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Starting Over

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 29

Still here. 23 hours away from where I failed last time. Finally. I plan to spend tomorrow somewhere pretty nice, and Sunday I start playing a new mmorpg called Aion. That will help keep me distracted. 24 hours from now I'll feel like I'm making progress again, not that today isn't just as important. :-)

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 9/13/2009
Smoke-Free Days: 5
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 100
Amount Saved: $20.55
Life Gained:
Days: 0 Hrs: 16 Mins: 48 Seconds: 15

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 2778

Hey Samuel!!!

My best advice is distraction and rewards! In the beginning, I would come into work and get after it for a bit and then read and post in between jobs or while some pieces were cooling down enough to work on again! It was like that all day, every day for months! While I was reading and posting, I wasn't smoking or thinking about smoking, I was thinking about NOT smoking and seeing if there was anything that I could share with my fellow quit buddies to help keep them on track! I did get at least my 8 hours of actual work in every day, but sometimes it would take 10 hours at work to get that accomplished!!!

That type of distraction may or may not work for you, but it is what worked for me! Maybe some other type of distraction will do it for you!

The other main thing not to forget is your daily rewards!!! Mine was a cold beer at the end of the day! And maybe some peanuts or cashews or something else that I really liked to munch on!!! I know it played hell with weight gain (I still havent' lost that 7 pounds I gained), but like it was mentioned here several times, protect your quit at all costs and worry about the pounds when your quit is well under control!

Read and learn and post as often as you need to, especially if you think that you are just about to that point of heading to the convenience store to buy that pack of DEATH STICKS!!! Post for help and wait for the 5 responses and that craving will be gone! I promise, that has helped so many of our quit buddies!!!

One last thing... think of this quit as a mission that you have to accomplish, a personal challenge! Something that you have always wanted and something that you will do what ever it takes to get done! You have absolutely got to want this quit more than anything else in the world and keep telling yourself that failure is NOT an option!!! SLAY THAT DEMON!!!

Jim

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 3/5/2008
Smoke-Free Days: 561
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 14,025
Amount Saved: $2,314.13
Life Gained:
Days: 95 Hrs: 1 Mins: 57 Seconds: 52

Quit Meter

$44,175.00

Amount Saved
Quit Meter

Days: 1057 Hours: 5

Minutes: 3 Seconds: 35

Life Gained
Quit Meter

5890

Smoke Free Days
Quit Meter

176,700

Cigarettes Not Smoked

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1904

Welcome back on the wagon, rswfire.

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 5/1/2009
Smoke-Free Days: 138
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 3,864
Amount Saved: $1,497.30
Life Gained:
Days: 15 Hrs: 3 Mins: 15 Seconds: 51

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 29

Hi, everyone!

Since my last quit, I slipped again, but I picked myself back up and quit - what I hope will be my final quit - on Sunday at 7:00pm. It has been 2 days, 19 hours, 59 minutes, and 19 seconds since my last cigarette - lol. I think the fact that I know this is bad - it's like I'm romancing cigarettes!

Anyway, I'm just writing because it has been anything but easy these past two days. The first day wasn't so bad. Yesterday for about five hours I really had to keep myself together. Today has been the hardest. For a minute there, I actually thought I would break down and buy some smokes.

I did have to go to the store for a few things but I did not even entertain the idea of buying cigs, so I think that's probably a really good sign - a sign that I really want this to be my final quit. I want this one to last. I do think I know why this time is tougher - because I don't find "almost 3 days smoke-free" exciting like I did before - because I've already been here, twice. I can't get excited over something I've done and failed it previously. I'm hoping when I get to 5d 16h that perhaps my mentality will change, but I realize I can't just wait for that time to come, so I've been trying to focus my thoughts appropriately.

I just needed to post though because I really don't want to mess this up. I can honestly say I don't want a cigarette. I keep telling myself that my brain needs to get with the program and stop sending out signals for a smoke because I'm done. Very little seems to be helping today though. Any suggestions?

-Samuel

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 9/13/2009
Smoke-Free Days: 3
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 60
Amount Saved: $23.16
Life Gained:
Days: 0 Hrs: 10 Mins: 53 Seconds: 27

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 29

Hi, Rosie's Friend. I have just been taking diphenhydramine to help me sleep, it's been working, but oh yeah, the dreams are something else. In one night, I dreamed that I was the victim of extraordinary rendition in which I was kidnapped and taken to South America. Later in the same night, I dreamed that I was somewhere else and that someone killed a friend of mine I had not thought about in ten years; they chopped his head off and there was blood everywhere! I've never had such dreams before in my life, lol. But it's all good; I only plan to take the Chantix until the last day of this month. I basically quit the same day as you - just an hour and a half before Midnight on the 8th. (I tried to hold off till Midnight but I had finished reading a book and just thought to myself, what's the point in continuing to smoke? No one cigarette is going to be any better than the one before it.) Doing good so far; feels a lot like last time (a few weeks ago) -- not really all that hard, just moments where I find myself annoyed to be thinking about cigarettes, haha. This is it for me; I will never go back to that evil weed again.

