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

I'm here. Everyone.

Been humdinger of a week so far with stress levels off the charts. Battled some serious thoughts of smoking. Rode them through with some deep breathing, now that I can actually breathe again.

Quitter for 18 days now and I'm feeling good.
The benefits of quitting outweigh going back to the slavery.
360 cigs not smoked, saved myself $198 thus far.

To the newbie quitters, just go for it.

The Easyway worked for me, along with the support and sanity saving laughs I got from this thread.

You can do it.
Set yourself free!!

Well, all is right with the world! So good to see and read you all. You are the constant gardeners of hope and humanity for me. I have come to rely on the wonderful bounty you bring. Great to see you.

Patagonia - Happy Birthday! Many more to you, friend. And the pull of the camel was but a pebble in quary. Dust it off and move on. Keep on doing what you're doing and we'll plant a tree in honor of your birthday today and cut down a hundred years from now for your casket. The years you've given yourself by not smoking is a gift. Long life, love, and health to you. Happy Birthday.

Salt - So good to see you. Sorry about the computers. -appy you -ave one up and running. Missed, you soul sister. You may be short on dough now, but you are clearly rich. Money's like manure, no good unless you spread it around to encourage things to grow. I celebrate the treasures you hold and share (and, as we've been told by the carpenter, no theives, moths, or rust can get near that treasure) more dearly than I'd ever care for paper and those dead presidents.
The dough comes and goes, but the salt remains to the end of time and beyond. -ave a wonderful nig-t, pal.

Canada - Man, you've been steering your ship through calm waters and rough seas with great skill and courage. If you were skipper of the Minnow, we never would have seen overweight white guys dressed as Pacific natives on Gilligan's Island. The Minnow wouldn't have been lost and you would have gotten the ship safely back to port (but, if you were the skipper of the Minnow's 12-year-old me never would have seen Ginger and Maryann doing the Watusi in various states of undress so that would have been a bummer, but it would have freed up the bathroom for the rest of my family). Keep doing what you've been doing. You've faced some tough days - among them, the time in the car after the dentist - and you thought the smoke through to the other side. You've also had some great moments where you've known you're really free of the smokes (q-tips don't lie). Proud of you.
Keep fighting the good fight.

OneLove - I hear you about the day, the mix of taking the good with the not so good. I've always admired how well you take care of yourself. I've learned much from you in that regard. You're getting to be an old-timer in this smoke-free road to freedom and I'm awfully glad you're here.

Again, all is right with the world.

Still here, still not smoking and preaching the word of being smoke free to all who will listen.

Been busy at work and lost this thread for a while....

WAY TO GO! You got the spirit and drive to jsut pull this off!

But are you thinking what I am thinking...?? Might be a really nice day to wrangle us up a couple more quitters on this thread. I know someone out there who is DYING To quit is reading this right now....so why not do yourselfa favor and join us... I gaurentee you, you will feel better in as little astwo weeks or your money back!

Morning, Hawk - I forgot what the world looks like at this time. Great day to you.

CHL - Great to see you. I had no doubt you were moving forward rock steady and smoke-free, but I missed your presence and perspective here.

We started this walk within hours of each other and we're up in the rare air of the three digit zone now, brother. I've grown accustomed to having you here for over 100 days and your absence leaves a fray in the thread for me. It was you, Grumpy, and the Fox in the beginning of the quit for me. Part of the fabric of my quit quilt. A cornerstone of this arch to freedom. Always will be.

Good to see you and best to you and yours.

Grumps, this is your time of day. You still out there?

Hope this finds you well and happy. You're missed here, sister.

As always, thinking of you and wishing you all good things.

I love you too BxMac.

And yes I got mad at OneLove and used it as an excuse to smoke. So I'm smoking. I'm lost. Completely lost.

What are you doing up? Trust me, I wish I was still laying in bed... but I had to get my ass to work.

Grumps! Man, have I missed you! So good to see you. I don't give a damn if you're smoking or not, I'm just glad you're within reach.

Getting pissed, sad, anxious, happy, all part of it. I know OneLove misses you and harbors no ill-will and I know you feel the same (your heart is too kind to truly hold a grudge even if the mind says otherwise). Part of being human. Part of the walk. Progress not perfection.

Man, is it good to make contact with you.

Why don't we just shelf the whole smoking/not smoking thing for now and just get you back here. No need to feel lost. You've got friends here, Grumps. People who care for you.

Going the distance like "a coin that won't get tossed rolling home to you..." Old Neil's a Canadian too.

We're a pocket full of loose change, but we can't quite pay the piper if you're not in the sum and total.

It's my great hope this day, a new day, is a celebration of fresh starts and your return to the thread. We can talk about smoking later. For now, just come back.

