Day 5 - A question

[nsd_user663_1839]

Hi guys,

On day 5 of a quit here, and it's going well. I'm bloody irritable with anyone who comes near me, but not really getting urges to smoke. Which is nice

Here's a question-- How do you guys remind yourself that 'one cigarette' is too many? I quit for around 4 years (back on them about a year ago), and had one cigarette thinking that it was just isolated and I'd not have another. You can guess the rest...

But for long term quitters, do you have any techniques or methods? Remembering why you stopped doing something a long time ago can be very difficult, especially if you can't remember the negative effects or your health, wealth, odour and time.

Any thoughts appreciated, just throwing it out there.

[nsd_user663_33441]

Hi PJ,

Well I have yet to become a long term quitter, but everytime I have had the 'just one' idea it has resulted in spectacular disaster and always will. So just concentrate on the now and the future will take care of itself I guess.

And well done on day 5

Zoe xx

[nsd_user663_10532]

the way i look at it is this......there is no such thing as just one for me. I have been quit for only 6 weeks this time, my other quit lasted 6 months then I had just one..........yeah one after the other. Everyone does things differently so not sure how the long termers do it, but I need to keep saying not just one, just none:D:D

[nsd_user663_42220]

Do you need us to answer that for you?

You quit for 4 years, had 1, and ended up back as a full time smoker again.

That's all you need to remember isn't it?

You're an addict and, like the rest of us, can't do just one.

Cigarettes don't hunt in one's, they hunt in packs of 10's and 20's.

Welcome back, I'll remember your story, it's another reminder to me that I'll never be able to smoke again if I want to stay clean. :cool:

[austinlegro 11 Years Smoke Free]

But for long term quitters, do you have any techniques or methods? Remembering why you stopped doing something a long time ago can be very difficult, especially if you can't remember the negative effects or your health, wealth, odour and time.

I think it depends on how you quit.

From what I can see there are still a lot of smokers who just happen to not be buying fags and smoking them. I get the depressing feeling that if they were suddenly very cheap or demonstrated to be not as bad for us as made out then there would be a stampede of quitters jumping back on the wagon.

Health, wealth, odour and wasted time may be horrible side-effects of smoking but in my opinion they're not good reasons to stay quit. Most of us smoked for years despite being fully aware of what they were costing us; we just chose to ignore things. Once you don't want to smoke and understand the futility of smoking then everything tends to be easier.

[nsd_user663_1839]

Do you need us to answer that for you?

I was hoping, like most smokers do, that you had a magic bullet that stopped it ever happening again. I guess that's just chasing the dream. I'll have to use my own experience as a benchmark in the future then I guess, and not slip

But like I said, it's so easy to forget how easy it is to slip back into it. Especially when health starts to improve and you forget how you felt when smoking.

Perhaps I'll write down all the issues I have (or had) before I forget and keep them somewhere.

[nsd_user663_1839]

I think it depends on how you quit.

I did what I thought was the healthiest approach-- Set a date a couple of weeks in the future, bought the patches in advance and stuck to it. I knew it was coming so I could mentally prepare for it.

The bonus was that for the first four days I was on holiday, so totally out of the normal routine. Cravings and routine-related triggers were so few it didn't feel like hard work. In fact, I'd recommend that to anyone-- Pick a time when you're going to be out of your regular routine to encounter those first tricky few days.

It's been fairly straightforward so far, and I think it's also due to better use of the patches. I used to just swap arms, but now I've been using a different position on my body for each patch and I'm sure it's helped significantly.