Tell Us Your Story. Tell Us Your WHY! Group

Today I choose to stay quit by reading and joining the people here in day by day sharing and joining groups to continue fellowshipping in unity to nope one day at a time. I need all of you to stay nope and to keep believing that if you will stay nope this day only so will I because there is strength in numbers. That is my day by day quit story today. People needing others who nope just for today no matter what life throws in this day only we will stay NOPE together. One moment at a time. One... Show more

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My quit

quit because I didn’t want to die from lung cancer as so many of my family did. I ignored all those possibilities for over 50 years but I finally had to admit to all the horrible losses I had suffered because I smoked. Lost opportunities in every way. Hurting the respiratory health of others, losing enough money to fund a huge retirement account (almost a million) and risking the tragedy of suicide. I did get cancer, but after a fun surgery experience, thank God I survived. Smoking is gone,...

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My why

Health is my main reason to quit.
At 38, I am getting closer and closer to the age my aunt had her first stroke. Which led to several other ones, then breast cancer, skin cancer and her death. It took a long time and her life was not at all pretty for at least 5 years. As hard as it was on her, her children and family had their own pains with it.
My father in law. Complications from smoking and leukemia. His first grandson (my boy) was 3 months old when he died.
My neighbour had face cancer. His face is half gone.
My cousin's best friend's sister; died at 31 from cancer. She had two young kids. 
My friend's sister had COPD at 38, and still smokes.
My neighbours mom; died from lung cancer.
My parents friends mom; died from breast cancer.
My great grandma; emphysema. She suffocated to death.
My friends dad. Died from heart disease. 
Another friends mom; died from brain cancer.
Another friend's dad; copd and heart disease.
And those are just the ones I remember right now and who smoked. There are many others who have had or died feom cancer and were not smokers.

I can't keep living my life ignoring the fact that I could one day be one of those people. My addiction will not just hurt me!
My children would be tramatized by my slow, painful death. I've seen the pain children face when they lose their parent prematurely. I often remember a close friend's sister breaking down at her mom's funeral. I do not want my young boys losing me at a young age. 
My husband would be heart broken. I am a lucky woman, as he loves me very much. He has teared up begging me to quit. We celebrated 20 years this year and plan on growing old together. It breaks my heart thinking I'd put him through that. I watched him lose his Dad and I'd like to spare him that grief with me.
I realize that I no longer want to be selfish in my addictions. 
When I smoke. I'm throwing his love away and my love of life in living.
I could go on.

I love life. 
Im actually very active and I want to do all I do well into my 70s! 80s even! I'm really starting to notice how smoking affects my physical activity. Running, swimming, chasing my kids around. Its getting harder.

Money. Good god, the money.

Control. I want control over how I live my life. I'm taking control back from my junkie self.

Tobacco corporations are an evil, evil entity. Along with child and animal abusers, they belong in hell. And Im not religious but I wish them an eternity of hell. The amount of pain, suffering and sorrow they have caused to individuals, friends and families for a sickening amount of profit, is morally wrong.
I will not support them anymore.

That is a few of my whys.

My why

Health is my main reason to quit.
At 38, I am getting closer and closer to the age my aunt had her first stroke. Which led to several other ones, then breast cancer, skin cancer and her death. It took a long time and her life was not at all pretty for at least 5 years. As hard as it was on her, her children and family had their own pains with it.
My father in law. Complications from smoking and leukemia. His first grandson (my boy) was 3 months old when he died.
My neighbour had face... Show more

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Today I woke up wanting a cigarette. But I have 3 days in and am not giving in to that idea. Put on a patch and grabbed a piece of gum. Even though I am retired, I have a few things to get done today and am going to concentrate on them. I know that at the end of the day, I will be proud of myself and not feel like I failed. I will not smoke today!

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My Quit

I had chest pain for several months and finally went to a doctor. He put me in the hospital and they found I had a 91% blocked artery to my heart. They put a stent in and when I got out of the hospital the next day I never lit up again. When I quit, I was smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day. Advice Muster up all the will power you have and use it. I think one of the best things you can do is take note of what makes you crave the most. No matter if its a place or something you do, take note of...