Thanks for the wonderful start to my day, Grumps. So good to see you.

No shit, Hawk. Being a man of leisure, I am no longer familiar with the particular gris hue of early winter mornings. Bleak.

I'm up because my family is fucking crazy and, unfortunately, I head the insanity. We live in a rambling three floor house in the Bronx. About three months ago, we noticed we had a mouse. The mouse saga (aka "The screaming never ends, or how I survived the mouse") has been magnified by the collective hysteria of two teenage girls and a pretty tough and solid woman in all matters save those involving mice. To resolve this, I went to a shelter and brought home two six month old cats (I'm a dog person and I hate fucking cats; sneaky bastards) to remedy the mouse situation. Usually works in cartoons, except for Tom and Jerry (I always wanted Tom to off Jerry and Coyote to crush that glib-ass road runner), and I thought it would be a winner. Long story short, the mouse is still here and I have two fucking cats that needed shots, grooming, and other medicinal nicities not known in the wild. Hence my morning. What a pain in the ass.

Unfortunately, I am starting to like the cats while the rest of my family views them only as utilitarian hitmen with one purpose; kill the wabbit, err, mouse.
I've got five people in the house loving dogs and I'm (the guy who fucking hates cats) left holding the proverbial bag. Never let those cats out of the bag.

So there you have it, brother Hawk. Best to you.

I can relate to your struggle.

I felt that smoking did help me a lot with stressful situations. And being sensitive I have a tendency to find living in this world incredibly stressful AND it was hurting my throat, causing pain in my chest and my lungs - and I couldn't walk up a small hill.

And as far as shaking the desire for - I once heard that quitting smoking was more difficult that quitting heroin. That is how intense the cravings are.

Last night I was in a weekly meditation and during it - I had a vision of me hand rolling an organic cigarette!

I am constantly desiring that smoke - to relax my nerves. a quiet moment to think and smoke, to create and smoke, to do nothing and smoke! The desire is constant. And my will is to choose not to give in to this particular desire because I know what it will do to my health.

For me, I do not want to be walking around with an oxygen tank later in my life - and the damage cig smoking was causing was leading to that type of scenario.

Listen, if it wasn't for the support of this thread, and allowing others seen and unseen to 'see me' go through this process, and my weekly commitment to a worldwide meditation - I would have given in to the desire weeks ago. Cause the stressful events I have been going through have been intense - off the charts some days.

And there is still some aspect of my 'self' that remembers no matter what the health consequences were - how wonderful that first inhale was and how wonderful it felt to sit, my smoke and I, contemplating the world and what I was going through.

Heck, when I am watching a movie - I catch myself as I am watching a character light up - taking that first deep pull as they are on the screen!

There is no easy answer to quitting. The determination must come from within and must be stronger than anything that hits you as you move forward through time and space - for me that determination is fed by the support I receive on this thread and those who share what they are going through.

I hoped my insights have helped you in your own journey.

When you are ready you will quit - not a moment before. You must want this - you must want to quit to stay quit. Especially when the shtf in you personal life. And it will...

oneLOVE

soulJAH


p.s. There have been other recent posts which I would like to respond to and will as I have the energy.


A special shout out to Grumps - good to hear your voice love.

Get back on the train. it's never too late.....

We are still here for you!

To be fair, it took two weeks after I left the list to start again. It is not a good thing to realize that our fellow smokers are our biggest challenge. Two friends offering cigarettes at a time they knew they shouldn't. With friends like this, who needs enemies? The vulnerability of our logical self to the powerful screeching irrational monster always lurking behind our shoulder. I'm not there yet CHL. Soon. But not now. I check the list everyday. I'm very proud of Hawk who gave up not just smoking but drinking! And then he started exercising! What a man. :) I also relate to the depression thing. It is the depression thing that gets me every time I've tried to quit. Ain't no herbal remedy on earth gonna take your hand and say, "it's okay, you're okay,and I will be your rock when you are swimming in quicksand." That's this list really. A rock and a rope. I know this now. The quicksand is everything else. The bills, the traffic, the disappointments, the suffering and the madness of it all. They drag you in. Love you all.

tidbit:
mousing is a learned skill, not an instinct
if the mother cat did not teach the skill, they do not have it.

Remember that all of your troubles will still be there and be just as bad whether you smoke or not.

Depresion and anxiety are a very real symptom of quitting and I have experienced plenty of both as wall as the voices that they put in your head saying "smoking will make it all better"

I know for a fact that IT WONT!

Be strong and give it another go

Thanks for posting your struggles Soul, reading it does help the rest of us that are going through the same thing,

I hate myself when I smoke, it was killing me of that I have no doubt.
The money I have wasted on being a slave to my addiction disgusts me and yet I still have that desire to light up.

