Help please! And Suggestions for Bible studies to help quit

[Whitebeargirl]

Hello there. I have been thinking about quitting smoking for some time now and have decided I really need to do this. My mom quit after several health issues and I don’t want to go down that road. But I am also scared of quitting. I cannot picture myself as a no -smoker even tho I know it is way better. I am scared of gaining weight. I dont want to do this with medication. I tried Wellbutrin last year and it did not go well at all as it made me more anxious than I already am, and crazy. It literally gave me crazy, harmful thoughts. I do have some NRT that I plan to use. But also I plan to use my Bible and prayer. With God, all things are possible. I am wondering if anyone has a specific Bible study plan they’ve used to quit. If so, please share.

[Barbscloud]

@Whitebeargirl Welcome to the Ex and congrats on your approaching quit date tomorrow. Anxiety about quitting is normal. Many describe it as losing their best friend, We've smoked our way through every event and emotion, so it's only normal that were apprehensive. Approaching your quit one day at a time can help to alleviate the fear. Don't think about forever right now. You'll see those one days will turn into multiple days.

Right now, you're working through the process of your desire to quit and the addiction wanting you to keep it up. You can win that internal battle by educating yourself about nicotine addiction and putting a plan in place with how you'll deal with cravings, identifying your triggers and creating the new associations you'll create instead of smoking.

And you just found an amazing group of quitters the are here to support you on this journey to becoming an Ex. There will be ups and downs, but that is part of the journey. We're here for you, so just reach out anytime we can help or want to share your experience.

This link is a great place to get you started on the right track. https://www.becomeanex.org/guides/?cid=footer_community_linktobex

We're here for you, so reach out anytime we can help.

Faith & Spirituality - EX Community

Stay busy and stay close.
Barb

[Maki · Accepted solution]

To join as well the F and S ( faith and spirituality group) @Whitebeargirl go to groups top left and request to join . There has been some difficulty getting quick access to join so please be patient , admin has been working on the problem . Do not worry about the greeting , ( that too is being worked through and changed to be more welcoming by a group of people  ) just make the request to join and be patient . If you don’t hear back within a day , contact me I’ll let admin know you are trying to access it . I’ll try to make mention to them in this post now . 

It is a small group where we share , pray for others , go through some scriptures , share songs , help one another through the quit journey  . Once  easier access is available  with more visibility and knowledge of it on the main forum it should grow  . Many , I know , want that spiritual part and God in their quits . If it were not for Him , I would not have had the success I did . He brought people into my life who made that happen .He orchestrated the plan and saw me through . I now have close to 13 years quit .Without Him I could do nothing and with the entire Ex community as well , I am doing it !

@Barbscloud in future if you would  be so kind to post the welcome link for folks to join ,  it is different from the direct link you posted . 

It is important to know @Whitebeargirl , that both F and  S  and the entire community is available to you . You do not have to belong to just the F and S . You are part of the whole community here . There is  also the get moving group which is not private as well and open to all . Games , cooking , arts n crafts , the pledge , so much to do here that can help with your quit . Everyone is very helpful here , you are in great care and will have tons of support . 

I pop in and out of F and S as well time to time and you will be welcomed there by others there so hope to see you there as well . Keep posting . Let us know how we can help .  I hope others from the group will pop in here to say hi and welcome you and add anything I might have forgotten . Congrats on deciding to quit smoking . You can do it , we walk here together at Ex , everyone in support of each other to help each other . By helping each other , quits succeed . 

[Barbscloud]

@Maki I don't even know what that means. If you click on the link it takes you to the Faith and Spirituality Group page.   Other than that, I have no interest in the group.  I was only trying to let someone new know that might be interested that it exists.

Barb

[Whitebeargirl · Accepted solution]

Thank you so much! Yes this is what I was looking for!

[Maki]

I’ll see if I can put the link for it to the page or I’ll get admin to do that then you will have it for further reference when needed to share with people who might inquire .   I’m not very computer savvy . I’ll give it a try . I still could not even tag admin lol . Glad you saw the post and responded , and to my reply . Thank you . 

[Maki]

@CommunityAdmin  can you please help me out by putting the link to the F and S welcome page so that @Whitebeargirl  and others wanting to join are able to put in that request . Thank you . Sorry , I could not do it here from my end because I’m already registered with the group . Thanks . 

[biscuit9]

If not for my relationship with God, I would still be smoking.  Quit day 334 for me.  I decided to give it all over to Him, as I had no power over nicotine.  "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me". Phil 4:13.  Perhaps someone else will have specific Bible verses.  I read my Bible daily and stayed very close to God, just open your Bible.  Not sure I will ever forget the first time I had to take a drive after I quit.  It was just a normal drive, but I had to do it without nicotine.  I figuratively held His hand and talked to Him and he got me through it.  He was with me every step of this journey.  The interesting part of my quit, is that for the first 2.5 days I did not have one single craving (gonne be easy right?), but that changed and I had alot of work to do until about quit day 21, before it got easier. I thank Him daily for this.  I am a part of a group here, called Faith & Spirituality, a small group of Believers that support each other.  We would love to have you there.  It's a closed group, so you will have to request to be there.  Hope you do.  Congratuations on making the best decision you can make for your future good health.  

[Maki]

Well I just posted the proper link but it did not lead me there so admin will have to do it . Thanks admin . 

Hi all 

This is the link above to where you can request to join the F and S group closed group  . The page is under construction and changes are soon coming so just request to join and if you don’t hear anything within a day or so send a request directly to the community Admin . Link there is above . Thanks and look forward to meeting some of you soon . 

[CommunityAdmin]

Thank you @Barbscloud for sharing the link to the group and @Maki for tagging the Community Admin account. The link that Barbscloud shared to the Faith and Spirituality group should work @Whitebeargirl - if you're interested in joining the group, please click on the link (https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/t5/Faith-Spirituality/cmp-p/grouphub:spiritual-quitters-) and click on the button that says "Send request to join" and we can approve the request. It is a very active group and we hope you will be able to find more support there, although the entire EX Community is also available to you as well! If you have any issues joining the group, please send us a message.

- Sarah, The EX Community Admin Team