I hope you and your quit programmes are all doing well!
I just thought I would drop in and see how everyone is.
It is week 7 for me and still not one puff! Great!
Out of the twenty of us that quit smoking at work, there are three of us left you have not touched a single cigarette; the drop out rate is alarming really but there you go.......
Anyway, yesterday evening I was watching T.V and the NHS "quit smoking" adverts came on for people who are wanting to quit on January the 1st and it was so wonderful to watch the advert and the relief I felt was unreal!
I just let out a big sigh and thought - "I have quit, I don't need to worry anymore, thank goodness for that"!
I am also looking forward to going to see my GP for an Asthma follow up because I can't wait for them to ask me about my smoking.....like they do......everytime...... and I can smugly say that I have stopped!! And I can also tell them that I don't need my inhalors anymore!!!!
This is wonderful, it really is!
I am not saying I still don't get the odd pang for a cigarette on a Friday evening or something....with a glass of wine but I quash the thought quickly and tell myself that this is for my own good and I will thank myself for it one day and that smoking has nothing real and tangible to offer. I also remember how much money I have saved and how I can breathe properly without medicine and the pang is gone and I get about my business.
I am also looking forward to Christmas without nasty cigarettes either - instead of lounging about smoking all day in front of the T.V, I will be out for lots of wintry walks with the dog.....so it will be different this year.
I suppose for some people, Christmas could be a difficult time (it can be stressful anyway) who are still trying to stop smoking and I wish them the best.
Anyway, I hope everything is okay with you guys and I wish you a Merry Smoke Free Christmas and a Green New Year!!
Keep up the good work!
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that post was really inspiring and it sounds like you have reached the same point i have where you are just so happy you have done it and feel the relief like you say. i love the moments where u see a smoking advert or read an article, and where you'd normally think, shit i really have to give up cos theres another reason to stop, you think wooohooo thats another reason to STAY stopped !!
its so nice to hear you are feeling this way, as i admit, i did worry about you right at the beggining from a few things that you wrote but i am so glad you proved me wrong!
Out of the twenty of us that quit smoking at work, there are three of us left you have not touched a single cigarette; the drop out rate is alarming really but there you go.......
Actually that's about normal, I think statistically its about 1 in 10.
Anyway, yesterday evening I was watching T.V and the NHS "quit smoking" adverts came on for people who are wanting to quit on January the 1st and it was so wonderful to watch the advert and the relief I felt was unreal!
I just let out a big sigh and thought - "I have quit, I don't need to worry anymore, thank goodness for that"!
Yep, that a great feeling isn't it!
I am also looking forward to going to see my GP for an Asthma follow up because I can't wait for them to ask me about my smoking.....like they do......everytime...... and I can smugly say that I have stopped!! And I can also tell them that I don't need my inhalors anymore!!!!
Good for you just don't be too upset if their reaction is "about time!" rather than "well done"
This is wonderful, it really is!
I am not saying I still don't get the odd pang for a cigarette on a Friday evening or something....with a glass of wine but I quash the thought quickly and tell myself that this is for my own good and I will thank myself for it one day and that smoking has nothing real and tangible to offer. I also remember how much money I have saved and how I can breathe properly without medicine and the pang is gone and I get about my business.
I am also looking forward to Christmas without nasty cigarettes either - instead of lounging about smoking all day in front of the T.V, I will be out for lots of wintry walks with the dog.....so it will be different this year.
I suppose for some people, Christmas could be a difficult time (it can be stressful anyway) who are still trying to stop smoking and I wish them the best.
Anyway, I hope everything is okay with you guys and I wish you a Merry Smoke Free Christmas and a Green New Year!!
I know it's easy to over-simplify what for some is a very, very hard thing to do but I honestly believe that if you can manage that first week you're well on that road to success. By week 3 when the effects of terminating years of nicotine has finally receded you're effectively a non-smoker. Nothing is dragging you back to the habit other than memories, habits and moments of weakness.
The simple fact that you’ve done a week, then two means you can just as easily achieve four.
Week seven is brilliant and you should be so proud that you’ve given yourself what may be your best ever Christmas pressie.
Thanks for your support and encouragement and back atcha!!
It is our works Christmas bash on Friday and I am so looking forward to it.