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Hopefully all of you who are taking the time to thoughtfully share your “Whys” have put at least this much effort and detail into your profiles under “about me”. Once people learn to navigate this site they will usually go there to see more about you when they a comment or question. Glad you are all here.
My Whys for quitting: 1. I had promised my family I would and I was long overdue. 2. After 57 years of smoking, I was suddenly developing that smokers raspy cough which really sounded like I... Show more

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WHY...My Quit in my early days were pure hell...
Coughing up all that yucky mucus,
Full of Craves, headaches, sweats, Sleep deprevation. Stress. etc ..
Romancing the thought of just one puff constantly.
Triggers where ever smoking was involved on a daily basis.
All past tense...
So if there is anyone who is in the early stage of recovery from this addiction, hang in there, only time and abstinence from that first puff will keep you in balance from starting day one over..
It took me a very long... Show more

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From my Q Profile:

About Me: 
Okay, so after 71 days I thinks its about time that I write something here.

I`m 52 years old male, married to my college sweetheart.  I have two grown up kids and a 3 year old puggle....The puggle is like our youngest child and he`s pretty spoiled.

I`ve tried quitting a million times.  The last time was just under 100 days....So far I`ve made it to 71 days by taking it one day at a time....It`s really that simple....Just don`t smoke today (or this hour, minute, second)....Worry about later, later!!!!!

Date: Jun 24 2014,12:00 AM
      So today is day 15 for me.  It's also had the worst set of cravings since day 2.  Strange to explain them.  Not as gripping as day 2, but mentally more challenging.  They just seem to want to hang with me all day.  It's funny because when I recognize them for what they are, they begin to fade away until they are gone completely.  I'm not afraid of them and I really don't dread them either....They seem to come and go....and know what, I don't mind because eventually they will fade to memories....

Enough for now....I won't smoke for the remainder of today.

14 days, 20 hours, 9 minutes and 31 seconds smoke free. 371  cigarettes not smoked.  $103.13  and 2 days, 20 hours of my life saved!  My quit date: 6/9/2014 8:00:00 PM

Date: Jul 28 2014,12:00 AM
      My QB Shirley wrote this last week:

"Thanks Bob. Yes, I have read Allan Carr's book and just the other day skimmed through it again. It definitely helped me see smoking for what it is and what it isn't. I like what you said about stopping the mourning for a cigarette. I catch myself grieving for it now and again, especially when strong emotional waves come over me. But, I try to change my thinking in that moment and know that smoking will not help change the situation or the past.

I still sometimes have feelings of not being "totally present"; and I am not sure exactly why that is. I feel like my brain is elsewhere some days and it can even be a challenge to carry on a conversation and truly be listening.

Shirley
Day 46"

My response:

This was me most of the weekend....I found myself feeling sorry for myself about not smoking.  How insidious is this addiction????? WOW!!!!

Anyway, I think that keeping in the moment is most critical. We can only control what we do NOW.  And what we do now is all that matters....Later will take care of itself if we just focus on now...

Anyway, thank you for writing that post....It absolutely made...

From my Q Profile:

About Me:
Okay, so after 71 days I thinks its about time that I write something here.

I`m 52 years old male, married to my college sweetheart. I have two grown up kids and a 3 year old puggle....The puggle is like our youngest child and he`s pretty spoiled.

I`ve tried quitting a million times. The last time was just under 100 days....So far I`ve made it to 71 days by taking it one day at a time....It`s really that simple....Just don`t smoke today (or this hour, minute,... Show more

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My Why I was experiencing shortness of breath while walking with my Grandson. I started smoking at 16 Why because it was So Cool. I smoked 33 years. My Journey started May 22 2017. The night before I prayed and told God I couldn't do it alone. So I woke up Sunday morning put the patch on and never looked back. I love being smoke free.
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My Whys for starting are not uncommon. Although to date (Sun., 20 Oct. 2019), there remains one for which I still self-castigate. This one I'll need to keep an eye on and keep under subjection for the rest of my life.

My Whys are a deep well. I've yet to reach the bottom. Primarily, I Quit and *finally remain* Quit, because it was/is the right thing to do.

When I was maybe 30-something, my Dad started asking me when I was going to Quit. The response was always, 'When you do.' We both knew we... Show more

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Tell Us Your Story. Tell Us Your WHY!

I think sharing with people why and how you quit not only helps others but helps you remember WHY you quit!

