Thanks all, I am late getting to a reply, but life keeps happening here, and the days don't always have enough hours to deal with it all....
phreaknbz - What I replaced my cigs with....at first, I used mints...the after dinner kind...in the beginning I did a lot of 'putting it off'...I won't have that cig now....first I'll do x....then when x was done I did y....gradually I began to look for alternative things to cigs besides the mints....driving was hard without smoking....I smoked a LOT in the old days when I drove....so I cleaned the car out, including the ashtray and windows inside, put a lot of febreeze on the upholstry and carpets, and began to crank the radio and sing at the top of my lungs when I drove...it was hard to sing and smoke at the same time. It actually was fun and I still do it now sometimes just because it IS fun! I started keeping a list of all the things I LIKED about not smoking....and yea, I had some bad days...some REALLY bad days....some end up in the ER with anxiety attacks related to withdrawals bad days.....and I remembered those too....and the fact that I NEVER want to have to go there again....and if I start again, I'll have to stop again...and that opens the door to the possibility that it will happen again. For me that's what quitting is....something I do every day...it's a choice I make every single morning. I kept track of the triggers when I discovered them...and plotted ways around them....I found things to keep my hands busy....I discovered gardening again...and all the fun and peace that it brought. And I kept my promises to myself....that's important...there has to be some gain you can easily discern in order to keep wanting to quit.
For Chery...My reward at 6 mos, was a trip to AK to see my kids and grands....I went. My reward for one year is contacts instead of glasses...and a family trip to Glacier National Park this summer...the contacts I'm trying to get used to, the Glacier trip is in the planning stages...for August I think...maybe July!
Now if I can just do as well at getting rid of this extra 25 pounds I put on since I quit! :) Actually I am working on that too....I decided to make April a new beginnings month for me since it seemed to work so well with the cigarettes....and I've started walkin
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Quit Meter
$200,728.00
Amount Saved
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Quit Meter
Days: 5839
Hours: 10
Minutes: 15
Seconds: 8
Life Gained
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Quit Meter
45620
Smoke Free Days
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Quit Meter
456,200
Cigarettes Not Smoked