Hullo! Iam new here!

Today was my first day smoke Free! Iam a Canadian who spent 3 years working in the UK pursuing a career in the offshore oil industry. I now work on a ship in Nigeria, where i control or pilot,as we say, a remotely operated submarine.

When iam offshore working 12 hour shifts, 7 days a week for 28 days, i smoke up to 20 fags a day. At home i smoke between 5 and 10 a day.

Anyways I feel like a slave to the smoke! I do not enjoy smoking! Iam an active skier and surfer and both of these sports are psychically demanding. After 6 years of torturing my body my abilities in these two passions of mine have most defiantly been affected!

I have been wanting to quit since i got addicted, but seriously started wanting to quit 6 months ago. the second day i was out here i was smoking outside and looked at my smoke and realized how much i f&^%ing hate it! I had a very profound feeling that something changed inside my head. Later while on the internet, I found this great forum by mistake!! I was searching for reviews of the nicotine inhaler, which i purchased before starting my month long shift at sea. This in turn led me to a link to Allen Carrs Easy Way book. I read it all at once and really connected with it. I then started reading some of the old vets on here's stories and became INSPIRED! Iam honestly not an emotional person but i have been crying a few times today reading some of your stories. Tears of joy for you guys even tho i will never know any of you (I wonder if the tears are a personal withdrawal? because crying is very very abnormal for me)

So thats it for now ill stop rambling. But day 1 in the bag and this ship is a massive trigger for me!

thank you for the inspiration and advice. I have a very very very long way to go but iam excited to wage war!!!!!1

25 Replies

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  • Hi there and welcome to the forum :D

    your emotions can be all over the place for a while crying and getting angry very easily are quite common they will settle down the further along the quit journey you go

    just remember to try and focus on one min one hour one day at a time and everytime you feel a crave a yearn come on distract your mind and hands till it passes reading and posting on here will def help

    there is a link in my signature for tips as well

    onwards and upwards is the way to go

    regards

    Carol

    :)

  • Hi ya, you sound so positive in your quit that you will manage anything thrown at u :D

    Just be prepared and you'l beat this addiction, this forum helped me massively, everybody is so helpful and the best of it is we all know how each other are feeling :cool:

    So like Carol says take it min by min, hour by hour and day by day and u will succeed.. Good luck hun.

  • Hi Chuuurles and welcome.

    Your post sounds positive and determined - I look forward to hearing how you get on in your future posts.

  • Welcome to the forum and well done on the decision to quit.

    The best advice you will get on this forum is to read, read, read and read some more. You will also find a lot of very friendly people here.

  • Hi Chuuurles

    That was a great first post to read.

    Shows true detemination and honesty.

    Tears are hard to come by so when they come I think we should embrace them .... must mean something pretty damn serious to us that don't usually cry!

    I am sure you are experiencing tears of joy, as you read other peoples journeys and begin your own.

    I think your sports will benefit amazingly from your decision to quit. I can feel a huge difference with my cycling after only 6 weeks. Let us know how you get on with them as I think you will be able to go faster, longer, stronger than ever! :D

    Keep your memory green, keep in mind how great and excited you feel now about your quit as this will be so much use to you in the coming weeks. Write down your thoughts and emotions so you can look back at them as time goes by ... you will seriously see a difference as you keep going .... and it's great! :) It will be "was that really me?!?"

    Great that you are coping with what sounds like your biggest trigger. Well done.

    Wishing you all the strength in the world for your quit, keep us informed and finally …….. Welcome to the Party :D

    Don't work too hard!

    Take care

    Greg

  • Welcome to the forum and very best of luck for your quit :-)

  • thank you!

    This is from my phone so there will be many mistakes! Guys thank u so much for the support it means alot to me!! I was the worst kind of smoker at home. The secret smoker... my gf knew i smoked but thought it was maybe 1 or 2 a week. She had no idea the extent to which iam addicted to nicotine. However just spent the last 20 mins coming fully clean with her. Honestly it feels amazing to come clean and explain to that iv stopped. I want this quit to be 100% honest! Also reading your posts gave me a hige boost this am.. as soon as i woke i saidtoday i CHOOSE not to smoke! One thign tho is i feel like iam cheating witb the inhaler beacuse enjoy it.. is this bad? Or at this point should i just be happy that iam not choking myself to death? Didnt get much sleep last night...even still i felt way less groggy in the mornng yyiipppie! Last thing.. still an emotional wreck but i can deal with that!!:cool:

  • Hi Chuurles and welcome to the forum.

