Day 5- Need some help here!: Ok, so Ive been... - No Smoking Day

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Day 5- Need some help here!

ak84 profile image
ak84
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Ok, so Ive been a smoker since I was 18 ( I used to be the anti smoker and break my friends cigarettes )...but alas growing up in Dubai where every single person smokes, I fell victim to it.

Anyways, fast fowrward, im hooked and ACTUALLY enjoy it but my body is dying and I can feel it so finally decided to quit. Never really tried to quit before in my life until September of this year (tried chantix and it worked but then my willpower sucked).

Now Im pretty serious about it and just threw my pack on Dec 1 . I was fed up. I must say its easier than I thought doing the whole cold turkey thing.

Here I am on Day 5 sitting at my job (which is hella boring ...I work in research and read about stocks all day) ...I dont have any stress Im just bored and today the effing cravings are just a LOT! wow like i would love 1 cig but I know I wont have it.

The thing is I get bored and when Im bored I smoke but now I dont know what to do at work ...its pretty boring not to get up ..sure I could focus more but who wants to do that. I just dont know what to do with mysefl at work or after...im bored and the craving is getting strong today...aahhhh. I wont smoke and I know the craving wears off but its getting stronger for me.haha! weird I know. When do they really subside and become a 5-10 min thing.

Help anyone ? especially with the boredom thing ? Im SO much calmer and stress free and feel good coz i havent smoked...im not going crazy or anything strangely but today is a bit weird...cravings are lasting like an hour!!!!

Also, I am ALLWAYSSSSSSSSSSSSS SLEEPY . yeesh!

And I would love to go home and smoke weed but then that is a trigger for me so I wont do that now ...not an issue controlling my weed habit (its not addictive)

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ak84
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Unah profile image
Unah

Welcome Ak, I don't know what you can do about the boredom. Kind of depends on what you like to do.

There's no way to tell how long the cravings will last as everyone is different. Three long deep breaths help fo them. You've dealt with the withdrawals so now you need to deal with the psychological aspects of quitting. Well done on reaching day 5

nsd_user663_52845 profile image
nsd_user663_52845

Hello ak

Welcome to the forum.

I also started smoking at 18 ..... when I joined a band as I thought Eddie Van Halen had to be the coolest guy on the planet with a smoking cigarette sticking out of the head of his guitar while he played! Before that I was completely anti smoking and nearly lost my first job through giving the company owner such a hard time over their habit!!

As for the boredom bit, we've had many posts on here about boredom. Many people feel the same way, I know I certainly did and still do to some degree. My thoughts were "are we really bored because we are not smoking or were we bored in the past anyway?, just that smoking made us feel like we had something to do!

I had such a busy time ... having to roll a smoke, taking a walk outside to smoke it, walking back in (maybe chatting to folk on the way in and out)...busy busy busy! If you know what I mean... but after thinking on this for quite some time I know now that the smoking didn't help me be less bored....it just tricked me into thinking this!

Still take your breaks, if you are allowed, go for the walk, have the chat but do it without smoking.

I hope all that made sense, search the forum for boredom and you'll find posts :)

As for the smoking cannabis part, well I'm nobody to judge but I do feel long term overuse, although not addictive, can impair your body and mind quite seriously. I have seen it...

My 2 cents is, how can smoking anything help you to move away from smoking tobacco? How can sucking smoke into your lungs be a healthy pastime?

I'm not trying to judge, I just know it wouldn't work for me. :confused:

I struggle with cravings, originally felt like I was craving all day, let alone 5 minutes! My mind was rolling over and over ... "smoke,smoke, smoke,smoke, smoke,smoke, now, now, now, smoke,smoke..." you get the idea :)

But as time has gone on the volume IS getting turned down, sure I still think about it a hell of a lot ..... through every day ...... but slowly, surely it is letting go of me...and I am only 7 weeks in....just a baby!

Tiredness is also a big part of everyone's quit, very common. The initial excitement of quitting moves away and the body and mind are thrown in to turmoil....

I think most people would agree that if you are tired, get warm, snuggle up and enjoy the rest! I think sleep gets harder to come by as you get older ..... livid!!

I think you are too young to pass up this opportunity you have given yourself this last week .... if you start again now how long before you try to stop again? For me it was certainly years between attempts!

I like the part when you said "Im SO much calmer and stress free and feel good coz i havent smoked" .... that, to me, is a big part of your quit sorted ... right there.

Give it time, as giving up smoking is a process not an event, I'm still getting to grips with that one as I am seriously impatient!

I do hope you find what it takes to get you through this and keep going.

You CAN do this.

Take care

Greg

ak84 profile image
ak84

Thank You!

Wow Greg!! What a POST! Thanks so much for those words. Its funny how when you read posts like yours to others they dont mean as much as when they are written specifically for you.

