Dear Friends -- in something of panic mode, so I'm flying from one thread to the next, but this one stopped me: so close to one year. While the world will indeed stop turning on its orbit when you hit that milestone, and the choirs of angels in heaven will write brand new Hallelujah Choruses for you, and all things will be made new, one thing will not change.
You will crave when you least expect it.
You will kill for a cigarette at the very moment you declared victory over the demon we know as nic.
You will think, however subconsciously, YAY for me, I DID it. Now I deserve a reward! I can prove that I can do one Marlboro.
I so don't mean to be a wet blanket, but I was here, some years ago, in the same place you are now. If this place is important to you, you will learn from my stupid mistakes. I had come so far and was so proud, and now return to you as a newbie, what Fire Departments call a Probationary Officer, a "Proby," who has to prove himself/herself by cleaning toilets and mopping floors and polishing fire trucks. Doing whatever the vets tell him/her to do just because he/she is a Proby, untested, untried, unreliable in an emergency when the stakes are high.
I am that person because I failed at Month 9 or Month 10 or Month 12, when the stakes were high, and I didn't recognize it. I can go to any stop-smoking site in the world, and I will be the new guy, the untested guy, the proby, because, quite frankly, I choked that the last big test.
So I am where I should be -- where I belong. I am here to keep you from joining me:
Be Careful. Be Very, Very, Careful.
Let nothing, nothing, nothing, get in the way of your glorious quit!!
Use NOPE, HALT, whatever.
And I will be here for you as one who came so close....
peteg
My Milage:My Quit Date: 2/10/2009
Smoke-Free Days: 3
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 150
Amount Saved: $33.75
Life Gained:Days: 0
Hrs: 17
Mins: 23
Seconds: 19