feeling down

Crasy, this has very little to do with the price of fish, but your photo looks EXACTLY like a iconic mountain we have here in the South Island of New Zealand. It is called Mitre Peak and is in the Milford Sounds - one of the most truly beautiful places in the world. Can you tell me where your mountain is? It really is so amazingly alike! As to feeling down and sleepless, think of it as recovery for your body. It is dealing with getting rid of toxins so it will be a bit all over the place for a while. It gets so much better - you just wait till you're on that cruise ship heading for the beach. I'm on it now, and it ROCKS!! All you have to do to board the ship is keep on not smoking. You can do it, keep telling yourself that you will do it! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]9/23/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 51 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,275 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $612.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 4 [B]Hrs:[/B] 18 [B]Mins:[/B] 33 [B]Seconds:[/B] 48

Another Perk

Yeah Waz - you are a cool uncle. That's one great gift you have given your nephew. My friend stopped three weeks ago - he said to me "If you can do it, so can I". His wife is completely rapt as she gave up years ago and no amount of nagging has had any effect. My son (18) is also thinking about stopping, having seen me quit (the money inspires him most of all but, hey, whatever floats his boat). All this without any nagging or guilt trips - just leading by silent example. That's really paying it forward! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]9/23/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 51 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,275 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $612.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 4 [B]Hrs:[/B] 19 [B]Mins:[/B] 23 [B]Seconds:[/B] 15

Just for a Laugh

Winston is sure making friends in a hurry! This filter cigarette has real flavor - the full, rich tobacco flavor real smokers want. In short, Winston tastes good - like a cigarette should! Besides bringing flavor back to filter smoking, Winston also brings you a finer filter. The exclusive Winston filter works so effectively, but lets the full, rich flavor come right through to you. Winstons are easy-drawing - there's no effort to puff!" This is from the 1940's - when people smoked with impunity and no guilt! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]9/23/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 51 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,275 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $612.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 4 [B]Hrs:[/B] 19 [B]Mins:[/B] 23 [B]Seconds:[/B] 40

Take the challenge - let me know what happens.

Cheers Anna. I understand exactly what you are saying and you are completely right. My other quits were always "Oh poor me, I am missing out. I have lost a friend. I can't relax, I can't celebrate. Life seems so boring." Needless to say, none of them lasted more than my willpower lasted - about 3 weeks max. This time, I am so damned happy, it's like someone has slipped something into my coffee - I am free, I am in control, I smell good, I am richer, I look good (skin glowing, teeth/eyes brighter). I am calm, peaceful and accepting of being a non-smoker. I don't look at smokers with pity, disdain or disgust - to smoke is their choice, to not smoke is mine - neither of us is a better or worse person. I logged onto the site yesterday and realised that 8 weeks had just passed, and I hadn't even realised it! Amazing, when in the early days, time seemed to sometimes drag, now it is flying. Good luck to all newbies. You can do it, believe it in your heart of hearts. Get prepared, get ready and get living! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]9/23/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 57 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,425 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $684.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 5 [B]Hrs:[/B] 7 [B]Mins:[/B] 54 [B]Seconds:[/B] 59

[size=4]GRRRRRRRRRR[/size] i am about 2 hours off 2 weeks

Hey Jacqui. Please don't give up on giving up! You are doing so well and I can give you a 100% guarantee that it does get easier. You are only 28 and you are giving yourself the best gift you can. Even if you have had a slip, just get back on the horse and start again. Now, your mind is your most powerful weapon, if you choose to use it. Your brain is now screaming out for its drug of choice, nicotine. I remember you have young children so, try this. Every time you think of wanting a smoke, substitute a picture in your head of your children sitting in your lounge room with cigarettes in their hands, smoke curling up to the ceiling, looking at YOU Mum, cos that's where they learned it from. Then substitute in a picture of you all, healthy and smoke-free doing something as a family from all the money you have saved from not smoking. 50% of your tobacco money goes back to our government! Surely, they take enough from you with taxes, GST etc. I hate the fact that they "pretend" to want us to stop, when in fact they take billions each year from tobacco! There's so many reasons to stay quit Jacqui, and not many for starting up again, except that you have just set yourself up to crave another cigarette, and another and another. That craving will NEVER stop until you end it. Kia kaha - remember you'll be on the beach soon (literally, since you live at Papamoa), feeling the wind rush into your lungs and loving life. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]9/23/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 57 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,425 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $684.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 5 [B]Hrs:[/B] 7 [B]Mins:[/B] 56 [B]Seconds:[/B] 42

Something in the past

To be honest, it never worried me if anyone asked if I still smoked. I always liked the "rebel" tag so held my smoking banner high. What does irritate me now that I have stopped is non-smokers (and I'm talking people who have never ever smoked) tell me that I will always crave a cigarette. It also makes me cranky when non-smokers say "And don't you just feel so much better?" Huh? How exactly would you know? I'm not even sure why it makes me cross - if an ex-smoker offers an opinion or advice, I'll listen 100% - it's just the smug non-smokers who do my head in. Also, I don't want to become one of the Gestapo anti-smoking brigade. I don't want to look at smokers with disgust or pity - I want to just see them as people who make their own choices. My two best friends still smoke - if they stop, that's their decision and I'll support them completely. If they choose to continue, that's their choice too and they can smoke at my house - just outdoors please! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]9/23/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 57 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,425 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $684.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 5 [B]Hrs:[/B] 8 [B]Mins:[/B] 36 [B]Seconds:[/B] 59

YEAH!!! I got to three weeks!!!

