fear- less. One thing I've learned the past few weeks, You feel diferent every day some good and some not. You're doing great. Just keep the spirit up. Joining the Y will help i know the days i go to the gym i feel better. Stay strong Circuit [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 4/8/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 39 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 793 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $117 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 4 [B]Hrs:[/B] 11 [B]Mins:[/B] 7 [B]Seconds:[/B] 0

Hurray for me! Today is 21 whole days, three weeks! I've already gone out and bought myself some new clothes as a reward. I also went to the chiropractor for a maintenance adjustment this morning, and that helped a LOT. I think it's hard not to have your crutch when you have large, stressful events, or even daily stress. It's also hard, though, because not smoking [i]is[/i] a stress. It was great to get a massage and to hear things go "pop!" My neck and shoulders were really tight, and they feel a lot better. I've not gotten a neti pot yet, Healer, but my chiropractor sells them, so I know where to go if I work up the nerve to use one. :) What has helped more than anything today has been being able to say to myself, "You're okay, you're just feeling anxious because you've made a change for the better, and it's going to take some time to get used to this." I'm having to practice at being gentle with myself. Smoking has been both cause and effect for me. I smoked because I didn't feel good about myself, didn't have a whole lot of self-love. On the other hand, smoking also made me feel bad about myself. It's a catch-22, a vicious cycle. Breaking that cycle is forcing me to think about myself in a whole new way, as someone who's worth the trouble, worth the snot and the kinked up shoulder muscles and worth making time to pamper a little. I spent some time this morning talking to myself about not feeling guilty for ___________________ (fill in the blank -- my rewards, my healthier choices, all the blessings I've always had), but feeling grateful for them, instead. In my tradition, we say, "Thanks be to God!", and the brain chemicals that are released when I think that are much more soothing than the ones that are released when I think, "Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have ... " The difference between this quit and my other, unsuccessful, ones is that this time instead of thinking, "I'm so guilty for not having quit ten years ago," I'm thinking, "I'm so fortunate to have found a way not to smoke for the next hundred years!" Thanks, everyone, for your support and words of wisdom. It's so much easier when you're not trying to do it alone! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 4/27/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 21 [B]Cigarettes Not

I'm here to whine and also to congratulate myself. Tomorrow will be three weeks since I had a cigarette, and I'm really proud of myself for that. I treated myself to a trip to Books a Million last week, and I'll treat myself again tomorrow for having made it this far. Today, though, I have to say I feel like crap. I love it that I remember my dreams when I'm wearing the patch -- they're really vivid and I can remember them all day, and that's really cool. But I suspect that all that dreaming is keeping me from getting really restful sleep, because I'm tired. All those books I bought myself as a treat last week are still sitting here, because I can't concentrate long enough to read. I'm watching re-runs of M*A*S*H that I've been watching since before they were reruns, in the 1970's, because that's about the limit of my mental abilities. I hate this part! My throat is full of snot. There's no other way to put it. I'm spraying saline into my nose, taking hot baths and showers, drinking lots of water, but it's just disgusting how icky and dirty I apparently had gotten on the inside. I'm glad to be getting it all out, and I appreciate that I'm healing (hurray!), but it's not much fun. In fact, it's gross. Long term -- good. Short term -- rotten. I'm anxious and nervous, and I'm also finding myself crying -- from happiness and sadness -- a lot. It's amazing how effective that "smoke screen" is at helping you hide from your emotions. One interesting thing about it is that there's still a small, addicted part of me that thinks it's cool to smoke, and I think the reason behind it is that if you're smoking, you're not having any of those pesky emotions that can make you act uncool. They can make you laugh or cry uncontrollably, make you snap at your husband, make you sad for a friend who's hurting, make you do all kinds of things that aren't as cool as striking that James Dean pose. It's taking some practice and some concentration (which is at a premium) to find ways of dealing with things. Breathing helps. Rewards help. I'm joining the Y tomorrow, because I suspect that exercise would help, too. As a last resort, I'm just going with it and crying till I stop, and that seems to help more than anything else. I'm also hungry all the

