I QUIT SMOKING , YOU CAN TOO. I QUIT SEPT 27, 2012, SUPPORT EACH OTHER HERE

I may have to dock Salts pay if she don't show up. lol

i'm here. i'm struggling but not smoking today.
i feel like a flaming bitch on wheels

Thats ok friend, struggle all you want, just don't give in. DF

Last Edited by Desert Fox on 01/04/2013 12:22 AM

one minute at a time...
i will do better when my daughter goes back to school
more "me" time to get my head in order

Struggle is success!

pain is weakness leaving the body

Indeed, when you stop struggling you lose.

Salt! Represent! Good to see you. Bitch on wheels is right on point and not a bad place to be. You're mobile on those wheels "ride, ride, slippity slide." You know the drill. Nothing new under the sun. You're ready, Salt. Your time.
No bout a doubt it.

I've read you on a few other threads and on one you mentioned Charles Stanley. I felt an immediate kinship with you. I don't speak of this often (especially not to my donkey Irish Catholic family), but that guy has been the hound of heaven to me for over 25 years. Can't get away from that crazy Chuck Stanley. Without boring you with details on your huge and wonderful - albeit bitch on wheels - day, my exposure to him has come far too often, and in too many disparate corners of the world, to be a coincidence. I've come to become quite fond of him and he seems to be a good and honorable man (unlike so many slick snake oil salesmen twisiting truth in sagarine southern accent). One thing, an unconcious concious affectation he uses when he really wants to drive an important point home, is Charles' "Now, Listen........."
I get the biggest kick out of it and, again, I believe him to be a fine man. He, and his mission, have intersected my life many times over the years and his consistent "Now, Listen...." now echoes in my heart.

I say all this because if you can picture that earnest, slight but powerful, bespeckled Charles leaning forward saying "Now, Listen....whenever you get an urge to pick-up a smoke it might give you pause. An ace, or Charlie, up your sleeve as it were. A pause to ready yourself for the real and powerful truth that you are no longer a smoker, Salt. That the smokes don't belong to you, and you don't belong to them, any longer. You know this on some level. Called it in. So here it is. "Now, Listen...." Peace, Salt (of the earth).

nice. thanks. chuck is da man. have you ever seen clips of his sermons when he was younger? very energetic he was...

thanks for the pep.
i will so use the "now listen..." thing.

I see you switched yer avitar away from smoking Joan to to a morton salt variation so I found you yet another so you can change up according to your mood....

Nice to see my Salt with out a smoke in her mouth. YEA!

Congrats !

Thank you for stopping by.

25

I have seen this thread several times. I have been a smoker for 20 years and have tried to quit smoking soooo often. My question is, how do you counter act the feeling that your brain is being sucked out of your head when you quit? I can usually only last a day without smoking, then I can't take it any more. I have trouble verbalizing and thinking when I don't smoke. Does anyone have any tips.

Hi Anon...

Well.. you grit your teeth and recognize that for three days "your brain is being sucked out of your head". Then it gets somewhat better.

:)

The link posting for the day [link to media.wix.com] I'll post it again after work :)

Welcome new quitters!

Anon 535 - Man, can I relate to that brain being sucked out the head and the extreme difficulty speaking/forming thoughts in the early days without smokes. I also relate to not being able to make it past the first 24 hours as the need for a cigarette would consume and supercede all within my scope. You are not alone.

First the bad news: The first 72 hours can be difficult as your experience shows. It takes approximately 72 hours for our miracle bodies to purge the shit (not too bad if you look at it objectively). I could never make it past six hours. I thought the only way I'd be able to get off cigarettes is if I placed myself in a rehab (similar to those used by other addicts kicking other substances) and was put under for 72 hours and remained locked-away for an additional week after. I'm not kidding, I really believed that. I did not believe I would be able to stop smoking on my own. The addiction was too big and I was too small. No slingshot for this fucking David when it came to the smokes. So I can relate to you big-time.

Now the good news: It was all a lie. The first 72 hours might not be the killer you anticipate. It might be different for you this time if you really want to put the smokes down. If you want to do it, I know that you can.

Here are some of the things people have done it here.

Please find the thread to Alan Carr that brother CHL posts a link to ( I believe his link is on this or the previous page). This Carr guy puts the end of smoking process in a clear, concise manner and reading it speaks to our addicted minds and swings a great, great, sword of truth. Please avail yourself of it.

