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Ideas Please

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 312

Kudos to all, once again you guys came to my rescue with great alternatives and suggestions.

Auggiegal, WOW..I am definatley going to try your method it sounds like a great idea. I'll be practicing for the next few days.

Brenda, I know I will also need to use a combination of Aussiegal's method and finding something else to do.

Ron, as usual you give great advice. It's funny how you "had a smoking chair", I have a inside patio in my garage (I haven't smoked in my house in over 9 years) but it has a rug, tv, lamp, 2 lawn chairs and table which is our "smoking room". I have decided to move out the chairs and table and put my mini trampoline and my jump rope out there instead, so if we (my son and I) feel the need to go out to the 'patio' we can just jump until the craving goes away, lol.

Tiana, Welcome to the group, I appreciate your response. My son is living with me now to help me out (really long story..) and he is quitting also, so he will be my cheerleader at home and me his (if we don't kill each other first.lol). And at work everyone will act as cheerleader, no one smokes at my job except me, there are 6 of us that work there. I do have "My Coping Plan" completed and printed out to grab at a moments notice.

Jim, I did try the Chantix before, I had a lot of the side effects that come with it and just gave up on the quit due to a lot of other reasons also. But this time I am taking Wellbutrin, I started on it about 3 weeks prior to my quit date. It has to build up in your system awhile before it actually starts working, I can feel that I can go longer now between smoke breaks and not notice it as bad. I love your "rewards" idea, I'm not much of a beer drinker but will consider rewarding myself with a cocktail for a good days work..lol

I'll keep in touch

Thanks again all of you, don't know what I would do without ya...don't let me find out...lol

Charm

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1904

Cool HotSiO2. About using a beer as a reward. I use coffee as one, although I have to admit that I didn't have a regular coffee habit. However, the issue of rewards brings up an important point: we need to reward ourselves, big and small. There needs to be small daily rewards as well as large rewards for major accomplishments, such as one year anniversaries.

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 2778

Hey Charm!!!

It was the nasty gut-wrenching cravings that got to me on my previous quits!!! The 2 things different about this quit was being here and discovering the NRT, Chantix! The Chantix really helped to minimize the cravings I experienced on former quits and the knowledge and support that I received here were the things that helped me succeed this time! Mainly it is the "desire"!!! If you are truly psyched and desire freedom more than you want to smoke, you will succeed!!!

As far as giving up anything to improve your chances of success, I personally believe that you do not have to!!! Some here have stated that they needed to give up their coffee or alcohol or something else with a smoking association. I said the heck with that stuff!!! I knew that I always had a cigarette with a beer when I got home from work, but I really didn't want to give up my daily liquid bread!!! So, what did I do??? I told myself that if I made it through the whole day without a cigarette, I could have a beer as my reward!!!

I was also going to be honest with myself and would NOT have had one if I had slipped! After a few days, I was more determined than ever to quit that nasty addiction anyways, that I just knew that I would never smoke again!!!

Anyways, continue on with your preparations, make a list of coping mechanisms that you think will help you and make that list of personal rewards for reaching your personal milestones! These will really help the first few days and weeks!!! Keep telling yourself that you REALLY want this more than anything else and try to start to visualize yourself as a non-smoker! You CAN do this!

Jim

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14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 653

Hi Charm,

You should be proud of your insight!! It is great that you are creating a coping plan before you need it. You should take much comfort in that:)

I'm going to refer you to the program, the Emergency Coping Plan, under Tools and Resources. I know, I know- you've heard it all before, right??

Please know that these strategies are based on success, partly because they are easily incorporated into day to day life. Trust that and let them help you. Also, who do you have that will be your cheerleader at coffee break, or, at home watching TV in the evenings, to help keep you motivated to follow this plan? I know you can do this and meet your goal!

You have a few more days to prepare. How can you use this time to it's best advantage to meet your goal?

Keep us posted.

