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Give and get support around quitting

hollyrose
Member

What's Your Experience?

Hello, I'm over the three day hump and now I'm on day four. Quitting forever seems impossible right now, but I've been doing it one day at a time - I know I can not smoke for just one day.

But I still wonder about your experiences. What was the hardest time period for you to quit? Was it the first week? Two weeks? I read somewhere most people give up after 2 days and I want to be on guard. 

Thanks so much for your insight!

18 Replies
indingrl
Member

CONGRATS 4 NICOTINE FREE DAYS HOLLY! Yahoooo keep coming BACK! Your a NON SMOKER NOW the OLD MIND SET  MUST BE RENEWED DAILY BY and they SUGGESTED to feed MY MIND NEW NON SMOKING IDEAS learning from OTHERS here because I KNEW NOTHING OF THINKING FREEDOM FROM NICOTINE...it is SUGGESTED TO EDUCATE yourself on your NICOTINE addiction there is a great book by Joel...NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF and it is filled with WISDOM for ME A RECOVERING SMOKE A HOLIC... at whyquit.com its FREE to download and there are videos on utube to watch with Joel who has been serving all WHO have NICOTINE ADDICTIONS for over 45 YEARS..... just giving what was given to ME FREELY in MY early RECOVERY and suddenly LIFE HIT ME UNEXPECTEDLY...At three months MY brother in love was killed by a drunk driver and MY sister asked ME to come... I USED MY DRUG to cope and travel anywhere I USED MY DRUG NICOTINE ONE DEATH STICK AFTER ANOTHER....NOW I was a NON SMOKER with a LIFESTYLE of being in SELF control of ALL MY EMOTIONS and I wasn't a victim CHILD inside living as an adult outside... I wasn't a FAKE anymore I was grown up and helping serve OTHERS who suffered from NICOTINE ADDICTION... I was NOT USING ANYMORE..and this LIFE HURT I couldn't wrap MY MIND around that he was killed by a drunk driver and it made the news it was all so UNREAL AND REAL... life SUCKED at that MOMENT in MY TIME..... NOW I had to WALK MY talk with LIFES SUDDENLYS... I watched the early DEATH videos at whyquit.com... I had all the HEAD KNOWLEDGE... I still didn't KNOW how to drive without CHAIN SMOKING MY way there....so I asked just like you are doing .... I didnt know HOW TO TRAVEL out of state for hundreds of MILES and ALL the people WHO drove out of state gave ME ALL the NEW WAY OF THINKING NOT FEELING ways to SUCCEED...drink water ... praise music... prayer...breathing 3 deep breaths... saying OUT LOUD NOT ONE PUFF OVER ME... ONE minute at a time... STAY in this DAY ONLY for ME to use the Serenity Prayer to get MY NEW MIND SET from MY God who is MY Lord Jesus and they SUGGESTED I let ALL family KNOW I was a NON SMOKER and to ask to please SMOKE outside and they did... thats just ONE adventure... life happens HOLLY and for ME there was NO preparation for a drunk driver killing MY brother in love! There was ASKING for HELP and for ME taking the SUGGESTIONS and putting them in action FACT not feelings ... feelings come and go and sometimes life is PAIN and at UNEXPECTED times thats LIFE and their are OTHERS who are WORST OFF and for ME to THINK of MY sister MORE than USING NICOTINE... it would NOT bring MY sisters HUSBAND back...  I was taught to THINK OF OTHERS ABOVE MYSELF.... I JUST WANTED TO USE NICOTINE AND ESCAPE.... MY sister who husband was RIPPED OUT of her life MUST be MY NEW MIND SET how will I serve her and comfort her she asked ME to speak at wake service and at grave site to read her husband favorite prayer... I hope this HELPED you Holly to know it is to  CHANGE AND RENEW YOUR MIND SET NOW... ALL NICOTINE is OUT of our bodies on the THIRD DAY...CONGRATS AND WELCOME TO YOUR NON SMOKING LIFESTYLE NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF EVER! Yahoooo for Holly! 

MarilynH
Member

You can do this quit believe it deep breaths stay close because we're all here to help you through any rough patches that you may come upon, my first week was the roughest but by willing, determined and totally committed to succeed I made it through and continued to make it through the rough patches and you can too, keep your mind as well as your hands occupied which helps and congratulations on your 3 precious Smokefree days, keep stacking up your Days WON! 

desiree465
Member

I had a hard time during the first week and then again during my 8th week. It seems different for everyone. But I took a lot of the advice people gave me on this website to heart and it has worked so far. I come on here and discuss and share my thoughts because it's what helps me the most I think, especially when I'm having a rough time with it. I've also come up with many different things to do to distract myself.