You = complete stranger to me . Why do you care about helping me ? Coz you are a good person and believe me that is VERYYYYYYY IMPORTANT in life. Wow I am very happy with your encouragement and kind words. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

And you know what, you are so right. I was BORED to begin with even while I was smoking but it was just something to do. The smoking did trick me. Now I am just MORE bored so I need to tackle the root cause and not really go back to smoking. Gosh this is tough though . wow. Today has just been weird and oh lemme have one but I will not give in. I just walked to Baskin Robbins, got a huge coffee and a cup of Pralines and Cream...whhooopss...I already feel better though. I dont really care about gaining weight. I'll sort that out and im not fat so its cool ! I am also not drinking alcohol at least for 1 month (I am in NO way ready to drink ) coz that will trigger it bigtime. I skipped my work xmas party yday. I need this for myself because I want to show myself that I can do this ...at least for 30 days at first. its my first 30 day challenge :)

THANK YOU SO MUCH! You are awesome!

nsd_user663_52845 profile image
nsd_user663_52845

Hi ak

It's this site that is awesome :cool:

Everybody here tries to help everyone else.....it is the most remarkable site I have ever happened upon and has certainly helped me stay quit.

Real people helping others with real problems ... that's hard to come by in this day and age, especially on the internet.

Many of the thoughts we throw about are originally down to a man called Allen Carr who wrote a book called The Easyway to Stop Smoking. Have a read of it I think you will love it. Not all of his ideas work for everyone but I'm sure you will take so much from it :)

You are the hero, quitting Cold Turkey, that takes huge initial strength.

If you can do that ..... you can do anything.

Keep posting ak, let us know how you get on.

We are interested.

Have a great day.

Greg

ak84 profile image
ak84

Ahhh. Allen Carr. Funnily enough. I started reading his book last night and got to page 11. So I have about 100 pages left to go and im going to be doing a lot of reading tonight ...skeptical of the book that says you dont need willpower coz trust me at the end of the day its ALL WILLPOWER (at least im seeing it into day 5 ...its a CHOICE and u have to choose to say no ) anyways will be reading the book : )

Thanks again and Ill post regularly

Cheers!

nsd_user663_42390 profile image
nsd_user663_42390

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome AK84 good decision to quit.... and I agree with you that Greg is awesome! Allen Carr helped me he really did. He helped change my mindset and after 40 years smoking that is so important. I know what you mean about the boredom too, but all these feelings pass and you just dont think about it anymore. It just gets easier and easier the longer you stay quit. Good luck and keep posting let us know how you are doing and read lots of posts there is a mine of information and guidance on this forum that I know will help you in your journey.:)

ak84 profile image
ak84

Wow! People dont mess around on this site. I like it !! Thanks for the encouragement and words. Just because of the 2 or 3 posts today , Im going to get through Day 5. Yeeee Hawwww :)

Day 1 at the gym tonight after 5 days of not smoking. I hope those dumbells are scaredd!! :p:):D

ak84 profile image
ak84

Oh also I think I feel so good from not smoking that Im getting delerious...im listening to music and just want to get up and dance...would love a cig though to go with it hehe but I wont. its funny how the cig is enjoyable but wihtout the cig ur enjoying it more . aahhhh! conflicting feelings/emotions.

In fact to be honest means that I am starting to feel NORMAL because its been 11 years since I remember wtf normal is. Im sure eventually my insanely good feeling etc will fade and just become normal and ill deal with the new found feeling of feeling good. but for now ....yea its pretty good even though everything else in my life is still the same and crappy but yea i feel good :)

nsd_user663_52535 profile image
nsd_user663_52535

AK

Welcome to the site and I too agree, Greg is awesome!! Good advice. (Gee he'll need to widen his front door tomorrow to leave the house!!)

Well done in your decision to quit a such a young age, I so wish I'd been successful in my 'before I'm 30 quit!'

Stay focused, baby steps, one minute, 1 hour, etc, and try not to look too far ahead.

Like you, I had a quiet few weeks when I quit initially and that helped me. And tiredness, in my opinion beats insomnia any day, so cosy up and enjoy a wee nap when you feel tired!

Fi x

nsd_user663_52845 profile image
nsd_user663_52845

I actually feel I say the wrong thing many times :o

All I ever try to do is to reiterate, add a little and revamp (to fit into posters lives) all the ideas that we, counsellors and quitting professionals have had during this difficult process of quitting!

To me this is like making a cake.

We all throw in different ingredients and give it a mix. I can honestly say that I think it's going to be the best cake we ever tasted ..... which is great .... seeing as we are getting our taste buds back! :D

I am actually being really selfish to be perfectly honest :o

I post to:

a) Encourage and help others as people have helped me.

b) Confirm and consolidate my own quit .... whether in an effort to convince my subconscious I have made the correct decision or heal my wounds with the power of positive affirmations.

As Haze has said previously what goes around comes around! :)

Good morning ak,

I hope you are still feeling great this morning....

You sound so strong to me and you have the power of youth backing your quit.

You say you feel delirious, maybe this is due to the massive amount of oxygen that is now coursing through your veins and swimming round your brain!

You say you just want to dance ..... you know what my advice to that is?

GET UP AND DANCE MY FRIEND!

YOU GOT THIS COVERED!

Stay strong and keep posting

Take care

Greg

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