Last year's "do" was pretty awful (self inflicted). Because I was still smoking I was very annoyed about having to spend half the night outside in the rain, freezing to death under a makeshift canopy, smoking cigarettes with all the other poor suckers, flicking ash into this horrible old bucket filled with cold water with dirty, filthy fag ends floating around in it! Everytime my partner turned around I would have disappeared outside so I didn't see very much of him either.
I didn't enjoy the evening because all I wanted to do was go home and smoke in peace and comfort.
This year will be so different and I will be able to enjoy myself knowing I won't need to keep nipping outside for a few puffs! Plus, there will be no "smoking hangover" either the following day!
The relief is so worth it. Thank goodness we have stopped smoking!! Amen to that! Well done to all of us!!:D:D
You enjoy your christmas bash. I agree mine was great no smoking out side. but my frined went home early home cos she was cold maybe something to do with the nine times she went out for a puff. HEHExxxxxxx
I too have my Christmas do on Friday & I have good freinds at work who ar on both sides of the smoking fence.
Often the alternative outside party would be more interesting than being stuck inside with the old farts but I've told the non-smokers I'm sticking to them like glue.
It's okay having all this resolve when you are sober but I've not tried it after a few drinks yet.
Well, I don't know how you guys got on at your Christmas party but I was fine and was not tempted to smoke at all!
It didn't even enter my head to smoke but unfortunately one of the remaining three non smokers did cave in and he smoked (the eight pints of lager will no doubt have contributed to that decision).
I was okay, I don't really drink much nowadays as I can't be doing with hangovers anymore so I only had four glasses of wine and left before midnight but I was tired on Saturday.........and I got a bit depressed........then all of a sudden, on Sunday, I was feeling a bit teary and I was genuinely considering going to the corner shop to buy some cigs!!!
I knew I wouldn't....but I was trying to fool myself - "perhaps I could just have a few today then not smoke....just to make me feel better". Of course I know this is bull****.
I know that if I smoked I would probably hate the first one of two but I also know I would keep at it until I liked it again (cigarette number four probably).
Every time I wound myself up yesterday about wanting to smoke I had to keep reminding myself why I had given up in the first place.
I think what keeps me going is the fact that I know I will regret it if I start smoking again....and the thought of spending £5 a day keeps me on the straight and narrow.
Oh well, I have to look on the bright side: I do suffer from small depressive episodes every now and then so the sooner I deal with them without cigarettes the better.
This is bloody hard work sometimes isn't it!?? I am feeling very annoyed about all this today and will have to get my Alan Carr book out again and re-read it!
For not giving into it and hope you feel better really soon. know how you feel tho had a kidney infection this week and feeling sorry for myself really felt like having a smoke. Stupid the way the mind works. xxxxx
It is easy to beat yourself up about these things but truly quitting smoking is a journey with many challenges along the way. You should expect difficult points and over time those points get fewer and fewer.
Each "trigger" will need to be dealt with and we do not experience every trigger in one go.
You have a history of smoking that must be unlearned, take strength from fantastic progress you have made already, but be aware that there are urges that will crop up from time to time!
Yep, not smoking can be very hard work from time to time.
I still vividly remember my week 7. Horrible, and due to a hurt leg.
I love the thought process.
"I am ill/hurt/depressed/insert other bad thing and I know just what will make me feel better - poisoning myself!"
I am so glad I got through week 7 because (although I have had bad days since) it is generally so much easier... mainly because I got through it so when it happens again (it's bound to, sooner or later) I will deal with it - and it will be easier because I have done it before.
So, Lisa - everytime you get through a rough spot, the next one gets easier to deal with. I think that if you quit for long enough, the toughest times get so easy you don't need to think about not smoking.... I'm looking forward to that bit!!!!
Today, I feel annoyed. I feel annoyed because one of my friends, who I have worked with for a very long time smokes.
She has smoked for years and years.....but, she only smokes when she goes out, after a meal, at the pub, at this years Christmas party for instance.
Personally, I don't see the point in smoking on a Saturday night......outside a restaurant.....especially if you aren't addicted.
How does she do that????
Why can't I do that? It is so unfair! I was thinking how nice it would be to just have a few cigarettes at the weekend as a "treat" but then I have to remember yet again that smoking never is and never was a so called "treat".