I was 46 years old when I quit, and smoked for 37 years before I quit. Both my parents smoked, while she was pregnant my mom was actually told by her freaking DOCTOR to have "a cig or 2 to relax you" (!) Anyway, I got pneumonia all the time as a baby and at 3 years old I was diagnosed with asthma. Before I had an inhaler, my parents used to sit me up in the big recliner downstairs and make me drink cups of strong black coffee whenever I had an attack. They smoked in the house, in the car, really everywhere. This was the 70's so you still could.I didn't have my first cigarette until I was 9, but when I was 7 or so I can remember trying to make one out of some drawing paper and some leaves I picked from the backyard. I lit it with the matches that were always easy to come by and tried to smoke it...as I recall it didn't work very well, the leaves being green. (Probably peppermint, now that I think about it, it grew everywhere around our house.) I started stealing cigs from my parents packs at 9, I would go up in the woods behind our house and just smoke one right after the other until they were gone. It went on like this until I was 15 and got a job at a drugstore.At the drug store, we sold cigarettes. I wasn't old enough to buy them, or even to sell them (I had to get a coworker to ring them up), but I made friends with an older smoking coworker of mine and she was more than happy to buy them for me. I smoked like a chimney at work, and in the woods at home, but never at school.At my high school, we had what we called "the smoker's shack" and it was seriously a covered place ON SCHOOL GROUNDS where students could smoke. I didn't go to it though, for 2 reasons: Smoking was becoming more socially unacceptable. Everybody called the people who hung out in the shack stoners and losers...but even then I might have done it except for the fact that my mom taught at my school and I didn't want her to catch me. This went on until I left for college.I went to college in L.A., where it was REALLY unacceptable to smoke...so I mostly just smoked at home at night or in my car in between stuff I was doing. This was actually the period in my life where I smoked the least, and was exposed to the least amount of smoke in my environment. Ah, if only I had given it up then...But I didn't. I smoked and I smoked. I smoked (just a cig or 2!) while I was pregnant, I smoked in places you weren't supposed to smoke (nobody will know if I blow my smoke into this towel here in my grandmother's bathroom), I would wake up in the middle of the night to smoke. It was ALWAYS the first thing I did when I woke up and the last thing I did before bed...even after brushing my teeth.

My why is similar to Cathy's. I wasn't having health problems,  I smoked cheap tobacco in a pipe so the money wasn't an issue, but one night in December, after being a serial quitter for years,  standing in the freezing cold darkness I realized. I don't want to do this anymore.  I don't want to be a paying slave to big tobacco anymore, even at $2 a week. So I tossed my nearly full pouch and haven't looked back. I suffer from schizoaffective,  bipolar type,  and CPTSD, and the rate of smoking for those groups is very high,  but I don't want to be a statistic anymore. So I am here. Some days are still bad. But never smokers have bad days too. So I stay quit.  You should too.

I was 46 years old when I quit, and smoked for 37 years before I quit. Both my parents smoked, while she was pregnant my mom was actually told by her freaking DOCTOR to have "a cig or 2 to relax you" (!) Anyway, I got pneumonia all the time as a baby and at 3 years old I was diagnosed with asthma. Before I had an inhaler, my parents used to sit me up in the big recliner downstairs and make me drink cups of strong black coffee whenever I had an attack. They smoked in the house, in the car,... Show more

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I posted this on the Q in February 2018

My word is my bond Why am I still quit? Well because I love it! I love the freedom! But also because my word is my bondMy father always told me that “someone can take away everything from you, home, car, property, even your reputation through slander, but they cannot take away your word”. My word is my sacred bond. I pledge every night and I pledge again every morning to not smoke. My pledge is my word, it is my contract with myself and everyone here on the Q that I will not smoke. To smoke would be to break that contract, break my commitment, break my word to remain smoke free. Just as only I can give away my word as my bond, my quit is also all mine to keep or carelessly throw away. So, when things get tough, as they have in the past and probably will again, I will keep my word. “Commitment means keeping your word long after the mood you said it in has left you”. Pledge every day and then all you have to do for the rest of that day is to keep your word to keep your quit. Not easy, but incredibly, stupidly, simple. It must be NOPE  Thanks (((((((Dad)))))))

