Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me...Deep Dark Depression, Excessive Misery

Tutti, No you don't really really really want to smoke! It's the addiction talking. Tell it off...take deep breaths and tell it you're not letting it win so it might as well go take a hike. Then go for a walk at breaktime if you can or tell someone a joke or do anything to distract yourself. Doodle on a notepad, drink another gallon of water, break pencils but DO NOT SMOKE or you'll have to go through it all over again. You can do this. Believe in youself. We are here for you. Kick ash, Pat :) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/28/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 24 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 985 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $336 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 20 [B]Mins:[/B] 59 [B]Seconds:[/B] 46

CallMeMomMom has sailed through Hell week!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Way to kick ash MomMom!!! We're all so proud to have you aboard the Magic Ship. Heck week will be easier and we're all here for you. :) Pat, First Mate Magic Ship [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/28/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 24 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 983 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $336 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 20 [B]Mins:[/B] 58 [B]Seconds:[/B] 35

The Magic Ship Continues!

***Pat strolls on board smiling her no smoking smile openly, completely covered in noisily dangling beads, swaying as she sings loudly and dances to the rhythm of the Zydeco beat*** Now Evangeline is a cajun queen, way down in Louisiane After while, she got some voodoo chile on every foot and hand Now the bayou bride, she make a jambalaya for all the creole clan And when they grow, they rock 'n roll, and the zydeco began *************************************************** Whoooopppeeeeee Happy Fat Tuesday Everyone! Wowsers, shipmates Burbon Street was just a hopping and a happening tonight!!! New O�leans is the best place ever to celebrate Mardi Gras���..hey, check out all the beads���got some extra�s here if any of you gents have anything non smoking to share with the first mate. :8o: This Magic Ship of ours is really getting busy and everyone is doing an awesome job of kicking ash, having fun and supporting each other on our journey. What started off with three like-minded people has turned into something really special, don�t y�all think? We really know how to have a great time while taking care of business. Rainie, good to see you back and sure hope your daughter is back to normal in no time. Faithfreedom, we�ll do our best to put on a good show for your birthday.....shhh, save some rum girls, maybe the Cap�n will play his harmonica again. Freemom will naturally be in charge of the musical entertainment. JT and Rainie will perform one of their dance routines I�m sure. MomMom and I will attempt our first stand-up comedy acts and Kygirl is going to whip up some tasty low fat treats and hand out the swimwear at the pool. Phil is going to sit in the audience and cheer us on or heckle when appropriate with Gonnadoit (we took up a collection plate to raise JT�s bail by the way and here, have some dramamine). Cap�n Magic will round out the evening by blowing some blues. Not just any blues mind you, some get down, start crying, begging for more blues, you wouldn't get depressed blues, but the real feel good blues. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I sure hope he plays something by Stevie Ray Vaughan, maybe even Pride and Joy: Well you've heard about love givin' sight to the blind. My baby's lovin' cause the sun to shine. S

Go Phil Go

Congratulations Mate...well done Keep being king of the one liners Pat :) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/28/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 24 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 968 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $336 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 19 [B]Mins:[/B] 54 [B]Seconds:[/B] 58

Struggling really Badly

Freemom, You've already gotten some really good advice from some very wise and wonderful people here and I hope you will consider everything they have said before you light up. You really have been doing an amazing job with a 25 day quit under your belt. I would'nt want to see you lose it because of the junkie thoughts. If you give in now, it wins and you lose...it really is that simple and I see you as a winner. I'm not wanting to lecture you sweetness, but please do not kid yourself, you are not really unique, or isolated, or different than any of us addicts here at SSC. Whether we smoke in closets or defiantly in the middle our driveways for the whole neighborhood to see, we are still just nicotine addicts and we all fight the same junkie thoughts when we quit. It's not easy raising children and even more challenging when they have special needs but it sounds like you are doing everything possible to give your kids a loving and stable home. I do understand how hard it is to raise children with your husband out of town a lot, as I was in those shoes for many years when my kids were small. Smoking is not going to help you cope with this, as you'll only be looking for a way to leave the kids alone so you can get your next fix. Maybe you can't see any benefits on the outside from your quit, but if you could see the inside, I'll bet your body is still healing from damage caused by even moderate smoking. If you start smoking again there is a long list of health problems you are playing russian roulette with, and the addiction will always be trying to get you to double your consumption. When I was your age I didn't smoke nearly as much as I did in later years and I'm sure many people will tell you the same story...the longer we smoke the more we need to smoke to keep our addiction happy. You and your husband have financial considerations like almost every single of us does. Will smoking help you save any money or make your husband stop giving you a rough time for buying even one more pack? The choice to NOT smoke is yours alone...the addiction's ONLY choice is to try to make you smoke. You are doing a great job with your quit and your addiction is making lots of noise on it's last legs trying to make you it's slave. If you

Any advice for a beginning quitter?