Get some cranberry juice. Sounded crazy and stupid as hell to me when I first read it (just what my addicted mind wanted me to think - "cranberry juice? what a bunch of fuckwits."), but I was balls to the wall to quit so I got some - even sprung for bottles of the organic shit at $9.00 a pop as I figured I'd spend twice that a day for the smokes here. Anon, the stuff worked. Whenever I'd get an urge during the first few days, I'd swirl that stuff in my mouth and drink about five ounces and the urge would pass. It has something to do with the blodd sugar drops tethered to detox in the first 72 hours. I shit you not, it worked for me.

Drink a lot of water. It flushes the toxins out quicker.

Understand that the urge to smoke will pass whether you pick-up a smoke or not. So don't smoke (regardless of what what your mind tells you and the shouting of that anxious, fiending, voice saying, "I'm going to go off my fucking head if I don't smoke right fucking now...fuck this shit, I'll quit later I'm going to smoke and get relief now - the big 'awwww."). Know that this is a lie (the wizard behind the curtain) and that all the smoke delivers is a poison chain of slavery ending in self-loathing, a lot of toxic chemicals I probably couldn't even pronounce, a lot of money going literally up in smoke, and a certain ignoble death.

Come to this thread. I can't tell you what a comfort it was for me to come to a place populated by like-minded souls dedicated to the big quit and ending the big lie collectively. The internet gave me the freedom of being anon and saying whatever I needed to say - I didn't hesitate to say if I felt anxious, angry, sad, hopeful, doubting, or happy - without fear of tarnishing my rep.
I found that the support and genuine concern given from one nicotine addict to another was liberating. It also broke the isolation of my previous attempts to put the smokes down. I quit in public among others here and it worked.
I was safe and considered. As you will be. I promise you that.

If you want this, it is yours. Your time to step to freedom. Your time to start living without the minute to minute, hour to hour, stick to mouth, drudgery.
I hope you join us. All good things to you - Mac

Thanks.

Danger 4 today! Awesome. How goes it? The smaller the smokes get, the more dangerous you become "Snake." Many congratulations.

25 Grumps. 25! Oh, Canada!

Yes 4 days.
but I will not go back to smoking more,I am free of it.

I think I've used over 50 gum here. :O

I no longer feel an urge to smoke, now just keep the determination.

Dear All,

What a wonderful thread, and so much positivity and support. I turned 40 years of age on yes that fateful date in all glpers calendar 21st December 2012. I always believed it was a day of change, certainly for me heading into my 5th decade. I had been smoking since around the age of 11. I loved smoking to be honest - especially if it also had the beautiful weed added to it.

I wanted to make a meaningful change in my life for this new decade starting, a year earlier i stopped drinking heavily. I now drink about 30 units of alcohol a year, I found kerbing my drinking easy, no withdrawal - just benefits.

Stopping smoking has always eluded me, I was in fear of stopping, I tried a couple of times but i knew deep down, I did not want to stop - out of pure fear, I could not stop.

Well I turned 40 on the 21st December, and the world did not end, but my 5th decade did begin. On the 29th December i stopped smoking, no aids or nicotine replacements. Yes I read earlier in this thread about your 'brain been sucked out' and yes I felt like that for 72 hours. Tomorrow I will have gone a full 7 days - a full week. I'm so chuffed with myself, I can see my veins in my hands again, my gums are looking a healthy color, my skin is reddish - rather than grey. The heat flushes sensation in my left foot have disapeared. I feel very giddy, and excited about the future.

I found this website to be so helpful because it did not just talk about the benefits of stopping - lots of articles discussing the hard parts of stopping, just like this thread, it gives hope with the truth, the hard facts, it is not easy, but by god it is worth the pain.
[link to www.achoice2live.com]

Big love and lots of strength to you all

MWAH

Whoa, Fatnak! Seven Days-A Week! What a Wonderful Accomplishment.

A Birthday and New Year (and I mean a really new year for you) Gift to Yourself.

Congratulations!

I can relate to the giddiness. I found myself, on occasion and in private lest someone lock me up, pumping my fist in the air (and I'm not even from Jersey) when moved by the sheer joy of being free from the smokes. Very happy for you.

All good things to you and continued happiness and freedom to you.

Welcome to my thread, you will get plenty of good advice here, your job will be to read and learn how others here have beat the habit. My "staff" will see to it that you get all the support you need. Good luck friend, return often to your personal support thread. DF

BxMac, your quit smoking staff check is in the mail. You are in the running for employee of the month. lol Keep up the great job friend. DF, Thread administrator.

You know, Des, no check needed. Paid in full. Thanks for all.

6 Hrs without a cig, man this it tough! how do you guys do it?

Will power, cranberry juice, staying busy, changing habits, drinking lots of fluids, and coming here for support from those of us that have done it. Stay with us, it will help. My staff will be with you shortly, your call is very important to us. DF