Now what I should have added to that post is that I also gave my word to my little brother that I would quit and of course he also knew this lesson from Dad. I never gave him a time frame and he never bugged me about it, which was good, because he knew I would have dug in my heels, with my inner addict winning the deadly game. See, it's basically just he and I left in our little family. I held my Mom's hands, his Mom's hands (who was a great friend to me) and our Dad's as they all died very slow, painful and agonizing deaths from smoking related disease (of course I continued to smoke through all of it). I didn't want to put him through seeing me like that. My goal was to quit on January 1st 2017, but I moved my quit date up, for reasons you can find in my profile, and just decided enough was enough on December 8th, 2016. So, when I arrived at his place for Christmas that year, with 15 days quit under my belt, I finally told him that I had quit. I knew from that moment forward there could be no going back for me. My word is my bond.

I posted this on the Q in February 2018

My word is my bond Why am I still quit? Well because I love it! I love the freedom! But also because my word is my bondMy father always told me that “someone can take away everything from you, home, car, property, even your reputation through slander, but they cannot take away your word”. My word is my sacred bond. I pledge every night and I pledge again every morning to not smoke. My pledge is my word, it is my contract with myself and everyone here on the... Show more

I suffer from bipolar disorder and anxiety disorder, and I
started smoking in my teens as a way to “relieve stress.” I was hooked from
that first rush of dopamine into my brain, and I smoked between 1-2 packs a day
for 10 years. In 2003, I was desperate to rid myself of a habit that was making
me sick. (In my 20s, I already had a horrible smoker’s cough, and I had an
ulcer in my nose that wouldn’t heal.) I heard a commercial for a smoking
cessation hotline, and when I called they referred me to a website called
Quitnet.com for additional help. It was a referral that would change my life.

I spent HOURS every day on the old Quitnet, making friends,
attending bonfires, calling on the help of the HTBC, and beating back the
cravings one by one. With the help of the Qmunity, I quit and would remain quit
for 11 years. But I made a rookie mistake. I drifted away from the Q after the first year or so. 
I thought I didn't need help anymore.

Fast forward to 2014. My brain chemistry was horribly out of
balance. My life was changing dramatically. And I had a new group of friends
who were smokers. One night at a social gathering, after a particularly
troubling argument with a loved one (conflict has always been a major trigger
for me), I made an incredibly dumb decision—I bummed a cigarette from a friend.
That one cigarette was all it took. Within a few weeks I was back up to a pack
a day.

I would struggle for the next 4 years to quit. I would make it
as long as 6 months to a year before starting again. At the end of 2018, I’d
had enough. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that attacks the lungs
(among other things), and I knew I needed to quit for good. But in order to do
that, I needed to figure out what I’d been doing wrong in all my previous
attempts. I figured out two things:

1.) I needed a support system. If I hadn’t left Quitnet, I could have posted asking
for help instead of lighting that first cigarette after 11 years.

2.) I needed to take smoking off the table and stop romancing the cigarette once and
for all.

You see, I never really changed my attitude toward smoking.
I quit in 2003 because I was bothered by health issues, but I always thought I
missed smoking. I envied those who could smoke for years and remain seemingly
unaffected. I felt cheated somehow. And I still thought of smoking as an “option”—an
option for dealing with stress, depression, grief, etc. A small voice inside my
head whispered that I could always return to the habit if life ever got too
hard. So while I didn’t face any major cravings for most of that 11 years, my
inner addict still lived on the hope that one day something would send me
running back to the habit. Which is, of course, exactly what happened.

Life throws us curveballs. Tragedy happens. But now I know
that I can’t return to smoking ever again. No, “can’t” isn’t the right word. I
WON’T return to smoking ever again. Because smoking doesn’t help with anything—not
with stress, not with my depression, not with the pain of grief, not with
weight loss. Not a single thing. All smoking does is create problems. It doesn’t
solve them.

So, on January 1, 2019, I put down the cigarettes forever. And
I returned to the safety and support of the Q.

If you have read this far, I thank you for listening.
Newbies, don’t let my story frighten you. Learn from it. Yes, I threw away a long quit. But I
share my story to help rather than to discourage.

Change your thinking about smoking. Attitude is everything. And use your support
system! The folks here know exactly what you are going through, and they are
willing to help. All you have to do is ask. And always remember one very
important thing:

Smoking is not an option.