The last couple of days have been a test of my fortitude.
Even my box of qtips, now overflowing with close to 400 in the box is not giving me the strength the battle the current cravings. I mean really, I would have smoked 400 cigs by now, in just 18.5 days, that is just disgusting.

Today at lunch I walked to the store to buy cream for my coffee.
Whist standing in the line, I debated buying a pack of smokes, so I could have "just one".


The little voice inside my head said, you can't have "just one".
Walk away, you can't and don't want to go through this again, so keep calm and carry on, without the smokes.

I didn't buy them, but I sure am grumpy today.
It's one hour at a time right now, not one day at a time.

Enjoying my vacation. Back in a week or so. Keep on keeping on. Quitters welcome. DF

Congratulations, Canada. That still quiet voice tells the truth. The lie is the loudest. It has to shout to pull you down and own you. I'm so sorry it's been hard, but pressure makes diamonds and you, despite how it feels, are shining for all of us to see. I admire you.

You've been smoking since the mid-70s. The shit is part of how we move, think, feel. To put that down is heroic. Your clean time balanced against the toxic time tips the scales. In your favor. Each hour you don't smoke, each day you place another q-tip in the bag, your natural body and mind is doing push-ups, lifting weights. Getting stronger. Each time you swat away the lie - and I know it's hard - you run-up the stairs of the Philadelphia Musuem of Art full stride, Rocky.

I promise you, your body and your mind want you to leave the unnatural state of smoking. Wants you to stop putting foreign sticks of poison in your body. I've never heard someone dedicated to the quit pick-up smokes again and say, "Man, I'm so glad I started smoking again. That not smoking shit was stupid. I feel so much better now." Never heard anyone, except in prison and other institutions, make those statements.

Stay close here. Please try the cranberry (I promise, it will help), drink a lot of water, and know you're not alone. You've been doing this. You can do this. We're all with you.

So good to read you and CHL again, Grumps. It feels like a comfortable warm sweater on a cold morning. Missed you both and glad you're here.

Dammit, Salt. Mousers? Those damn cats are probably having Keno night with the mouse as soon as we go to bed.

"More peanut butter friend."

"No thanks, gonna' try the bread and pastry selection this evening. Your play"

Damn cats. Maybe they'll learn to mouse as they get older? They're young and I've always found a little pussy won't hurt anybody.

Well I ain't no mouser
I'm no mouser's son
but I'll keep you warm
till the mouser come....

"Everything's coming-up Roses for you and for me!"

as a fellow writer, i am very tempted to steal this.

but i won't. mostly because i can't endure the karma return.

I'm as easy as I look, Salt.

So what about the mouse? Suggestions, Ms. Tidbit?

Create an animated character? Done. (Micky, Minute, Jerry, etc.)

Write a children's book about said mouse? Done. ("If You Give a Mouse A cookie," as well as that zany Aesop's mouse with the lion and the thorn, and a host of other).

Write great, timeless literature with Mouse/Mice in title? Done. ("Of Mice and Men." "Can I pet the rabbits, George?" still makes me cry, and a host of others)

"Hickory Dickory Dock....." You know the rest.

When I drink I roar like a lion at night and shiver like a mouse in the morn. May have been done, but I just winged it here. Open and debatable in intellectual property circles.

"Are We Not Men? We Are Devo!" Unrelated, but I always loved the ring of it.

UB40 had it worse than me. "There's a rat in me kitchen what I'm a gonna do?"

So my friend, Minnie, any suggestions for your friend Mickey (get it, Irish, Mac, Mickey) ovah heah?

Hope this finds you well (looks like you -ave you h back, - urray!

Lovely, open, telling, and truthful post, OneLove. Thanks for showing your heart. Treasured.

well, if you believe in reincarnation, it might be an ancestor. borrow a known mouser from a friend. you can accomplish two things - train your young squires to hunt AND rid your home of your tiny little pest.

the H is here, but the button is missing. have to press extra hard... another little annoyance to keep me in the "now"

Thanks for saying what I have been having the hardest time of putting to words how I feel. I too have a hard time with old smoking triggers. Bad habits need to be broken though, I want to be around for a long time so I wanted to quit and have stayed quitted for 179 days now. Funny how day 180 will be on 3-22-13. You know how we are here at GLP with our craziness with DOOM! Keep on being a bunch of quitters!

Thanks, Salt.

That you knew I had some rat bastards burrowing under the family tree simply confirms you're plugged-in (or you can smell a rat).

Searching through the rolodex for friends with Mousers.....

haha, tasting foot now. realized how that might have been received about 30 mins after i typed it.

didnt mean it that way. i'm going a little brain-dead today.

i read somewhere that buddhists hold mice in high regard. that was the idea i was going for.

apologies....