The Ultimate Good News Thread.....

[nsd_user663_54940]

I don't know if this has been done before or if it will work but here goes!

We all know about the benefits of quitting - being able to breathe without coughing up half a lung, regaining senses of smell and taste, lessening the risks of heart attack/stroke/cancer etc.

What I keep noticing though is the little things that change, nobody said "your tongue will be pink again in a couple of days" or "your sinuses won't feel blocked all the time" and I certainly never thought about all the time I would gain from quitting smoking!!! Just think about that - 20 a day, 10 minutes per fag - that's 200 minutes every day wasted on doing bugger all of any use!!

Anyway, I was thinking of drawing up a list of all the benefits of stopping smoking that people on here have experienced. It's always nice to have something to look forward to and I'm sure that a big long list of all the good things that can happen will help to spur others on

What do you all think? Good idea?

I'll get the ball rolling and anyone who wants to join in is more than welcome

My tongue is pink again.

My gums look healthier and don't bleed anymore.

My hair feels like it's coming back to life.

My skin feels softer and looks younger.

I'm losing the freckles on the backs of my hands.

I'm losing the bags under my eyes.

It's easier to get up in the mornings (even with the badly broken sleep)

I'm less stressed about everything.

I have more time to spend with my kids.

My kids WANT to spend more time with me and want more cuddles now that I don't stink like an ashtray.

I've got more energy.

I've got more self confidence.

Also getting a headache so I'll leave the list at that for now lol

[nsd_user663_44570]

Good idea!

Love this!

Here's a couple more to add to your list:

- My teeth are looking brighter

- My mouth tastes normal (I guess) or at least it doesn't taste awful.

- And this is a big one for me: SELF ESTEEM I am so proud I am beating this. it makes me feel like I am a super-hero!

SuperNiki

Wants to save the world from smoking, one (less) fag at a time! LOL

x

[nsd_user663_54554]

Nice thread juju!

My car doesn't smell

I'm not ruining suits with fag burns

I can breathe MUCH deeper

I've stopped leaving flip flops by the back door for when I need to 'pop out for five minutes'

I'm somehow calmer than I was as a smoker

And ShoeGal's self esteem - hallelujah for that one for sure!

H

[nsd_user663_54940]

What you will also find is that you will have improved circulation and it will become noticeable especially if you are a male

I'm female but I'll be on the lookout for a non smoking male after what I've heard lol

[nsd_user663_54958]

Great post and here are few additions:

- I can write 'non-smoker' at the doctors notes

- I dont have to remember to buy smokes

- I dont have to panic if I cant find a lighter

- My hands are warm

- This is a biggy... I dont have to feel guilty most of the time and I can enjoy situations where smoking is not possible or acceptable

Roosa

[nsd_user663_44684]

Great post

Here are a few of mine...

No worrying that i'll run out of fags & rushing to the shop to buy more (even in a blizzard :rolleyes: )

My daughter & the cat are happier

I can already breath better

My clothes & hair don't smell like an ashtray

House smells fresh

I've saved £115.59

Denise x

[nsd_user663_25112]

:)Tasting food is so nice. All my clothes and bed linen smell fresh as daisies on a summers day... I wonder if we will ever see another summer I hope so. Jacqui

[nsd_user663_44684]

AND......

Noticing lots of quit smoking adverts on TV and radio..

And feeling just a bit smug :D

Haha, love it!!

[Hidden]

I recently moved into a new place. Among the benefits of having stopped smoking - I don't have to worry about stinking up this place!

Also, I'm a bit out in the countryside now, so I don't have to worry about running out of cigarettes in the middle of the night (or any time, actually), and having to make a LONG drive to the nearest place that sells them.

Or, thinking about whether I have enough to get through the time between now and when I'll be back in "civilization" to buy more.

And I don't have to lie to my landlord.

[nsd_user663_54332]

Ooh this is a great idea!!

Have got loads of positives from quitting:

* I don't smell of fags - never thought I did before but smelling some of my coats and things :eek:

* I don't have to keep going out for a fag

* I've saved around £340 and I've only been quit 6 weeks!!

* Am much calmer, even though I thought smoking was calming me down

* Can enjoy a long meal without getting "itchy" for a fag

* Don't have to worry about buying fags, and worrying if I have enough, have I got my lighter etc

* My breathing is much better

* The dark circles and little bags under my eyes have gone

* My skin looks so much healthier - actually look years younger and am only 28!!

* Don't have to take all my "smoking stuff" with me - fags, lighter, spare lighter, stinky ashtray pouches and so on

* Don't have to put up with pitying looks from non-smokers while I'm out in the cold or wet sucking on a death stick, worse when I "needed" 2 of them.

