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

...and thank you very much for good thoughts and kind words.

16 days....smoke-free!!!
BUT....how long before the cravings go away?
Most days, I hardly think about it....but there have been 3 or 4 days that I had cravings.
And today was really bad...it was rough but I finally got through the day.

Why do some days go by without even giving any thought to smoking...and then some days I want one really bad?
How much time has to pass before the cravings are gone for good?

Hey, Salt - I wish I would have seen this sooner. Sorry for the delay in responding.

Things are ok on this end. Thanks for asking. Your asking made me feel good and considered. Thank you.

The last few days have been in-between days. Neither good or bad.
I try to live each day with gratitude, but some days are better than others.

There have been days recently where I kind of float through the hours somewhat detached from myself. I stay on point with the people I love and honor my responsibilities (can't leave a flank open or vulnerable) and keep the age-old fear-based questions of "what do I want that I'm not going to get and what do I have that I'm going to lose" at a distance. In short, I tread water. Neither moving closer to God, or away from God toward my ever-lurking self-centeredness. Neither hot nor cold. Those days are the worse. Those are the days the self-doubt, self-loathing and, worse, the grandiosity, can find a crack to slip through and ultimately pull-up a chair in my heart. If I'm not an active participant in my life, that's when the shadows fall and I become prone to losing my way. That's why I was such a sucker for the cigarettes. I couldn't tell the shadows from the smoke and this allowed me to simply soldier on. I can do that well. Just being, that's quite another thing. A more real and difficult thing.

In short, I'm doing ok, but the removal of the smokes has put a bright light into the shadows. Cigarettes were the first substance I picked-up and the last one I put down. Now it's just me. Some days that's enough. Other days it shows the lack. I know I'm not big enough to fix or fill the lack. This I know to be true and that's where the wrestling match with God begins. There's a poem entitled the "Hound of Heaven" ('I fled him down the alleys..") that has always resonated with me. It seems, I've come to the end of an alley. An exciting and extremely vulnerable place to be (another reason why I'm so grateful to you, Salt, for writing of your skinless raw day on a disappearing floor). I've spent the better part of my life with a clenched fist. It takes so much faith to unclasp my fingers and just let go. But there it is. Never any doubt in the knowing, But dicey as hell in the doing.

Bless the days I'm feeling strong. Bless the days I get to spend with people like you. Bless the days I am allowed to find and hear all of you on this thread.

Bless the days.

Nika! 16 Days! Now that is something impeachable. Something tangible. Something real. 16 days. Great congratulations. What a wonderful accomplishment.

Sorry you had a tough one today. I can't answer about the cravings. They ebb and flow, but they certainly lessen with time. To this day, I take a strong slug of cranberry juice when a strong craving comes (although, the literature tells me the physical detox/cravings are a thing of the past given our day counts). The cranberry juice helps with blood sugar drops tied to the nicotine. Water also seems to help with cravings. Whatever it takes with the knowledge that the urge/craving will past whether you smoke or don't smoke. So don't smoke (just like you've been doing so wonderfully for the last 16 days).

In any event, you're over the hump and the smokes will get smaller in the distance with each day you keep them down.

Keep doing what you're doing, Nika. Takes a winner to get to 16 days. A superstar to hit 17 tomorrow.

Continued success and, again, great congratulations to you.

I just wanted to say, I smoked my last Jan 1 of this year. My husband and my parents still smoke, and funnily enough I thought it would be SO much harder because of that. I was wrong. Once I decided this was what I wanted and I WAS going to do it. Well, I did. I'm now to the point that I don't even think about smoking every day. I can actually go a whole day and not think, " gee I wish I had a smoke" It is so liberating!

I just wanted to say thanks for the support in the early days and all the kind words. Oh, I should mention that I smoked for 20 years. And have faith all you newbies! It CAN be done!! I never thought in a million years that I'd actually be able to do it, but I did, and you can too!

Thank you for the encouragement and the advice

I didn't quit because of this forum but I wanted to let people know:

I quit on May 20, 2011. I quit cold. I tried everything else before that such as gums, patches.

I finally decided I was just sick of smoking and I quit.

I started smoking in 1972. I mainly smoke a pack a day until 1992. I smoked a few cigarettes a day until 2002. I went back up to a half a pack a day until 2011. And then I quit.

Day 37. I decided not to smoke or drink today when i woke up. Peace and strength to all.

Lovely music, Hawk. Wow. Great way to start the day. Thanks, Brother.

[link to en.wikipedia.org]

Right on man..Glad you liked it. Hope all is well.

Yeah, good stuff, Hawk. They have somewhat of the same feel of early Mumford before they became the darlings of the indie set and now seem to be heading down the road of Dave Matthews' frat jam fodder...tis a shame. Some Fleet Foxes-like harmonies in your clip as well.