    Good luck with your quit.

    May x

  • As everybody told me NRT is not cheating as long as it keeps u away from them fags:D

    So take your inhaler when ever u need to

  • Hi Chuuurles

    Good for you being open and up front with your better half! :)

    Can only be a good thing surely, nothing to catch you out!

    I wouldn't be worried about the inhaler at all at this stage. I did worry and got myself in a mess instead of dealing with my quit in stages.

    If it is enjoyable ... then enjoy it! :D

    You will definitely stay off the smokes that way.

    Sucking smoke into our lungs has surely got to be the worst thing we could ever do isn't it? There can't be a more damaging, legal way of harming youself can there ..... so if it's between that and the inhaler .... my money is going on the inhaler! (err....hope that made sense! :rolleyes: )

    As the lovely Dippy Egg told me weeks ago, keep that inhaler in your handiest pocket and rock on.......we're not cheating were just settling in gently! :)

    Good on you mucker

    Greg

  • Hey there and welcome - that little Flicker in your brain as you realised how much you hate smoking is what you need to hang onto! remember it when an urge hits you, then take a deep breath and as you exhale think yup its clean! silly but it gets me through

    The guys n gals here are fab, they will wipe your tears, send you hugs, lecture you like your mama, and hold your hand to stop you reaching for the fags, i tend to come here when hit with an overwhelming urge to smoke, (thats why my post patterns are patchy lol)

    but they are fab, and remember you are chosing not to smoke today, you are taking control back xxxx

  • Overwhelmed

    I am so used to being judged for smoking (especially in Canada where it is not as socially excepted as the UK). This is such a relief to find a place where i can be given support and amazing advice. I was going to say you guys dont know how much it means to me. Then realized that you were once in my position and iam sure more senior people on here helped you out. I really hope on 27/11/13 i will be sitting in the penthouse and able to help a newbie on here!

    The sun is setting on my 2nd day smoke free and it feels amazing and us surfers say YYYYeeeWWWWWWWWW!

    This is one of the few perks of my job, i get to enjoy this every night!

    i141.photobucket.com/albums... :)

  • Hiya Chuurles, welcome to the forum.

    Well done on deciding to quit, I'm really pleased for you.

    Can I just say, WOW, what a view, I can see why you wouldn't want a cloud of disgusting smoke spoiling it! :D

    Molly

  • Well said Molly

    That looks beautiful chuuurles.

    You don't have to wait until you are in the Penthouse to help people, we help each other just by being on here. :cool:

    It is therapeutic to help others in need, it confirms your own quit.

    Have a good night

    Cheers

    Greg

  • welcome

    Welcome Chuurlees and well done on your decision to quit and finding this forum. Your positivity is going to be fundamental in your success.:)

    Read read read and keep posting for support and advice a winning formula:)

  • hey greg

    As soon as i posted that i knew it came off wrong ..DOH.. i will definitely be helping people well before the 1 year mark (WHICH IAM GOING TO GET TOO!)

    and guys thank you so much and sorry for all the posts! This is a huge deal for me tho!

  • Excuse me Mr Chuuurles .....

    cough cough!

    Never apologise for all your posts .... in fact ... race you to 1000 posts?

    Ready ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... GO!

    :D

    Like everyone said Chuuurles, welcome to the party!

    By the way

    .

    .

    .

    err....it's your round at the bar!! :D

  • Hi Churlees, cracking view!! You sound very positive about this quit and coming clean with your other half all helps along with support from this forum.

    I can understand the secret smoker thing...that was me! I live alone and just used to smoke at home (well outside) so lots didn't even know I smoked. It became my guilty secret and yet couldn't stop. I'd go and visit friends or family and would be itching to go after a couple of hours do I could go home and smoke!

