idea that you need the right "tools" to be successful.   Spend a lot of time before your Quit Date here on EX.  Read the blogs. Ask questions. Post blogs about how you are feeling. Get to know some of the people who will also be quitting around the time you do.  Get to know some of the people who stick around here for months/years after they have quit to continue to help the new people.  

Some of the stuff you may hear or read about preparing yourself for your Quit may sound a bit elementary to you and, sometimes, even a bit silly.  It's tempting to say, "Phooey, that sounds stupid; I don't need to do that" or "That won't help me, I already know about that".  

But realize one thing before you brush off some advice or recommendation; the people giving you this advice have already accomplished the thing that you came here to accomplish.  They KNOW what they are talking about.  No, there is no ONE correct way to quit.  But there ARE things that successful Quitters know about what helps you quit smoking forever.

We are always SO SO SO happy to see a new person here.  And we are also very sad when they stay for a week or so and then just disappear.  

Please stay.  No matter how you might feel about quitting, you CAN quit.  How can I say this with such assurance?  Because YOUR NICOTINE ADDICTION IS NO STRONGER NOR HARDER TO BEAT THAN ANY OF OURS WERE.  If we did it, so can you, jb.

Welcome to EX.  xxxooo,   Sky