This is just an illusion I have created in my own mind.
But still, how do these "social smokers" manage to keep their smoking under such control and it doesn't appear to bother them?????
Do you know anyone like this at all.
I asked my other friend who relapsed into smoking at the Christmas party why he was smoking and he replied because he wanted to enjoy himself. How exactly is sucking smoke into your lungs and paying for it "enjoying" oneself?
Oh, and don't worry; I am having a bit of a rant and I would like to smoke again but I won't - I am not that foolish. I do need to clear this out of my system though as this is silly - I know I am not going to smoke again - no way - so why am I punishing myself, torturing myself even.
I am really annoyed that yet another new situation has triggered old memories giving rise to a desire to smoke.
Firstly - there is no such thing as a social smoker. They do not have it under control, it's an illusion and they are going through withdrawal all week and then smoke at the weekend. Very few people can cope with this for long, and nearly all social smokers go on to full time smoking sooner or later. Those that stay social smokers forever deserve pity, because they are in almost constant withdrawal even if they don't admit it. They hate it as much as we did.
Secondly - your mate probably did want to enjoy himself. Even if he won't admit it, I guarantee that he really wishes he hadn't now! He probably hates himself for smoking during weakness. I did after each time I caved in the past... the self loathing built up until I nearly stopped trying.
And why now? That's quite easy to answer too... it was going well and you were finding it easy. Ever see a war film? "It's quiet!" .... "almost TOO quiet".
When your guard is down, your addiction will try again to convince you. It is very weak now so only tries when your guard is down. The only answer is to weaken it further. But NEVER think that it is dead - feed it once and it will be back to full strength!
The answer? My opinion is that more of what worked originally is the answer. More reading, more education - more self control.
You can win, if you want to.... just keep doing what you did that worked so well to start with!
You were really good. I wasn't so good and gave up at the final hurdle when I got home.
However, I'm actually glad I had my one cigarette. It wasn't horrible like I'd told myself it would be. That realisation alone has made me think I cannot let my guard down at all cos it's still "enjoyable".
I know not everyone will agree with my logic, but there are lots of different ways to get your head round the quit and for me the ****ogy of an alcoholic still works the best.
Yes I liked it, yes I would still like to do it, but I'm just choosing not to indulge and therefore I have a better life.
Re-read the book, there is a chapter covering this subject in there.
I have a friend who is a "social smoker" and I used to be very jealous of him.
The tables have now turned as I no longer need nor want to smoke whereas he is still smoking.
Trust me, there is no "treat" or enjoyment at all. The illusion of this fades over time. If I allow myself, I can and have become pi$$ed off that I was so foolish for so long.
All the social smokers in the world would stop if they thought they had the option. Anyone denying this just needs to be asked this question.
Thanks Stuart, no - my friend did not show his face in the office today; I think he is embarrassed. I know he will be regret today and he will have to start all over again. The thing is, he is on patches and has been for about nine weeks. He moved down to a lower strength patch last week but complained to the nurse that he was "climbing the walls" so he is now back on the higher strength patches. It just seems to me that these patches are prolonging the agony for him.
There are only two of us left now but I am the only one that is nicotine free so I suppose that is something.
Well Miss Forced2Quit, you still did really well and I am glad you have not gone back to smoking full time. Particularly in view of your recent illness - that smoke would not do you any good at all. Hang on in there. We can do this and no giving up giving up! It is like Stuart says and back to the drawing board for plenty of education and reading.
I am back on the Whyquit.com website which always gives me a boost when I need it and I am glad to get some support here.
Unfortunately, friends get bored and people lose interest after a week or so.
On a positive note, two of my colleagues at work will be stopping smoking in January. I have lent one of the them the 'Nicotine Trick' book and she is going to read it in the Christmas holidays. She has just been telling me about her grandfather who died from throat cancer and he smoked 80 a day!!!!!!
Oh well, I will just have the see this period out and let it pass which it will of it's own accord.
This is the second time this has happened - the first was when I was in the car with my friend and she lit up and even though the stench was terrible, I was fixated for a weekend with the vision of her putting the fag in her mouth.
Onwards and upwards - I may get down hearted every now and then but I promise myself I will absolutely not smoke ever again.
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xx
Just some encouragement 
7 weeks today