Way to go Jacqui! I am keeping Wrigley Eclipse mints in business just by myself too. Yesterday, I found a strawberry in the garden, sun-ripened and I ate it. OMG, it was the best strawberry I have ever eaten. Good on you for doing the exercise - I'm just so lazy, I find it really hard to get motivated. Keep up your good work - 3 weeks will soon be 3 months. I am two months on Saturday and can't believe how quickly it's gone. Having an extra $700 for Christmas is all good too! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]9/23/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 59 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,475 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $708.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 5 [B]Hrs:[/B] 12 [B]Mins:[/B] 52 [B]Seconds:[/B] 37

mary checking in

Hey Mary. WTG. You are through the worst day. I was looking at your profile. Am I right in that you are a gardening grannie who loves Playstation Personal? That is so cool but does give me a bit of a funny picture in my head ... lol! Just think, by stopping smoking, you are giving your grandchildren the best gift ever - the gift of time spent with you as they grow up. You are also showing them another way to live ... smoke free, and if they ever take it up, you can give them a right telling off and mean it! I am at day 71 and I must admit, I am having a few "issues" right now - this morning I found a cigarette in my car - old, stale and stinky! Was I tempted to light it up? You bet I was. Did I? Nah. Wrapped the stinky thing up in toilet paper and flushed it right down where it belongs. The cravings do go away, although sometimes I will still be blindsided by one. I have defintely found the more you beat them, the easier it gets. Good luck. Stay strong. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]9/23/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 71 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,775 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $852.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 6 [B]Hrs:[/B] 15 [B]Mins:[/B] 33 [B]Seconds:[/B] 10

Shortness of breath

I smoked about 30 a day for over 25 years. I suffered from shortness of breath for years before quitting. I just kept on smoking and ignored all the warning signs. When I stopped, I noticed almost straight away that it got a lot easier to breath. Then, last weekend, I have this shortness of breath back again. It's like you have to gasp to get enough air into your lungs and I get a slight chest pain on inhalation. I haven't slipped at all, I don't "smoke" anything else. In fact, I've been eating really well, sleeping well, exercising and only moderate alcohol intake - quite frankly, leading an almost saintly existence. Why, after almost three months would this symptom suddenly come back? Has anyone else suffered this? I'm feel pretty dispirited actually and have an awful suspicion that I left quitting until too late, that I have done irreparable damage to my lungs and now it's payback time. So saying that, it only makes me more determined to never smoke again. No matter what! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]9/23/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 71 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,775 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $852.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 6 [B]Hrs:[/B] 15 [B]Mins:[/B] 34 [B]Seconds:[/B] 33

I slipped

Hey Ginette. I've watched you struggling over the last few days and I know what you're going through. You say "I hope I do it this time". Sorry, but "hope" ain't going to get you through this one. Replace "hope" with "will" ... and mean it. Look deep into your mind and KNOW that you can do it. I fought against my quit so hard in the first few weeks, I was an absolute misery to live with. After all, I didn't HAVE to quit, I only did it because my husband had just had a triple bypass. I resented him, I felt like I had "given up" something dear to me. The poor man talked me through many a night while I wailed, screamed, moaned about how hard things were for me. I went through the stages of grief - denial, bargaining, anger etc. Then, around two weeks in, AAAAHHHHH ... this fantastic feeling of serenity happened. I had reached acceptance (I think some people on here call it the beach - whatever, it is a really nice place to be). It's hard to explain, but it was like my whole body just gave this tremendous sigh of relief and relaxed properly for the first time in about 25 years. I realised that quitting can be done and it doesn't have to be so painful - it is all a matter of your mindset. I sat down and made up a pro/con list for smoking. Try it, it's quite hard to find anything much to write on the pro side but the con side gets big really quickly! Flip everything you've been thinking around - you are not "missing out", you are gaining freedom. You haven't lost anything - in fact, you've gained so much time, you'll hardly know how to fill it (make plans). You never enjoyed smoking, what you enjoyed was the temporary relief of your withdrawal symptoms. Read up on addiction, read up on nicotine, read up on how the tobacco companies have made millions peddling death (and we bought it), read up on smoking-related diseases. Do whatever you need to do to firm your resolution in your mind. Studies show that 58 year old women with names beginning with G are the most determined, stubborn people on this earth ... use that power for the good side Ginette (well, okay I made that last bit up ... lol). From Down Under ... Kia Kaha (stay strong). [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]9/23/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 78 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,950 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $936.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 7 [B]Hrs:[/B] 6 [B]Mins:[/B] 33 [B]Seconds:[/B] 7