Hey Sparky;
Am very happy to see you posting. Good to see that new quit date is in 2 days too.
I don�t think I�ll ever qualify to give advice on not smoking but I can talk about what is currently working for me. After failing multiple times I did have to beat myself up and then feel sorry for myself each time. I think feeling the guilt & remorse to a degree helps strengthen our next quit if not taken to an absurd level.
This last time I also realized my confidence had been badly shaken. It�s one thing for me to stand there & declare I quit smoking. It�s another thing for me to actually stay quit. You know what I mean, doing the same thing over & over, expecting different results . . . So every time I did fail I had to look at what didn�t work, what seemed to work but most importantly at what could I do differently.
I also tried welbutrin on the first quit, it didn�t phase me. Too many brain cells burnt out for medications to affect me I suppose . Never even considered NRTs since I noticed when I tried to cut down on smoking, I reacted by chain smoking! Moderation is not a word in my vocabulary when it comes to an addiction - LOL. So I continue to choose cold turkey since it gets the detox over with quickly (in my mind anyway).
Some of what I did differently this time was ask my husband to help by not smoking cigars in the house. I did not ask him to quit but he did so, as he saw that my being around smokers drove me up a wall. Being around smokers was exactly the scenario I was in when I last slipped. I had to admit I just can't handle that right now.
Then I saw a post where older members on the board offered to mentor new or struggling members. (I�ve bumped it for you � if you decide to use that tool, post a request for a mentor or ask for a specific member, they will answer you). Working one on one is a tried & true method for me so I asked for help in that thread.
You see I�m not very comfortable posting publicly about questions I have or issues with smoking cessation . . . so using a mentor was ideal for me plus the info & tips passed on in this manner has helped beyond belief.
I do continue to try to post as much as possible, even though you�ll rarely see me start a thread. I�ve found posting on the board (whether I make any sen