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 89

rswfire,

In regards to taking Chantix and finding it hard to fall asleep, I found that if I take my second pill for the day a bit earlier,(I take it at 5:00pm) I can fall asleep okay. Now staying asleep and the dreams are something else!
Good luck to you and just remember N.O.P.E.

Shannon

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 9/9/2009
Smoke-Free Days: 0
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 0
Amount Saved: $0.00
Life Gained:
Days: 0 Hrs: 1 Mins: 49 Seconds: 25

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 90

Wow....That quote is just so perfect. That is exactly how I have been approaching getting free. and it is easier.... Thanks PB and Pen ( apologies if attributed incorrectly). Man, you are bang on the money !!!
My Milage:

My Quit Date: 7/1/2009
Smoke-Free Days: 64
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 1,600
Amount Saved: $480.00
Life Gained:
Days: 9 Hrs: 15 Mins: 22 Seconds: 46

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 363

Here is a post I copied for you rswfire, you should also search for joecool's post, its usually toward the top because everyone keeps bumping it back up. I won't sugar coat anything here for you, for your benefit. Your going to feel like $@$!, your going to sleep a lot, your going to gain weight, your going to suck on so many suckers your tongue will be raw, your going to have mood swings, depression, fits of rage, aggressive behaviour, anger for no reason at all, your going to have boredom becasue of the extra time on your hands, and its all going to be the hardest thing you've ever tried to do in your life. But the alternative to quitting, well, read that below in this post I brought to you. Your in a war, its a war for your life, its that simple. You may have lost a few battles, but like any good field General, you learn from your mistakes and adjust, then you go back into battle. Soon you will be your own Patton, soon you will win the war if you keep trying. Read below.....

I just went through my quit diary from last year and found this text I had copied off a post by Penitent, I believe. Pen, am I correct?

Anyway, it helped me a lot- and inspired me enough to want to share it again (I couldn't find the original post... ):

¤ Easier than hearing your doctor say, "I'm sorry . . ." ¤ ¤ ¤ Easier than breathing through tubes up your nose. ¤ ¤ ¤ Easier than having a Tracheotomy. ¤ ¤ ¤ Easier than your child seeing you die from cancer. ¤ ¤ ¤ Easier than losing a friend . . . or a friend losing you. ¤ ¤ ¤ Easier than laying in the hospital having radiation treatment. ¤ ¤ ¤ Easier than laying in the hospital wishing you could feel the sun. ¤ ¤ ¤ Easier than listening to your loved ones crying outside your hospital room. ¤ ¤ ¤ Easier than preparing for your funeral because the cancer has gone so far. ¤ ¤ ¤ Easier than picking out your favorite songs for your funeral. ¤ ¤ ¤ Easier than trying to say the right words because they will be your last. ¤ ¤ ¤ Easier than not seeing your child's face because of blindness. ¤ ¤ ¤ Easier than looking out the window knowing you can't go there anymore. ¤ ¤ ¤ Easier than changing your retirement plans. ¤ ¤ ¤ Easier than imagining your spouse being alone. ¤ ¤ ¤ Easier than going through your photo album with tears. ¤ ¤ ¤ Easier than telling your child you are dying young because you smoked. ¤ ¤ ¤ Easier than realizing smoking was more important to you than your life.

Cat

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 4/2/2009
Smoke-Free Days: 154
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 6,160
Amount Saved: $1,848.00
Life Gained:
Days: 22 Hrs: 18 Mins: 52 Seconds: 36

Quit Meter

$37,517.03

Amount Saved
Quit Meter

Days: 986 Hours: 16

Minutes: 8 Seconds: 12

Life Gained
Quit Meter

5497

Smoke Free Days
Quit Meter

164,910

Cigarettes Not Smoked

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 29

Man, there's just so much wisdom in all of these posts. Thank you to everyone! I'm definitely going to be printing this thread out and keeping it handy with me!

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 377

RSW,

I think if you read the Carr book again it will give you more insights the second time around. I had trouble also with the easy thing also but I do think he makes a good point that once we go into it with enthusiasm and excitement and see no reasons for wanting to smoke again then it does seem to be less about willpower and strength to quit. I think you almost had that happen on those first 5 days. It just seemed you didn’t have many substitutes for those weekends. One other thought on the book is you don’t have to believe every idea he states. I did go cold turkey and it worked for me but I think NRT’s can be fine and I just ignore that part of the book. It also makes no sense to just hang out with a bunch of your smoking buddies or not use a useful site like this. Again the book had helped many people on this site understand what smoking really is without having to be 100% agreed upon.

When you talk about being negative person I think I was just like you. If fact I loved all my negative thoughts because that meant that I had another good reason to light up. Once you quit you will find your whole relationship with yourself will be much move positive. The negative stuff will need to be observed and worked through (without cigs) but the payoff is not only knowing who you are much better, but also being so much happier without the constant addiction. You’ll find also that you will once again meet more people and try new things when you get out of your old rut. My favorite part of the book is the shoe analogy he uses to describe what addiction really is. Anyway keep positive and I’m confident you will succeed. R

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 6/17/2008
Smoke-Free Days: 442
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 7,956
Amount Saved: $2,784.60
Life Gained:
Days: 68 Hrs: 1 Mins: 58 Seconds: 54

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