Good to see you back. You can just say I don't smoke. It is one day at a time.. sometimes life is like that to get through periods of stress. Congrats on 67 days. that is great. And it IS so much easier not running out in the rain or looking for a spot to light up. I am on the Chantix. but will be tapering down. The learning process to say no to the quit and to understand the craving will NOt last , and to reinforce this. the reason rewards are so good in the beginning.. we have said yes.. for all the craves for YEARS so we need to replace the negative No with a positive until the brain receptors understand .... I just had a picture of ....baby birds in the nest all squacking for food with their mouths open to be fed (the brain receptors)... they they learn to fly on their own and get their own food.. No longer dependent... [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]2/10/2008 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 33 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 561 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $112.20 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 4 [B]Hrs:[/B] 19 [B]Mins:[/B] 7 [B]Seconds:[/B] 50

Good morning Deck, It was good to see your post, You are doing ok with your quit don�t be worrying too much about how long this quit will last for just take it one day at a time. With regard to being able to say that I am a non-smoker , for me it will always have to be a case of I am smoker who has Quit I will have to constantly remind myself of the damage cigarettes did to my lungs so I can keep my quit. Wish you well Deck, Happy St. Patrick�s Day hope you have a good one. N.O.P.E [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]1/2/2008 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 72 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,160 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �788.40 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 9 [B]Hrs:[/B] 22 [B]Mins:[/B] 37 [B]Seconds:[/B] 58

Oopss, Deck, I meant to say congrats on your 67 days - I hit the reply button to fast! I was really happy to see that your numbers are still climbing. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]1/3/2008 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 70 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,400 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $532.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 7 [B]Hrs:[/B] 11 [B]Mins:[/B] 21 [B]Seconds:[/B] 36

Great posts guys. Deck, it's great to see you again. I was hoping you were still around. I've missed you. I have to admit that I went straight to the bottom of your post to check your meter before I read your input. :p Sorry! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]1/3/2008 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 70 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,400 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $532.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 7 [B]Hrs:[/B] 11 [B]Mins:[/B] 19 [B]Seconds:[/B] 39

Deck, I thought you had gone forever. I am so glad your still around. You may have been posting and I didn't see it. I feel the same way you do, this week has been horrible with craves, but I know they are not real, so I have been able to ignore them. I too, wait for the doom around the corner..maybe we should stop that, huh? [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]12/6/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 98 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,940 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $367.50 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 8 [B]Hrs:[/B] 0 [B]Mins:[/B] 26 [B]Seconds:[/B] 16

Well said Lillyput. I'm sure that all of us can relate to the anxiety of how to survive without our crutches! I am not so sure that nothing changes. As I travel a lot I notice that I spend a lot less time in airports looking for non-existant smoking areas. I spend a lot less time outside in the pouring rain, snow or wind feeding my habit. However I do spend more time doing things in a more relaxed way given that I am no longer worried about when I can get my next fix. Many of the anxieties attached to smoking, such as, how long will this meeting go on? Can I smoke where I am going? Will there be other smokers there or will I be the only one? Will I have time to get a quick fix before the meeting, lunch or other events start? Yes to be honest some things have changed in a way that I can't say I complain about. I don't know about you, but now my anxiety centers around being able to hold on to my quit. The cravings have lessened both in frequency and in intensity, but I am still afraid of one day for whatever reason going into the tobacconist's and buying another packet, or bumming one from one of my colleagues. For the moment I am happy to avoid "dangerous" situations, which since the smoking ban have been diminished, but not been eliminated entirely. I know that one of the main encouragements I had to quit, was the ten days I spent back in Ireland during the Christmas period. During all of the time I was there, I cannot say that I sat down comfortably, with a beverage of any kind and a cigarette, and actually sat back and relaxed. Smoking was simply a necessary evil, you had to do it but couldn't possibly enjoy it. I mean Irish weather and all that. However, I must say you could have the craic! in the smoking zones. What is it about the forbidden fruit that makes it so attractive? Kowing that from January 1st this year, France was to follow the lead set by countries like Ireland, I decided that it was easier to quit than to try to live with the constant anxiety of the next fix. Now when I see people outside buttsucking, I can feel a certain pride that I am no longer concerned with the fix problem, albeit that I am now concerned with the health problems caused by over 35 years indulgence. As we say "you can't put an old head on young shoulders", - N� tiochaidh ciall raibh aois! If I'd known then what I know now! But let's be honest! How many of us have know people who have died or were otherwise adversely affected by smoking? Did this stop us? Like hell it did. When you see young people smoking don't you ask yourself how they can possibly do it knowing what we now know about smoking? But they do. I know that those of us in the 40+ age bracket can remember back to souvenir ashtrays and lighters, sweet cigarettes, cigarette advertisements and other encouragements to smoke, but does this lessen our responsability for the last twenty or so years, when we knew without a doubt that smoking was harmful for our health. When it comes down to it our fear of quitting was greater than our fear of the hypothetical life threat that cigarettes represented. The anxiety we had about quitting overshadowed the possibility of cancer, heart trouble or whatever. Maybe my present anxiety, "how to stay quit" is preventing me from sitting back and enjoying the beneficial effects of not smoking. This might seem like counting your chickens before they are hatched, tempting fate, letting your guard down. How long should this go on? When I see many quitters who have clocked up not only days, weeks, months but also years and still take time out to check in here, I do ask myself this question - until when am I a quitter and when do I become a non smoker? For the moment the answer is not very important and maybe with time this will become clear. Nonetheless I have a recent quit of 10 months which eventually failed because of no reason, or at least any reason that I can think of now. I may have justified smoking again when I did it, but the validity of the reason would appear to have wained with time. Sorry for waffling on so much today, but I have had a sudden need to communicate! Sl�n Deck [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]1/6/2008 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 67 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,345 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �522.60 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 11 [B]Hrs:[/B] 10 [B]Mins:[/B] 25 [B]Seconds:[/B] 17