Hi Lori, You have come to a great place to learn about quitting and what to expect. I'm not sure if you've posted in the introuduce yourself section, but welcome and congratulations on your decision to quit! If you haven't already done so, use the tools on the left to prepare for the journey ahead of you. One of the first things you should know is that you are not quitting a simple habit, you are quitting a serious addiction. Start by reading every thing you can about nicotine addiction, as the more you know, the more prepared you will be and the easier it will be for you to quit. Everyone has their own experiences, methods and ways of coping while quitting. You will find a wide range of experiences and advice from many wonderful people here. Best of luck and let us know how we can help. Pat [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/28/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 27 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,082 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $378 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 3 [B]Hrs:[/B] 3 [B]Mins:[/B] 51 [B]Seconds:[/B] 40

For Phil

Congratulations Mate! Add my 27 and we're at 252 days. Pat x [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/28/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 27 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,083 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $378 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 3 [B]Hrs:[/B] 3 [B]Mins:[/B] 53 [B]Seconds:[/B] 5

The Magic Ship Continues!

Good Evening Cap�n, Crew and visitors aboard the Magic, I�m just howling with laughter MomMom�because I have a t-shirt you might want to borrow that says: GIVE ME ALL YOUR CHOCOLATE AND NOBODY GETS HURT! Now, before you panic over your consumption of the good stuff, remember you are only 9 days (congratulations by the way) into your quit, so if it takes chocolate to get through the first couple or more weeks, I say eat it! From what I�ve read, chocolate is one of the foods that release those feel-good chemicals into our brains, but I�m not sure if you can actually become addicted to it (please don�t tell my family though as they are convinced I can�t live without it and they usually me the good stuff on special occasions). If you�re concerned about the amount you�re eating, maybe portion out smaller amounts and substitute another healthy food like raisins, apples, fruit or another sweetish treat to beat those craves. I think we�ll all be ready to head to California for the race on Sunday, so hope there�s room on the magicopter for all of us. Rainie and Faith, glad to hear you�re both feeling somewhat better and hope by this weekend you�ll both be completely recovered. Nurse�.what germs did you run into or is it you allergies acting up? Sure hope you�re all better quick. Freemom�.that�s some rocking good music you�re playing�and way to kick that ash!!! Now, about that aunt that introduced you to the Beatles, sure hope that 60's wild child didn�t teach you any of the bad habits I remember�.er, I mean�.I was told some people had back then! He he he, I was just a baby in the 60�s�well ok, a big baby and I didn�t get any bad habits till the early 70�s so there! IM me her name in case I know her� �..psyche, just kidding. I�ve been wondering about our meters too everyone�seems like the Cap�n has the most time added to his life�despite him not being the ex-heaviest smoker here. Maybe it really does have to do with his good clean living after all (or could the predicted shorter life-span of men versus a women have anything to do with it��nawww�.it�s the good, clean living and all the walking and golfing you do��.we�re sure of it Cap�n). Kygirl and JT, keep up the good work with cooking all that great food for us and helping us get our ex

The Magic Ship Continues!

Ahoy Cap�n all my shipmates and anyone dropping in for a visit, Today�s nasty weather seems to be everywhere! :gasp: Yuuuccckkkkyyyyy. We must all be just waiting for the nice spring weather to lift our spirits and get us out exercising in the fresh air. I was so looking forward to a nice walk down the beach this morning but when I saw snow mixed in with the rain, I have delayed until later in the day or perhaps another weekend. Arrrrggghhhhh, I really have to get some walking done so I might be forced to...eat chocolate...er, I mean... go walk the indoor route around my local shopping palace again, hint hint, wink wink...anyone want to come find some bargains with me? Who knows what will follow us home this weekend (have you seen the commercial where the lady goes shopping and all the shoes �follow her all the way home�...could this be us later today? Ah, Freemom I�m glad you�re doing better today. I was online just a bit too late to chat with you last night. You know you can reach out to any one of your shipmates at any time. We�re all here on the Magic Ship for our crewmates to row with! Now, Cap�n we begin to see that you and Phil :eg: are both having a blast with all us Magic Wenches doing our work and trying to take good care of you poor outnumbered male souls. We do appreciate you being able to cope with all our teasing....and if the male to female ratio starts getting to be too much for you, do feel free to get our dancers back again for an evening :p and you can go ashore for your little mmmmmm R&R again. Now, in this spirit of kindness and understanding, here�s a nice mug of hot spiced rum to warm you up since you can�t go tee off. Maybe you�ll be in the mood in a bit to pick up that harmonica of yours and start blowing some blues. Not just any blues mind you, some get down, start crying, begging for more blues, you wouldn't get depressed blues, but the real feel good blues. Oh, yes, and a big thank you to everyone else on board, for all the great music you�ve been playing in the last few days people! Please keep �em coming...I for one really love the music and I�ve been told it soothes that beast within us...hee hee, if nothing else, has been tons of fun to listen and dance to. Hope everyone else who�s been

This needs saying.....

Phil.... No No NO We thank you...'specially for "the philisms" me :) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/28/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 27 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,102 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $378 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 3 [B]Hrs:[/B] 5 [B]Mins:[/B] 15 [B]Seconds:[/B] 36