Tiana, Health Educator

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14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 377

I think you are going to need to be creative how to change your habits and at the same time do it in a way that will not scare you about your quit. The changes we are talking about are subtle. For example on the idea of quitting coffee, you don't have to stop that altogether whatsoever. What I would try to do is to change the time you have the coffee so it's not directly at the time you would have your cigarette. I used to have a chair that I got up in the morning and would immediately go outside and smoke in that chair. Well when I quit I just took away the chair in that location and I avoided going in that location for a while and it helped to break up my associations with my favorite smoking spots. The idea with exercise people are suggesting is only because it's hard to smoke when you are swimming laps in a pool for example. Yes after the swim you may feel like smoking but then like aussiegal said you will in the process need to deal with some withdrawals that are going to inevitably come up. I found the more busy I was the easier it was to get through the beginning of my quit. There are also other groups and hobbies that I'm sure you can find that are not the same as what you are currently doing. Look up meetups...there are tons of things going on out there. If things get difficult it doesn't hurt to just go to sleep either (unless at work or driving of course). Keep positive you can do it one day at a time. Ron

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1904

Aussiegal is wise. However, some combination of the two things will probably ultimately be needed. As you get more recovery, it'll become easier to distract yourself and move on from the cravings. I still have them, but I'm able to just move on to another thought rather quickly now. Feeling your feelings would likely be a new coping skill. Remind yourself that many people, some more addicted that you, have quit smoking. I used to get up in the middle of the night to smoke and used it for everything: because I was happy, sad, stressed, depressed, celebrating, relaxing, grumpy...

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1904

Courage is fear that has said its prayers.

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 23

Hi 4th times the charm! Love the name! I feel funny writing to you as I am only new to this site and to the quit journey and am no where near as wise and experienced as many others on this forum, but I read your post and felt the need to share with you what I have found works for me so far.

I am the type of person that if you tell me I cant have something I want it all that much more and I think and think about it all the time to the point of obsession

. I was also wisely advised to think and do things to distract myself when I felt the urge to smoke. I do not have any really cool hobbies (actually none at all). My hobbies were smoking and eating chocolate! Trying to distract myself didnt and doesnt work for me. I cannot shut out my thoughts through distraction...havent ever mastered that skill. So, I decided that instead of avoiding the uncomfortableness of my cravings I would accept them, sit with them consciously and pretty much say to myself "Oh dear...I see that I am having a craving again. I am finding this challenging at times and that's okay. It is to be expected becasue I am changing a well established pattern...blah blah blah". I found that by befriending my cravings and being kind to myself I can tolerate them so much more than trying to pretend they are not there. For me, the cravings are real. For me, the cravings deserve space to speak but what I finally realise is that the cravings are simply feelings (sometimes strong, sometimes weaker) BUT they are NOT a command to smoke. I just notice them, accept them and know that they will subside in 5, 10 or 15 minutes until the next one. Ive also learnt that they become less frequent with time which is great because all the self talk can get tiring

. If distracting yourself doesn't work, maybe you can try this instead? Quiting is such a personal journey that what works for one doesnt work for the other. I imagine you have quit 3 times before, hence your name???, so you have three previous experiences worth of knowledge of what definetly doesnt work for you. Keep at it and you will find what fits best for you.

Hahaha...I must say, i feel like Im preaching and I dont mean to...if you read my posts you'll see that just a week ago I was having an absolute sook. That's the beauty of my approach for me. I allow myself to kick and scream and know that it is all part of the journey. Hang in there and notice what you're telling yourself, notice how you're feeling, notice your inner voice. I believe in us all is an inner wisdom if we sit still long enough to notice it. I'm here for you should you wish to chat, rant, rave or share your successes!

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 312

Hey Brenda, I hear what you are saying and it makes perfectly good sense, but to be honest with you, I am equally as scared to give up my coffee as I am giving up the cigs. To think I have to give them both up at the same time is, well, making me twice as scared...

Charm

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1904

Hi 4th time's a charm. You'll have to do some of the things you've done over the last 40 plus years without smoking. That is part of learning new coping skills. Just stay busy. The things you probably really want to stay away from, at least at first, are things that remind you of relaxing with a smoke: drinking coffee or booze, watching TV... Cleaning the house, jogging, are harder to do while really focused on enjoying a cigarette. Try those things.

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