* Can wear clothes i wouldn't have dared when I smoked 'cos I was scared of fag burns

* Don't end up with ash going down my clothes either

* Am not burning my lips on the hot filter or singing my fingernails

* Can taste and smell so much better

* Am not coughing in the morning - didn't have much of a smoker's cough but it was there

* My sinuses are much better

* Don't have to look at pics of manky lungs etc on my fag packet

* My hair smells nice

* Am not squirting myself with perfume after every fag

* My lipgloss lasts longer

* Have spent a load of "free" money on lovely clothes, shoes and bags that would have gone on fags

*Can curl up in the evenings in the warm and not be diving outside

* Am not worying what I'm doing to my health any more

* The smell's gone from my nose

* My mouth feels nicer

* Am not worried about getting a sort of burnt ring on my teeth

So, why the heck did I smoke? :confused:

[nsd_user663_4522]

oh I wish my sinuses were better I have problems since the beginning of october driving me crackers...but I did laugh at the ash down my clothes comment I was a bugger for that hahaha

[nsd_user663_54332]

oh I wish my sinuses were better I have problems since the beginning of october driving me crackers...but I did laugh at the ash down my clothes comment I was a bugger for that hahaha

Aww i hope your sinuses clear up soon - I used to get sniffly and have headaches all the time :eek:

Don't know about you but I'd only get ash down my clothes if they were new or black - or that's how it seemed anyway!!

[nsd_user663_54940]

Thanks for the replies! I've had a good chuckle at some of them

I've got a few more...

No fag ash stuck to the side of the car

Don't have to drive round with the window open in all weather to flick ash

(never used the car ashtray so the car didn't smell - how pointless was that?!)

I don't have to worry about fag ends blowing back in and landing on back seats

(I can't be the only on on here to have done an emergency stop to retrieve one before it set fire to the car)

My net curtains will stay white now!!!

The dog's stopped having sneezing fits

No more dirty looks from other parents at school

No more risk of the kids burning themselves when they don't know I've got a fag in my hand (it's not happened many times but once is too much)

I've seriously reduced the chance of a house fire - hopefully that'll mean cheaper home insurance

No bits of tobacco in my pockets/handbag to get stuck up my nails (god that looks awful)

I can consider holidays in far flung places and not get stressed about how to cope on a long flight

I can go anywhere and not have plan fag breaks

Another strange thing I noticed a couple of days ago is that I seem to be growing new hair!!!! It's always been very fine/thin and it's been a standing joke that I look like I'm going bald for a good few years but I've noticed that I've got new hair growing at the front of my hairline - like a new fringe! lol. The kids have said that my hair look thicker too cos you can't see my scalp as much now.

Has anyone else had the same experience?

I'm still gobsmacked by all the different positives that people are getting from quitting :cool:

[nsd_user663_55073]

.

I don't have to worry about fag ends blowing back in and landing on back seats

(I can't be the only on on here to have done an emergency stop to retrieve one before it set fire to the car)cool:

Haha, that one rings a bell, that happened to me, except it didn't land on the back seat but on my seat as I was driving to work, I didn't,t realise until I had a searing pain on the back of my thigh and a smell of burning flesh, how I never crashed trying to drive and out the fire on my trousers. I then had to spend the day at work with a hole about the size of a 50 pence piece in the back of my trousers and as they were a polyester blend, the hole was stiff and itchy.

[nsd_user663_54332]

Haha, that one rings a bell, that happened to me, except it didn't land on the back seat but on my seat as I was driving to work, I didn't,t realise until I had a searing pain on the back of my thigh and a smell of burning flesh, how I never crashed trying to drive and out the fire on my trousers. I then had to spend the day at work with a hole about the size of a 50 pence piece in the back of my trousers and as they were a polyester blend, the hole was stiff and itchy.

Oh ouch, that's scary!! :eek:

Never smoked in my car, but did in other smokers' cars and was always worried about dropping ash on the seats etc.

[nsd_user663_54940]

Just think of the savings in fuel costs too, that's gonna mount up over the years

[nsd_user663_54940]

Just thought of another one.....

I don't snore anymore!! lol

[nsd_user663_54940]

lol there's no Mr Juju so I have to rely on the kids to tell me these things - kids are far more honest about stuff anyway and mine seem to have no concept of what an insult is, at least not when it's aimed at me anyway lol

......I used to wake myself up sometimes too so I know I'm not doing it anymore lol

[nsd_user663_54332]

Another bit of good news for me

My skin's always been quite dark for an English girl, and in the last year or so have noticed i've been looking quite pale, just put it down to the lousy weather and so on *but* recently I've been looking lots more like I used to

One of my friends said I look a lot younger too!!

