So, not my first attempt, but hopefully my last being that it will be the one that makes me... I've read The Easy Way so many times I could recite it to excited listeners and still, day after day I'm smoking not really knowing why.
It's the nicotine that gets to you, but ultimately it's my mind not wanting to say goodbye to being able to smoke.
I think I'm at the stage where it's like not eating the extra block on a toblerone bar, or not asking for two cubes of ice with every spirit I may order at a bar. It's just one less thing to do.
Am I with the cliche in the new years day quitters? Yes. Do I intend on proving the stereotype wrong? Totally.
So join me on this journey and you may hear me muttering things to myself, logging on to the board at crazy times in the morning as I get insomnia, or generally here to have a chat about the new future we are embarking on.
If this is the journey then surely you are the guides who'll point me in the right direction with words of encouragement. I will try and do the same for you.
Dear Diary - Day One - mere hours have passed but I am feeling strangely optimistic...
How are you feeling?
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Starting the journey with you..... I usually find that the first few days are easy.....then I start looking for excuses to start again......hopefully not this time...
Something about your post struck a chord with me - when you said 'but ultimately it's my mind not wanting to say goodbye to being able to smoke.'
So I rooted back to my very first post on this site, and this is what I said:
"I've been trying to figure out why I kept on smoking when I'm an intelligent person and *know* precisely how bad it is for me. And I think a big part of it is that my life - much as I love it - is so "normal" and staid. Smoking represented that last little bit of the youthful rebel I used to be. I didn't want to let it go. I wonder if anyone can empathise with that? "
Perhaps you are in something like the same boat now.
That post of mine was written just over two years ago. I haven't had a single puff since. For me, quitting was a process: to let go of the smoking habit, to change the way I thought about it, to realise that I really didn't want it any more, took quite a long time. But I feel completely different about cigarettes now - don't want them, don't need them, don't feel there is anything missing from my life.
This thing you are doing is perfectly achievable. You just have to keep making the choice not to smoke, hour by hour, day by day. You can so do this.
Welcome to the forum, and happy smoke-free new year to you.
Evening Thrillhouse, Karen, Molly, Greg, Ramasus and Helen.
And thank you for the kind words of support and optimism so soon.
I've been a lurker on these forums for months during various attempts at quitting, not smoking for a couple of days etc and I was determined that when the time was right I would sign up... and here I am.
Still feeling optimistic... I've devoured (eaten sounds boring) four kiwi fruit (fruit/fruits? anyone know?) today and that has kept me going. For some reason the thoughts of smoking are few at the moment, but as commented on earlier that can change as the days pass.
Hey Akaash,
Something about your post struck a chord with me - when you said 'but ultimately it's my mind not wanting to say goodbye to being able to smoke.'
So I rooted back to my very first post on this site, and this is what I said:
"I've been trying to figure out why I kept on smoking when I'm an intelligent person and *know* precisely how bad it is for me. And I think a big part of it is that my life - much as I love it - is so "normal" and staid. Smoking represented that last little bit of the youthful rebel I used to be. I didn't want to let it go. I wonder if anyone can empathise with that? "
Perhaps you are in something like the same boat now.
That post of mine was written just over two years ago. I haven't had a single puff since. For me, quitting was a process: to let go of the smoking habit, to change the way I thought about it, to realise that I really didn't want it any more, took quite a long time. But I feel completely different about cigarettes now - don't want them, don't need them, don't feel there is anything missing from my life.
This thing you are doing is perfectly achievable. You just have to keep making the choice not to smoke, hour by hour, day by day. You can so do this.
Welcome to the forum, and happy smoke-free new year to you.
Helen
Wow Helen looks like we're on the same wavelength here. I often get flashbacks (in the Lost series way) of when I started smoking and the impact of it on my life. Part of me wanted to hold on to it as I thought it was part of my identity. But it isn't. In some ways I feel like quitting is helping me find the real me again. The one that was lost in a cloud of smoke so to speak. Am I making sense?
And as a couple of you have said it's the small steps, the moment by moment aspect. I reckon the trick is not to think that you've chosen the wrong time to quit. It's these decisions that catch us second guessing ourselves and the decision to be here and doing this now.
Sounds like there are gonna be a few of us on this journey - some are way ahead as it seems - but we all know where we want to go... maybe they can leave some breadcrumbs.... What's with the hunger? I'm a full grown man now entertaining thoughts of eating gingerbread men!
I'm feeling inspired! Thankyou for cheering me up, first time I've looked on this forum and your message made me giggle!
Nearing the end of day 5 had first wobble today but reading everyone's posts has really helped! 2013 is the year scary thought of never having a cheeky cig but day by day as they say and we can do it.
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At the beginning but feeling positive 😚
