The fact that I used stress as my #1 reeason to keep smoking makes it absolutely astonishing to me, how much less stress I feel and how much more calmly I respond to it now that I don't smoke. It's like anyone else ever putting up with my ex, I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]5/14/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 230 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 4,600 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $2,530.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 23 [B]Hrs:[/B] 1 [B]Mins:[/B] 46 [B]Seconds:[/B] 35

Ginnette - with time you'll find yourself resolving the stressfull situation, instead of hiding from it by going to smoke, and you will adjust! I Promise! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]7/17/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 531 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 39,825 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $9,956.25 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 46 [B]Hrs:[/B] 7 [B]Mins:[/B] 14 [B]Seconds:[/B] 2

Bear, Thank you for taking the time and effort to compose an educational post. It is sure to help our newbies! Danielle, Bilingual Health Educator

I think that about sums it up, Bear. Smoking definitely affects us in more ways than I ever knew or thought possible. Ginette - you are doing great and yes, you probably should be patient with yourself. One of the biggest things I noticed was how NOT smoking reduced my stress during those "something stressful" times. It amazed me almost immediately how the fights with the kids or other annoyances which I would historically respond to by smoking were so much less stressful when NOT met with a cigarette. Very cool! :) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]8/25/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 127 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 3,810 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $742.95 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 11 [B]Hrs:[/B] 9 [B]Mins:[/B] 8 [B]Seconds:[/B] 36

Thanks Bear. It helps me understand addiction to cigs a lot better. I am having a tough time coping without a cigarette when I'm going through something stressful. I really wanted a cigarette yesterday when I was out with my friend and I had a timetable to work on...going out for supper and making it to my meeting later. I managed ok and got to my meeting in time. I guess you have to be patient with yourself and realize that you don't need a cigarette to cope with life's little stresses. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]12/9/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 21 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 735 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $324.87 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 3 [B]Hrs:[/B] 0 [B]Mins:[/B] 32 [B]Seconds:[/B] 7

I submit this information for your consideration only it is not the be all or end all of quitting smoking just one persons view of what it's all about.It may in fact be redundent but if it is worth it's salt at all it will survive or fall into the deep dark hole at SSC. First there are the physical aspects of quitting smoking this will of course depend on the method you choose to accomplish this.Some will quit cold turkey others will choose to use NRT's you choose the method that you are comfortable with.The object of the game is to get the nicotine out of your body period.This can in fact be a very unconfortable time as the brain will continue to search for it's fix and will demand it in no uncertain terms. Now we have to give the body and the brain time to recover from the abuse that we inflicted on it over the years this is what I call the normalization process were we try to get the brain to physical function at a normal state.As you may or may not know nicotine has the ability to goose the brain if you will but unfortunatly the brain becomes somewhat numb and reqires more and more of a goose so that we must in fact smoke more and more to get the desired affect .During our recovery we learn to reward ourselves from time to time to get the brain back to normal.We will also learn that nicotine is a very potent narcotic which may of in fact hidden or masked other problems that we were unaware of both physical and mental. Now comes the fun part ? were we have to learn new coping skills that we had in the past used nicotine to help us through the day or provide us with a little pleasure so that we could endure lifes difficultys.I will of course resist the temptation to suggest how you do this because this you must learn yourself and I'm certainly not qualified to do so.I will suggest that the brain do's in fact work on the bases of substituting old information by learning new information and once again this is not gospel. So I leave you with this for your consideration and if you have something to add please do so or if you find something that you would like to challenge please do so.My intent was to give the newbies a point of reference if you will. :) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]3/20/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 285 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 5,130 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $2,850.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 65 [B]Hrs:[/B] 2 [B]Mins:[/B] 7 [B]Seconds:[/B] 27