Fear Less You hit the nail on the head with what you wrote. Im feeling all snotty and icky too. My throat hurts like hell, and my face is breaking out, and I have those thoughts "when will this go away?" But im following advice and taking it 5 mins at a time. So just keep fightin the good fight, and we can all get through it. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 5/12/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 6 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 142 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $28.5 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 0 [B]Hrs:[/B] 19 [B]Mins:[/B] 38 [B]Seconds:[/B] 4

3 weeks ROCKS! Way to go. As far as I'm concerned - feeling sorry for yourself is just as much as part of this as being proud of yourself is. We are all going through some seriously intense and significant changes physically, mentally and emotionally. It's all good in the end, to me, as long as we stay quit. So go ahead and scream, pout, whine, cry, cheer, wave, whatever the heck you want. Just stay quit. :) Congrats and well done to you - Bingo [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 4/23/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 25 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 507 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $75 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 3 [B]Hrs:[/B] 15 [B]Mins:[/B] 7 [B]Seconds:[/B] 25

good job on 3 weeks! Keep up the fabulous work, don't give up!! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 5/15/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 2 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 53 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $9 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 0 [B]Hrs:[/B] 4 [B]Mins:[/B] 36 [B]Seconds:[/B] 38

Fear Less, I'm so sorry you are feeling this way! I'm also sorry, but I did have a chuckle at your post. Not that it is funny, but I sure went through the exact same thing! But the way you wrote it, made me laugh. Thank you for that! Okay, you know --- this is temporary. I too was grossed out by the "healing" part. But it is a wonderful feeling to know that I am getting rid of all the toxins that I put in there. I quit cold turkey, and the first 3 days were horrible!! But I read a lot on what was going to happen to me, so I was prepared!!! [color=Maroon]You are doing a great job!![/color] Keep rewarding yourself and drowning yourself in water!! Oh, and yes, joining the Y will definately help! I enrolled in a Pilates class a few weeks ago, and I totally feel better!! What I difference! I love it, and I am going to add another day next month. Keep drinking the water, and get outside for some fresh air, and add in your exercise. You will feel better!! I promise!! ;) 4my2girls [b][color=Maroon]What Consumes Your Thoughts Controls Your Life [/b][/color] [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 3/5/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 74 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,234 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $241.98 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 5 [B]Hrs:[/B] 23 [B]Mins:[/B] 52 [B]Seconds:[/B] 10

Hi Fearless (love the name:) Well, you said it all... BTW - go to Whole Foods (or any natural store or online) and get you a neti pot (kind of a long story, google it) that has really helped me... And just hang on tight. You are doing an amazing job - allow the feelings to bubble as you are doing, and strange as it may sound in the moment, enjoy the amazing journey of getting to know yourself... That's something I don't think we've ever done. Now we have the opportunity to have an intimate relationship w/ourselves... How cool is that! [quote] striking that James Dean pose [/quote] -with the ravages of lung cahcer or throat cancer... not such a striking pose... Blessings- Healer [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 3/5/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 74 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,609 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $344.1 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 9 [B]Hrs:[/B] 16 [B]Mins:[/B] 4 [B]Seconds:[/B] 51

Hi Fear Less, Bingo couldn't have put it better. These feeling will pass and be but a faint memory in no time at all. Just stay quit for those memories to happen. Be Gentle On Youself. You Are Doing Great! Congrats to 3 weeks! Fantastic!! Joonie [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 4/22/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 26 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 528 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $91 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 21 [B]Mins:[/B] 7 [B]Seconds:[/B] 29

Fear, First of all congratulations on great success! Your stats look great! Take some you time and know that this is normal. It will pass, but don't wait for that moment, instead take some you time and pamper yourself. Have that good cry and yell and let it all out! Relax before bed and ease into sleep, start you day tomorrow fresh! You have big celebration day :) Keep Strong, Josie _____________________ The SSC Support Team.