I know in business there is sometimes debate about whether targets are a good thing, after all once you have hit them should you continue working as hard or slack off.
The same could be true of quitting smoking, if we set the idea of 3 months, 6 months, a year etc. is there a tendency for people to feel they have succeeded once they have reached a certain milestone and let their guard down?
I ask because of the numbers of people who have been quit for a while then suddenly find things hard again or find themselves relapsing?
Written by
NicFirth
10 Years Smoke Free
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I'm paying my usual visit on the 12th of the month. I stopped six months ago today, and most days I don't even think about smoking (as a concept, never mind something I used to do or would like to do), but some days are not so good.
On those days, the only way to treat things is in terms of getting through the signle day without giving in to temptations. Grander targets become meaningless.
My whole concept of stopping and the way I managed to get over the cravings at the beginning was not to convince myself that I was no longer a smoker, but to convince myself that I was going to put off having the next fag. For half an hour, an hour, whatever. It got to the point that I'd tell myself I could manage for a whole day.
Looking forward at targets has never got better. Looking backwards is another story, and I make a big deal of the latest "round" target reached, whether the period of time I've done without, the number of fags not smoked, or the amount of money in the bank.
I smoked my last cigarette 6 Months, 13 hours and 18 minutes ago. I have £1,517.59 that I haven't spent on 6,459 cigarettes and saved 3 Weeks, 1 Day, 10 hours and 15 minutes of my life. The cash has been invested or spent wisely.
I am revisiting this thread because I never answered your question Nic. Got side-tracked (shame on me!!!).
IMO I think milestones are good. Should you fail (as I did) you can look back (as I do) and think well I'm finding it easier at, say, 3 weeks than I did before because I know the pitfalls and know how to deal with them and what to avoid. When I get to six months (another milestone) I shall know how to deal with it as it was then I was having the odd puff and as we all know one puff leads to another, etc, etc.
I will never have another puff as I would prefer to live to a ripe old age and see my grandchildren grow up and maybe even become a great-grandmother like my mum. I do hope so anyway.
So all in all I do agree with milestones. They give you something to aim for and looking back knowledge on what not to do or to go about things in a different way.
I agree with milestones to track progress, and celebrate achievements also... I don't go along with the "whats left to aim for" theory - in this challenge there is always more to aim for. A quit is never finished.
I also think keeping a close track on what is happening with a diary is a great idea... you can look back and see exactly how you were feeling on any day should you want to for any reason
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