YoungAtHeart
Member

Welcome to our community!

I am sorry I missed your earlier posts....must have been asleep on the "job."  Here is my usual welcome for the newly quit.  Lots of good information linked here for you.  The more you read about this addiction, the better able you will be to beat it.

To answer your question, I think the first few days - two weeks were the most difficult of my quit.  You re challenging many years of habit and association, plus the physical withdrawals.  The quicker you decide that you will not smoke again NO MATTER WHAT, and understand that what you think smoking does FOR you is a lie, the easier it will be.

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 Quit Smoking.” This is an easy and entertaining read. You can buy it online, or get it from your local library.

 You should also read the posts here and perhaps go to the pages of folks who you think might be helpful. You might visit whyquit.com, quitsmokingonline.com and livewell.com for the good information contained there. @https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/groups/best-of-ex has lots of blogs written by members of this site with their experiences and guidance.

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. Buy your gas at a different station. Take a different route to work. Take a quick walk at break time where the smokers AREN'T.

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.    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

elvan
Member

I really am not sure.  I DO remember writing a blog when I had been smoke free for 13 days and I said, "I really expected it to be easier by now."  When I look back at that, I get it, I DID expect that once the nicotine was out of my system that I would feel much better and that it would be easier.  It's not a fight, it's a journey and it is one step at a time...baby steps count.  I would look at every experience I had smoke free and add it to my collection of successes.  Those successes added up and pretty soon there were more of them than I could count.  I did use NOPE as my mantra because Not One Puff Ever was so simple, so concise, so perfect for ME.  My daughter also quit smoking using NOPE...she never came to this site but she said that she could not believe the power of that little word.  I said it silently, quietly, out loud, and sometimes...I YELLED it.  I was told that saying STOP to my thoughts could also help...it was from a smoke stopping class that I took years ago.  I remember so wanting those craves to go away, I remember wanting to STOP thinking about smoking, I did.  It happened, I can't tell you exactly when but I can tell you that it DID happen and then it happened again and again and again. There becomes a time when your thinking changes and STAYS changed IF you pay attention.

Reading here was my life saver...I had many failed quits in the past and this quit, which is now over four years old, could have been another one.  What was the difference?  The biggest difference was a change in my attitude about smoking...the recognition that it did not do anything FOR me but that it did a whole lot TO me and none of it was good.  The second biggest difference may actually have been bigger than the first...it was this site, this collection of amazing people on the same journey as me, my favorite saying from this site comes from OldBones-Larry‌ "One step and then another will get you to where you want to be."  So simple...so true.

Ellen

JACKIE1-25-15
Member

The hardest for me was the first 24 hours.  I guess that is what I told my mind, if I could get through the first 24 hours, I would make it.  I believe that was why the first 24 hrs was the hardest because that is what I believed. 

hollyrose
Member

Thank you so much everyone for your insight! I really feel at home here and will check out the material. I guess it varies but the message is it gets easier  

MichelleDiane
Member

Hi HollyRose8675309.  Fear of the unknown is very uncomfortable.  I knew what to expect when I smoked.  It was a different story for this journey.  But that's not bad.  I am learning things about myself and inner strength that I did not know before.  Unknown territories can be the most wonderful.  During my 65 days of being an ex-smoker I have found the most important thing for me was staying in the day.  If I looked to tomorrow and how I was going to make it through than I was not paying attention to how I was getting through the present day.  I live by one day at a time.  There have been days that I have broken it down to smaller chunks like one hour at a time.  And even further sometimes I would do breathing to help me through one minute or second at a time.  It has worked every time I have used that philosophy.  Stay close to this site and blog and ask questions.  I have found this community priceless.

Regards,

Michelle

maryfreecig
Member

     I quit cold turkey and mostly on my own. I maintained my quit (and made progress) but I found support helped me the most by helping me to look beyond the cigarettes, the fixation. The dependency made me feel as if smoking was everything! Everything! When I quit on my own I felt as if I had to prove something or succeed, now I have what I needed most of all---to feel comfortable in my own skin without smoking. So the toughest time was when I didn't believe that I would get over the fixation.