    There are so many reasons why being a none smoker is great but freedom from the hold nicotine has over you has to be one of the best!

    Good luck on your journey and why not join the November quitters group where you can chat with people at a similar stage of quit to yourself (click quick links then social groups)

    Karen

  • You don't have to wait until you are in the Penthouse to help people, we help each other just by being on here. :cool:

    It is therapeutic to help others in need, it confirms your own quit.

    Sorry Chuuurles

    I wasn't being condescending with that remark ... I just meant we are all newb's helping each other ... I think .... Oh .... you know what I mean :D

  • Hello there

    Just wanted to add my support and good vibes to you, congratulations on getting the hardest bit of the quit done - the deciding and committing to stopping the cigarettes!

    About the inhaler, ok it's nicotine but it's nothing else, you've already noticed you aren't getting the 'smoking hangover' on waking up! Anything is better than breathing in smoke and you're feeling good changes already :D

    Fingers crossed you keep that amazing positivity! I loved your first post and well done on coming clean with your girlfriend too :). Wishing you all the best and will be looking out for your posts!

    I couldn't believe how amazing everyone here is, this forum and everybody on it (you included!) are the best quit smoking aid there is :D

  • Welcome, Chuuurles.

    Nice to have you on board, if you'll pardon the pun :D

    You can so do this. A successful quit is in all of us, and a positive attitude doesn't half help.

    I'll echo the others - great picture. Breathe that salty air in deep, unsullied by filthy smoke.

    H x

  • Pumped

    Iam to fired up right now to form cohesive thoughts. Iam actually kind of scared of the amount of engery i have. I cried alot today for no apparent reason. Maybe morning the loss of like others have said here. Anyways Iam finished work for the day and should be winding down but i feel like i could run for an hour haahah.

    thru-out this process iv been listening to Arcade Fire, very inspirational music and i would recommed it to anybody who is down in the dumps about CHOOSING NOT TO SMOKE ANYMORE! ha

    Greg your on!! Iv been a long time lurker of many different forums but this is the first time iv attempted to actually join in on the conversation and its been gREAT as iv already said 5x!

    Tomorrow i get into the end of nov quitting group on here! Good night all! :D :D

  • ...and another thing!

    lol iam not finished yet! ha

    Greg, two things.

    ONE: i totally hear you and it seems like we both apologize too much! what i meant was i wanna be in the penthouse in a year(bad) AND i wanna be giving advice! not iam going to wait till iv not smoked for a year and then advise people haah hope that makes more sense!!

    TWO: I took your advice on the journal and already am finding it soothing. All of this is very new to me (actively participating in a forum, writing in journals, crying haahaha)

    iam going to share my first journal entry but probably will not in the future as i think i will need to keep something personal that i can refer to .. here goes

    day2

    i have so much energy its ridiculous! Last night i hardly got any sleep,

    it was hard to wake up but once i was up i had none of the smokers hangover and it was a glorious. Iam so filled with promise right now at the thought of not having to be a slave to the nicotine monster! is it really this easy? surely it must get harder or everybody would quit. I feel ready to take on a harder challenge anyways bring it on! Remember when you used to run cross country? that was real pain. It must get harder or maybe its just being on your guard for years on end that is hard? I must admit i cried more today than i have in a very long time but it was enjoyable and felt good. like a huge weight was being lifted off mychest or like i was crying the nicotine out of me.

    Havent changed the cartridge in my inhaler since yesterday and using it alot less

    READ this CHARLES IF YOUR EVER FEELING WEAK! BRING ON DAY 3!

  • Wee thought on the crying

    Could be tears of relief?! That you have finally gone and done it!

    Seriously though, I read somewhere that us nicotine addicts use cigs when we want to tone down emotions (like, instead of having to feel sad or whatever, we go and have a cigarette which deflects the being sad for a while). Now you are no longer using cigarettes to numb emotions, you are being hit by them like a ton of bricks....?

    Just my thought! Likely totally wrong but hey ho :o

    Crying is good for you anyway, you (well I) feel better after a good bawl :)

    Good vibes to you :D

  • welcome

    welcome Chuuurles

    Can wait to follow your journey...best of luck!

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