Lillyput, Thanks for this great post. It's normal to be scared and contemplate quitting before you take the plunge as it's been part of your life for a good while. Many people need to push themselves beyond their comfort zone and embrace the new change in their life. Brenna, Bilingual Health Educator

Yes Lilly well put. I have been contemplating for awhile.. but I thought how would I relax in the evening, how will I take a break after a chore? BUT I also thought about the last family gathering.. after eating, I was the one putting on a jacket, going out in the rain.. for a few puffs. Exhaling and waving around hoping not to coome back in reeking of smoke... AHHHH are you Stupid or What??? Freaking out when I got down to a pack or less. These white sticks full of nasty stuff... are controlling you. GO SHELL out $$$$ so you can kill yourself, and throw the butts in the garbage... This is not my first QUIT.. I HOPE it will be my LAST. Finding this site has helped me committ.. and understand N O P E.. not one puff EVER. that I am ONLY one puff away from a PACK a day. and I can use $100.00 or more a month on something fun.. not something to KILL me.SLOWLY [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]2/10/2008 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 31 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 527 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $105.40 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 4 [B]Hrs:[/B] 12 [B]Mins:[/B] 15 [B]Seconds:[/B] 7

Oh my Lord do I know that feeling, and it still creeps up on me every once and awhile, things that I haven't attempted to do smoke free yet. I find that if I visualize myself doing it first, happily without smoking, it helps. Well said Lilly. A1 [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]12/6/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 97 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,910 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $363.75 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 7 [B]Hrs:[/B] 22 [B]Mins:[/B] 24 [B]Seconds:[/B] 5

That's as clear as anyone could make it, Lillyput. I felt then, and feel now, exactly the same and I was so grateful and I still am grateful for all the support I got from the members of SSC at a time when I thought I was going to give in and kill myself while dragging around an oxygen bottle in the not too distant future... this quit is something to be grateful for and anybody who asks me now about how I quit cigarettes, I start off right away by speaking out the URL for this site as I would if I were speaking to a mentally challenged person: with great care and precision and many helpful repeats.. " No, It's all one word,'stopsmokingcenter.net', that's N, E, T, and it's the best, the only, site to help you quit - with wonderful people who'll answers your cries for help through the rough spots in swarms of replies within an hour or so and the programme is beyond excellent..." Well, I'm Irish and we have full hyperbole licences.... Patrick [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]1/18/2008 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 54 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,350 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $607.50 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 10 [B]Hrs:[/B] 2 [B]Mins:[/B] 37 [B]Seconds:[/B] 8