Big changes coming up and I want to smoke!

[nsd_user663_25306]

Hi everyone

I'm on day 12 of Champix and I'm find my quit ok so far because my life is quite routine and my workload for once is manageable.

However, out of the blue today my chief executive rang me to say that he was at a conference and met a chief executive of an organisation in Irealdn (where I'm from and want to move back to) who has a position very similar to mine advertised and they have discussed my taking the job.

It all sounds really positive and exciting on the one hand, but terrifying on the other. I've been living in London for 10 years and I would have to leave everything and start a new life in Dublin - all within possibly less than two months, including renting out my flat etc.!!

I'm really scared that I can't face all this upheaval without cigs, but I know that I will never get this chance again because Champix is very expensive and there is no NHS in Ireland.

Has anyone else faced major upheavals and managed not to smoke throughout?? I'm not sure I can do it and I can't stop thinking about smoking now that I'm potentially facing a major change in my life.

Thanks

xx

[nsd_user663_25306]

Thank you so much for that great advice which nearly moved me to tears!!

You are absolutely right that I should build on what I've achieved so far and I know that smoking won't make a difference to these possible big chances or help in any way.

I'm going to keep reminding myself, if I do move, that I'll never be able to go on Champix again and I'm so grateful to the NHS for giving me this opportunity. It really is an amazing drug and luckily for me I have had no side effects (apart from only being able to sleep for 4 hours a night lol :p)

I'm not going to look this gift horse in the mouth!!

thanks again for the advice and support. It's so encouraging.

xx

[nsd_user663_22999]

Life sounds really exciting right now, congrats!

I haven't had to handle anything difficult on this quit - yet, it will happen! But on a past quit I moved house, both OH and had new jobs and I had to make the decision on whether or not to resuscitate a friends Mother. None of these things made me smoke because in each case I knew that stressful as things were, and playing god with someone's life is very stressful, a cigarette would change nothing. Zip. Not one single thing. So why smoke?

(The reason this was a previous quit btw was due to complacency and not understanding that 1 fag leads to a lifetime of smoking.)

Don't smoke. Honestly it will make not one tiny jot of difference to the stuff you're going to have to sort out in quite a short period!

Good luck with the new job though!

[nsd_user663_20558]

Non smokers are calmer, it's true. Smoking does not make things less stressful, in fact needing to feed the habit can lead to a level of aggravation that just makes a stressful situation worse.

You absolutely CAN do this without smoking. And when you get to your new place it will be a fresh start, a chance to build new associations and a new life in which smoking plays no part.

Congratulations, how exciting! Hope it all goes really well for you xx

[nsd_user663_22002]

I think the key is just whatever you do dont say "yes i will smoke through this". it's the thought of what's coming up that seems too huge to handle without the cigs. But it actual fact it will physically/mentally come in much smaller chuncks than you are expecting...

e.g. if it was just "can you stay on your quit while you pack up your house" - then that doesnt seem as big (hopefully), seems more doable?

Hope that maybe helps a little?

[nsd_user663_25398]

How exciting for you! And of course you can do it without smoking! As the others have said, a ciggie won't make anything easier - if anything it will make things more stressful.

Go for it, and good luck!

[nsd_user663_24115]

It can be done. On a previous quit over ayear ago I went through a similar stessful time. new job. house move. breakup with partner, I amazed myself by not smoking all the way through it, which made me more proactive in getting things done,i also had more energy and the time to do it[smoking takes up so much time]. I really beleive that if i'd carried on smoking I would have just smoked my way through it and put up a smokescreen to hide behind and hoping it would all go away. When i got through to the other side I cried for two days. then made the mistake of beleiving i needed a cigarette as reward as i felt indestructable and surely i could just have one then stop again. Big mistake, and on hindsight completely avoidable . So yes go for it but plan a reward and remember the first law of addiction. Theres no such thing as one. its a law i tried to rewrite. and thats why im on this forum today. Hope all goes well.

Mashx

[nsd_user663_7235]

Has anyone else faced major upheavals and managed not to smoke throughout?? I'm not sure I can do it and I can't stop thinking about smoking now that I'm potentially facing a major change in my life.

Thanks

xx

Yes During the time I was stopping smoking I had a sister and brother die. I had troubles with my 16 year old daughter due to a boy friend. I was accused of fraud (not true) and had to go to court and fight it.

If I were you I would use the positive in this, you could be so distracted with everything else you could posibly forget to smoke.

But no matter what I would like to wish you all the best no matter what you decide to do as long as part of it is stopping smoking

Jack

[nsd_user663_7235]

I suppose it shows it can be done against all odds but I still say I was lucky.

Jack