Don't know if you're familiar with the Avett Brothers, but the "I and Love and You" lp is the shit. Unlike Black Keys (and the aforementioned above), Avett Brothers have yet to become played-out to me. Good writing, music, and no dog and pony show. Hope they go the distance as they have, no doubt, the stuff.

Hope the day treated you well, brother.

Salt - How goes the day today? Hope this finds you well.

Yep Avette Bros as well, Decemberist, River City Extension, Delta Spirit, Deer Tick... dig those bands... and I totally agree that Musmford and Sons are overplayed and well on thier way to the direction you descreibed.

Thank you for coming forth and sharing your quittin story! I would have found being around those I love still puffin unbearable - what great fortitude you have!

oneLOVE

soulJAH

HAWK - 37 just for today

:hearts BxMac :hearts::blwkss:

Hi Everyone,

Well tonight will be the last puff I take.

I am still a bit nervous and excited at the same time.

I will check in tomorrow and let you know how it is going.

Thank you all for being here.

Much Love,

Felt them, Onelove.

Received, appreciated, and held.

And to you, my friend, the wonders of tender mercies.

Tiny T! Trink! In the house! Ya-hooey!

What a night, Trink. On the verge of a wonderful journey back home to you.
Sounds like you're right where your supposed to be. Excited and nervous sounds just about right. Poised to walk through the arch to a new freedom. A return to forever a minute, hour, and a day at a time. I'm so very happy for you.

It helped me to clarify the difference between "giving-up" something and "putting something down."

If you have tickets to fly to Maui for a week and then discover a family member needs you back home, you 'give-up' the trip to Maui to help those you love. You're giving-up something good (for something better in my opinion).

If you inadvertently pick-up a burning coal, you 'put it down' as quickly as possible to avoid pain and potential harm. You dump that burning coal.

On the eve of your new freedom, please remember you are not giving-up cigarettes. They add no value to your life other than the lies they tell. Instead, you are putting-down toxic sticks riddled with chemicals created to kill you. You are putting down something that doesn't belong to the glorious and healthy person known as (aka) Tiny Trink.

Your time, Trink. Your turn.

If possible, have a lot of water and cranberry juice (I should buy stock in some bogs given my propensity to push the cranberrys so hard) at hand for tomorrow. Have Carr at the ready (CHL recently provided the link again) and your fingers ready to write whatever you're going through here on this thread.

You may be surprised and find that putting the smokes down is not as difficult or wrenching as you might think. It might be a cake-walk for you. And if it isn't, we'll be here to walk with you. No expecttions. Just wake-up and let the day bring what it may. I can tell you tomorrow will lead to a new freedom. One of health, happiness, and great esteem. A new beginning. You can and will do this if you want to. That's a promise.

We'll all be looking for you tomorrow. You will not be alone. You'll be joined by like-minded souls here and we'll surround you with the best we have.

So for now, Trink, smoke 'em like there's no tomorrow. And tomorrow? Tomorrow we ride. Tomorrow we ride into the land of new beginnings and infinite posibilities.

Saddle-up, Trink!

well, i stopped taking that lexapro drug from hell a day or so ago. and it is no surprise that i feel right back to normal. sane, sound, and cheerful. that shit had me clenching my jaw like i was tweaked out on coke or something. a total sloth during the day and sleepless at night. eyes wide like saucers throughout the night. i don't know why i let my doc talk me into trying that. and to think that I took the smallest dose pill and split that in half. shit is potent.

but, live and learn. and it was only a couple weeks out of my whole life so I refuse to let it rent space in my head for any longer.

i would rather have a mild case of anxiety or the blues, and deal with it naturally than try and go with a chemical quick fix. but, then again, i had no idea it would do what it did to my mind either. a marker for me that i obviously do not need that stuff.

anyway...
today is a great day.
accomplished tons of stuff.

God is good.

And, how is the day treating you?

Yay!! Tiny Trink!!!!
You can do it!

Best wishes and sending love from my vacation paradise on the Gulf coast of NW Florida. Keep up the great work you guys. DF

Congratulations on kicking 2 bad habits!

DF

I got put on that lexepro crap some years ago...made me feel like a robot when it was not making me feel nuts... stopped taking it too. Hope you feel better soon Salt.

thanks bro!
good to see you here today.

Sitting here reading all these posts hoping to come up with something witty but alas, I am too damn tired to even attemt it.

Still here, still not smoking, still spreading the word to all who will listen......

Glad you got off the drugs Salt, I was going to say something many pages back when you first said you were going to start them but felt it wasn't my place.....

I know from experience that the evil anti depressants are anything but and they will kill every aspect of your natural being and that is no life at all.

We have emotions for a reason and we are SUPPOSED to feel each and every one .....

Last Edited by CHL2T on 03/12/2013 11:39 PM

Here I am.

I climbed on that wagon last night and 3 hours after I woke up this morning... I promptly feel face first off the other side. SIGH!!!

No words right now. Just going to sit with this for a bit. Not self bashing though.

Thank you all for being cheerleaders for me. I do appreciate it.

Much Love,