Paula (I choose life)! Look at all the concern and the best advice from these veterans of SSC. You have been around this site since 2006 under another name and I watched you when you came on again in the beginning of this year. I particularly remember your long post of your history on 12 February 2008. You spoke about many things but I was, of course, struck by that story of having to go visit your Mammy in the Hospice for the Dying and the black humour between you and your Nana about how smoking must stave off illness when your Ma was there dying of lung canger and she never smoked a day in her life! For your other posts I know that you are very close to your family (you holiday with them where my goal in my youth was to holiday without them...) Can you keep family in mind and your mother's demise in the Hospice right in the forefront of your mind while you deal with this quit now?? You have more experience than many of us here who've only been getting help in here for a few months and you're still only 23 years Old! I started smoking at 10 or 11 - same as you - peer pressure. And I was a really active Clontarf kid - running and running all the time, dancing for hours in the tennis clubs as a teenager. Then I was no longer running with ease when I was 25 and a trainee psychiatric nurse and having to chase after runaway patients. Then I was no longer dancing - no breath and with arthritis in the ankles. Then I was 60 years old and a specialist in sedentary living and smoking and reading. This is not what you want for yourself. I dare you to go up into the Wicklow Mountains for the day without bringing your smokes with you and just sit in the gorse and look around you and breathe-in the air... destroying yourself takes time, Paula. See what that life trajectory looks like to you when you're sitting out there...This is more important that getting your degree from UCD or making Euros 100K per annum by the time you're 30!! Gaffer Patrick ((())) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]1/18/2008 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 107 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,675 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1,203.75 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 19 [B]Hrs:[/B] 22 [B]Mins:[/B] 16 [B]Seconds:[/B] 34

Welcome back, you can do this!!! Find your coping skills and strap in for the ride. We are all here for you!!! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]4/18/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 381 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 7,620 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1,905.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 30 [B]Hrs:[/B] 8 [B]Mins:[/B] 50 [B]Seconds:[/B] 5

ICL, did any of those cigarettes you smoked help your stress or whatever situation you were in when you caved? Work the program, write your quit list, keep it where you kept your cigs, buy a new purse, change your habits, work the program here, need a quit buddy? I am available. Decide to quit. No matter what. Develop new coping skills. Your life is worth this. The cravings will not stop until you keep quitting. I know you can do this, do you? Ready when you are. Sue [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]5/3/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 365 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 3,650 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $638.75 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 35 [B]Hrs:[/B] 15 [B]Mins:[/B] 18 [B]Seconds:[/B] 7

I Choose Life--Welcome back & I pray for you that this is the quit that sticks... You know --for me I can't even say I was convinced that I would/could stop. I just kept tucking the days under my belt & frequently told myself that I can't have ONE puff ever again...I can't even say it's been that hard --although it wasn't easy either. Now it's more a matter of getting use to all the situations where a cigarette would come into play & getting through it without having one. I also have truly, truly realized that a cigarette will not change any situation..... Walk with us on this journey, post & share--we'll help each other through to the 'other side'.... ;) Deb [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]3/1/2008 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 62 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,860 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $418.50 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 7 [B]Hrs:[/B] 3 [B]Mins:[/B] 14 [B]Seconds:[/B] 21

I choose life. I have been where you are and I"m sure most of us have. The trick is not to light that first cigarette. If you lite the next cigarette then you are giving yourself permission to smoke. Don't allow it! Not One Puff Ever. That is how you quit. You can do it. Five minutes at a time if you have to. Whatever it takes, just don't smoke. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]7/1/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 1036 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 20,720 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $3,626.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 95 [B]Hrs:[/B] 22 [B]Mins:[/B] 34 [B]Seconds:[/B] 38

ICL, Glad to see you are giving it another go. I cannot emphasize how important self talk is while quitting. You have to be your best cheer leader! If you keep telling yourself that you are stressed, you will feel stressed. If you tell yourself every morning, I am going to have a great day. I am going to be calm today, it will help turn things around. Now I know you're going to say "Ya right!" But honestly, self talk is really important. You gotta remember that Junkie voice is forever trying to get you back smoking, and if you want to make him go away, you gotta have a louder more positive voice than he does. Think about it! Self fulfilling prophecy! I can do this! I am a non smoker! I am the victor, not the victim! Smoking is not an option! NOPE! :) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]3/5/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 424 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 10,600 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $4,473.20 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 55 [B]Hrs:[/B] 16 [B]Mins:[/B] 47 [B]Seconds:[/B] 41

I Lost quits to "stress" but that junkie in our brain wanting a fix will use ANY and EVERY excuse. We deal with stress everyday in Non-smoking situations. We have to have a "mind set" to stick with this. and for those who are competitive..... make it a challenge to take back control. Dont look at it as Giving up something.. you are taking back, you are in control. You can smoke IF you want to, BUT you choose NOT too. write down reasons, I don't like to smell bad, I don't like to breathe stale cigareete breath on to my friends, I like my clothes to smell clean. I cough less.. and soon not at all. etc etc.. Choice I choose NO Bonnie [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]2/10/2008 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 82 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,394 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $278.80 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 11 [B]Hrs:[/B] 19 [B]Mins:[/B] 27 [B]Seconds:[/B] 31

honestly , and i hate to say this , but at times it's just a matter of getting tough. stress is an excuse we all use for letting our goals get derailed. but what we probably need to say is ; "today , it's me vs. cigarettes.there will be trials , tribulations and stress.but i don't care if i quiver , shake , sweat bullets and cry , i'm gonna win today and will not smoke". easy for me to say , but i wish i had that attitude 25 years ago. can't look back though , i just won't smoke today. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]3/12/2008 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 51 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,530 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $459.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 8 [B]Hrs:[/B] 8 [B]Mins:[/B] 49 [B]Seconds:[/B] 1

I think stress will derail a person quicker then anything. That is my biggest problem. You just have to learn a new way to cope with stress. There are a lot of things that you can do just find the one that works for you. (Oh My it rhyms). I am at day 4 and I think I am a little slap happy today. My thoughts are all over the place today. If you can just walk or even run when you get stressed it will help. My doctor said that exercise relieves stress. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]4/29/2008 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 3 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 60 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $4.50 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 0 [B]Hrs:[/B] 9 [B]Mins:[/B] 27 [B]Seconds:[/B] 51

[color=Blue]Well, there's always ALWAYS going to be some form of stress in your life. It's just a known fact. Some of the stress is good stress and some is bad stress.. either way no one is immune to stress in their lives. Speaking from experience - without details - I live in a constant stress .. it's just the way my life is. I failed many times with my quits in the past because I kept giving stress as an excuse for failing and needing to light up. This time around I sat myself down ..looking at the last cig I was having and said "THIS CIG WILL NEVER EVER HELP ME COPE with my STRESSES and THIS CIG WILL NEVER TAKE AWAY my STRESSES ! !" Now what I do is walk more, do a lot of breathing exercises, remove myself from the stressful situation even for 5 or 10 minutes, drink lots of water, do a lot of visualizations, come here and post and read, watch a movie, listen to my favourite music to calm me down and so on. Bottom line -- stress will be there whether you smoke or not. My personal choice was to dump the cigs and really LEARN how to cope as best as possible with the stress with out a cig in hand. Peace [/color] [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]3/5/2008 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 58 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,160 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $522.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 6 [B]Hrs:[/B] 14 [B]Mins:[/B] 51 [B]Seconds:[/B] 19