Hello everypeoples!
Well, according to my quit-app, I have been quit for 3 Weeks, 22 hours, 44 minutes and 19 seconds. Wow, dosem't time fly?
Everyone's been surprised at my progress -- not least of all me! -- But I may have found a rather odd reason for it all:
For everyone who's been following my posts, I had my first session with my counsellor a few days ago. Although the first session was mainly an introduction and involved a lot of filling-in forms, we did get off to a good start. We've barely scratched the surface yet, but already my counsellor has acknowledged that I'll need a lot more than the 6 sessions I've been planned-in for and that I have a lot of complex issues going on. I also need to see my GP as she's a 'little concerned' about me and I may need 'a bit of help'. Something that has been interesting, though, is how all of this relates to my smoking and eventual quit.
While my counsellor believes I have a number of complexities going on, she has mentioned already that I'm showing strong characteristics of severe OCD. Now, I've heard of OCD before, but I didn't really understand it. To quote: "Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common form of anxiety disorder involving distressing, repetitive thoughts [I had a number of these, continuosly, for many years and they made my life hell - remember when I refered to 'not having a good life?' well, that's why. It was awful - I just didn't know it was OCD!]. That makes OCD particularly difficult to make sense of or to explain to other people. Obsessions are distressing or frightening repetitive thoughts which come into your mind automatically, however irrational they may seem and however much you try to resist or ignore them.Some people describe these thoughts as being like a ‘stuck record’, but trying to stop them can make them worse. Compulsions are actions which people feel they must repeat to feel less anxious or stop their obsessive thoughts. They may not be directly related, however."
What's interesting is that it's been suggested to me that my former chain smoking may well have been a compulsion of my OCD. It also explains why I suddenly had to quit. I'm not saying that it was the only reason, but it's looking as if at played a very large part in my case. In truth, it's not that I'm finding it easy to quit, it's more that I'm finding it a lot harder to smoke! It's very difficult to explain, and I'm only just beginning to try to comprehend everything myself. And we have many sessions to go yet!
We'll, I just thought I'd share my madness with anyone who's interested. lol.
I stopped smoking yesterday