[nsd_user663_54940]

Wow that's great Gemma! I bet all the expensive lotions and potions in the world couldn't give you results like that - and it's not cost you a penny!

Does wonders for how you feel inside too doesn't it

[nsd_user663_54332]

Wow that's great Gemma! I bet all the expensive lotions and potions in the world couldn't give you results like that - and it's not cost you a penny!

Does wonders for how you feel inside too doesn't it

Oh it's fab

I'm feeling so much better too... loads less stressed and lots healthier!!

Makes you wonder why we didn't quit years ago!!

[nsd_user663_54940]

Yay! We can hug and not stink of fags! pmsl

I could kick myself up the arse for not quitting sooner, but then again I did try and it didn't work. I guess we all get to a point where we've had enough and we're ready to quit - that's where we are now. And I wouldn't have found the lovely people on here if I'd quit years ago

That's another thing I've noticed, I can seem to find a positive in any situation and life seems so much brighter than it used to :cool:

x

[nsd_user663_54332]

It's so much better not smelling of fags - and not having fag breath too. Was always worried/ashamed of having that.

You're so right about having a *time* to quit. Have stopped before, 18 months the last time, but it wasn't because iI wanted to, was nagged or guilted into it instead - this time it's for me!! Had always planned to stop the day after my 30th but am a year and a bit early for that :cool:

Know exactly what you mean about things looking brighter - it's like the fog's gone

[nsd_user663_42390]

My self esteem! That has risen since I have quit, I no longer feel like a second class citizen!

[nsd_user663_53658]

The realisation that if I'm strong enough to do this I must be strong enough to do other things too, it's very liberating.

Oh that and the fact that I can sing out of tune so much louder and longer, my neighbours are so grateful

Molly x

[nsd_user663_54940]

I keep thinking about that Haze....

I wonder if our self esteem increases more as smoking becomes less socially acceptable?... We're no longer one of "them".

I feel a little bit prouder every time I see somebody else smoke because I think "you poor sod, still stuck in the trap" and I feel a little bit more free too.

Whatever the reason, isn't it great to feel great about it!

[nsd_user663_54940]

lol @ Molly, your poor neighbours, good for you tho!! If you can stop smoking then you can do anything you want, the sky's the limit

[nsd_user663_42390]

I keep thinking about that Haze....

I wonder if our self esteem increases more as smoking becomes less socially acceptable?... We're no longer one of "them".

I feel a little bit prouder every time I see somebody else smoke because I think "you poor sod, still stuck in the trap" and I feel a little bit more free too.

Whatever the reason, isn't it great to feel great about it!

I think it does Julie. I was at a wedding the year before last year and the official photographer took a photo of me puffing away on a Berkerley Menthol and anyone who has smoked them knows how long they are and it just looked dreadful I was so embarrased I thought then I must quit this it is so socially unacceptable now.

[nsd_user663_53617]

I agree, I love being a non smoker now - not one of my family or close friends smoke and I never liked smoking in front of them so I smoked in "secret" as such. That means I'd be crawling the walls in their company eanting a fag and would make any excuse to cut visits eyc short so I could go home and smoke. How great it feels now to have that freedom, to enjoy the company of people around me without thinking about cigarettes. It really does make a difference not being one of 'them'

[nsd_user663_54332]

I think it does Julie. I was at a wedding the year before last year and the official photographer took a photo of me puffing away on a Berkerley Menthol and anyone who has smoked them knows how long they are and it just looked dreadful I was so embarrased I thought then I must quit this it is so socially unacceptable now.

I used to smoke them 'cos they were the some of the only ones that didn't make me feel sick :confused: How stupid was that?

[nsd_user663_54332]

Bit of an odd one but bear with me please!!

Have got a set of lipglosses that are meant to be flavoured, had them a few months ago and thought I'd been ripped off 'cos I couldn't taste them. Anyway I put one on today, first time since I quit- and just realised I can taste it :cool:

Good job I didn't kick up a fuss, would have looked a right idiot

[nsd_user663_54940]

Thanks for posting that Gemma it's little things like that that we don't even realise have been taken away from us by smoking. It makes you wonder how many times people have complained about things not tasting or smelling right when all along there was nothing wrong. And if anyone had dared to say 'you can't smell/taste it cos you smoke' we'd have gone crackers! It makes you wonder just how much we all missed out on by smoking