Congrats on two fronts Working On It, for making it through the election and your 6 month anniversary. I'm a month behind you. Wow, in some ways it seems incredible that this much time has passed without a single puff. This seeemed like a distant and impossible dream when I first started my quit.
My motivation is my mother who I recently watched go through 7 weeks of radiation therapy and her future prognosis is still very weak. She also suffered a stroke 2 years ago which effected her memory, personality and overall cognitive abilities. All this because of 60 years of smoking. We all hear and understand, at least on an intellectual level, that smoking is bad for us, but I didn't really internalize the messages until it effected me emotionally on a personal level. I do not want the end part of my life to be like hers. I'm only just turning 50 so just maybe I quit soon enough to do some harm reduction. One thing I do know is that had I continued to smoke, eventually there would have been consequences. Seeing what has become of a once strong, determined and intelligent woman keeps me on the right path in my journey.
I think either is perfectly appropriate (both issues). I think sometimes we put way too much energy into interpreting specific words rather than lookng a the overall intent.
I too like the online indicator in being in real time. That would be great to be able to know when someone you'd like to send a quick message to is actually on.
My mother has smoked for 60 years and although I don't live with her, whenever I see her she often unintentionally tries to sabotage my quit by offering me one of her cigarettes because she feels sorry for me!!! So I also believe that you really have to want this for yourself and set your own goals, although having some support is terrific too. Although my husband is supportive, he never smoked so he doesn't really get all the physical and emotional things we need to go through during the process.
Great job Litsa! Time flies when you're having fun . . . well I don't know honestly about the fun part . . . but you should feel proud of your success!
Since we have so many new members lately I thought it would be useful to talk about a really good metaphor that I had learned when I was going through my day treatment program for alcohol addiction over 3 years ago. One thing that we were taught is that most addictions, whether behavioural or substance, are very similar in terms of how we use them and how they effect the pleasure center of the brain. The 3 headed dragon of addiction represents the physical, psychological and emotional aspect of addiction. We must cut off all 3 heads of the dragon to be successful in the long run. In other words, we can quit smoking (i.e. eliminate the physical dependence) but we must also deal with the psychological (i.e. the mental, emotional and behavioural pieces that kept us smoking) and the spiritual (i.e. our inner self-awareness). We are aware that the physical withdrawal is done with in a relatively short time, yet why is smoking one of the most relapsable of addictions? Well, I think it is because we've used cigarettes to cope with stress, celebrate happy events, reward ourselves for completing tasks, help us stay awake, as a soother when we're upset . . . .and I'm sure we could all go on and on with the reasons. So now we have to find healthy AND satisfactory alternatives. This is where everyone's suggestions on this website become so useful. For me, excercise is an amazing positive and healthy coping mechanism. I'm a bit if a fanatic actually . . . but, it's not everyone's cup of tea.
For me it was definitely the psychological, anxiety and what I would call "out of body" experiences i.e. feeling a certain detachment, inability to focus and concentrate. From the physical perspective it was the sweet cravings and just generally wanting to eat everything in sight. What I found helpful for the psychological is planning to keep myself very busy and distracted as well as excercise. The excercise also helped counteract some of the weight gain. I also tried as best as I could to be conscious of what I'm consuming.
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