I have a big misconception about quitting is that I will get fat. The reality is that I got fat smoking and it is a different issue.
Since I am quit , I can admit that I had hard time letting go of the brainwashing that smoking was glamorous - you know the Audrey Hepburn look from Breakfast at Tiffanys etc....I am finding glamour in carrot sticks and soap bubbles
I think the biggest misconception that is being realized in NML is that smoking calms me and that I am stressed without a cig. That is a big bunch of baloney!
My addiction never gets any stronger...however, I get weaker when I let down my guard, I need to always be vigilant. Remember my defense is a clear head, healthy outlook and good friends or family that understand my mission.
I really thought I would crave a cigarette every minute of every day. I believed I had no will power and always failed because I didn't have what it takes. Reading here and so many tips from others have debunked those misconceptions!
My biggest misconception about quitting was, "I would always want to smoke".
NO, it's not true, I don't WANT to smoke. My relationship with cigarettes has changed. I can't imagine going back to a life of slavery to smoking. Freedom is too important, as well as the calmness that comes when you no longer NEED to smoke to feed the addiction. NO, I don't WANT to go back to that life!
I thought I would gain a ton of weight, I thought I would want to smoke ALL of the time and that the craves would never get weaker, I thought that I would not be able to handle the chronic pain.
Truth is, if I have gained weight, it isn't enough so that my clothes don't fit, I don't want a cigarette at ALL...I having fleeting and very weak craves, my pain is no different. At first, it was actually BETTER but I was just recovering from pneumonia and I don't think I had circulation in my joints...my hands and feet were always cold. The pain is no worse...smoking did NOTHING to help me in any way.
I thought quitting would make me gain weight but now realize that it was preventing me from doing some of the active things I love! And I drank more wine which are empty calories. I am hoping to get in great, healthy, shape!
The second myth was that I enjoyed smoking. It was so habitual I never really focused on how it felt until Carr's book.
The third myth was that it helped with stress.
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Hello,
My name is Dale. I was quit 18 months before joining this site and had participated on another site during that time. I learned a lot there and brought it with me. I joined this site the first week of August 2008. I didn't pressure myself to quit.
HOW I QUIT
I didn't count, I didn't deny myself to get started.
When I considered quitting (at a friends request to influence his brother to quit), I simply told myself to wait a little longer. No denial, nothing painful. After 4 weeks I was down to 5 cigarettes from a pack a day. The strength came from proving to myself, I didn't need to smoke because I normally would have smoked. Simple yes? I bought the patch. I forgot to put one on on the 4th day. I needed it the next day but the following week I forgot two days in a row I put one in my wallet with a promise to myself that I would slap it on and wait an hour rather than smoke. It rode in my wallet my first year.There's nothing keeping any of you from doing this. It doesn't cost a dime. This is about unlearning something you've done for a long time. The nicotine isn't the hard part. Disconnecting from the psychological pull, the memories and connected emotions is. :-) Time is the healer.
