Repost: A Message of Encouragement for Newbies This is a great post....

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Alberta Quits

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Repost:  A Message of Encouragement for Newbies

This is a great post.  Lots of success stories at this site - quitting is doable - not a person in the world who cannot quit - it is just not always easy.

Have a wonderful day!
KTQ
Cara
D6870

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New people read through this please...
From Traveler24 on 11/24/2013 2:40:56 AM

I don't really have the opportunity to get on here too often (wish I did but I'm not by a computer too often and it's a bit difficult on the phone). But sometimes I get this urge to come in and tell those of you suffering through those first few days/weeks/months: YOU CAN DO THIS!

I promise, you can do it. Ideas for success from someone who finally did it, finally had the last practice quit, finally can say, "Hey, I haven't smoked in almost fifteen months."

1. First and foremost, accept that this will be difficult. Someone once told me (and I really do live by this) that once you accept that something is going to be really difficult, it suddenly becomes so much easier. You have accepted the challenge and you know that the road ahead will be bumpy and the weather will not always be pleasant, but you are aware of it and you have prepared yourself for those obstacles (as best as you can prepare yourself anyway). Knowing really IS half the battle. Accept it and jump in feet first.

2. Realize that your body will play tricks on you. I've heard from tons of people about the old "three days and it's out of your system" (true) so you only have physical withdrawal for that long. Hmm, not quite so true in my opinion. Give it about two weeks of just kind of feeling blah, yucky, all the things that come along with it. Don't beat yourself up over it. Take a nap if you're exhausted. Lay on the couch if you're feeling like ugh! This WILL go away and it may take a little while but it will

3. Be gentle with yourself and realize that you will most like have some serious emotions going in all sorts of directions. Sometimes you will find that you're about to cry, or you're so stressed out that you can't see straight, or you are angry with someone over something completely ridiculous. Walk away, remind yourself that you are learning how to cope without the aid of this "delicious"(false) and "satisfying" (wrong again) helpful tool (nope) in destressing. This is the first time in years that you are experiencing stress, sadness, anger, elation, joy, exhaustion, etc. without a cigarette in your hand. It feels strange. And some of those emotions are very difficult learn how to handle without this, but again, you will get there! You have already accepted the challenge that this will be difficult, so be gentle and accept that you may not be the happy-go-lucky person you wish you were. This too shall pass.

Repost: A Message of Encouragement for Newbies

This is a great post. Lots of success stories at this site - quitting is doable - not a person in the world who cannot quit - it is just not always easy.

Have a wonderful day!
KTQ
Cara
D6870

***********************************************************************************************************

New people read through this please...
From Traveler24 on 11/24/2013 2:40:56 AM

I don't really have the opportunity to get on here too often (wish I did but... Show more

Teach

2 days ago

6,873 Days Quit

2 days ago

4. Reward yourself. You made it a month, go have an ice cream cone. You made it through three months, do something special. Count those days if you have to and celebrate each one. Remember that each day you take on there is, for some, the longest you've ever gone without a cigarette. When I had surpassed the almighty three month period (the only real practice quit I'd had), people would ask me if whatever day was the longest I'd ever gone and I would say, "Indeed it is and tomorrow will be the longest day plus one." Celebrate it, you've made it so far without it, even if so far is "only" three months, one week, one whole day for the first time ever. Every single person who has finally done it has gone through each of those days...and probably celebrated them all.

5. Seriously, ONE FREAKING DAY AT A TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I promise you one thing, if you live by this motto for the first year (at least, sometimes I am still reminding myself), you will see great success. There were times in the first year of my quit that I had to live it one freaking hour at a time, ten minute periods, grateful for making it through the day without one. You may find that you have a major, intense crave...Just tell yourself, "Listen, buster, you're not going to do this, you don't need this, you have gone X amount of time and you can't blow it now. I know that for the next half hour, I am not going to smoke." Commit yourself every day to TODAY. Don't worry about tomorrow. Today, you are not going to, no matter what happens, no matter how hard the day is, no matter how intense the craving, no matter how much I want one. Today is the day!

6. Now that you've accepted the difficulty, accepted the mood swings, accepted the physical grossness of the beginning, celebrated that first milestone and the next milestone and the next, you need to accept that this will be a long struggle and even though you will begin to feel better, you will have to maintain yourself. I know for myself that all those practice quits have taught me great things. The most important lesson is that one single puff off a butt and I'm headed for Relapse City, Population: ME. So I don't do it. Because I know and I also know how amazingly fantastic I feel now and how if I ever start smoking again, I will very quickly lose the health that I have worked so hard to achieve over this past fifteen months.

7. It will get better, I promise!

Why do I put it out like this? Because it is what it is. This is my quit. It sucked for the first...well, for quite a while. And believe you me, I'm one of those gems of a person (as many, many, many of us are) that's the old "if *I* can quit, anyone can." Most of my friends (still smokers) say it too, "I cannot believe Jen quit smoking. Man oh man, if SHE can do it anyone can." Anyone includes you, newly quit hero! 
I quit smoking after a twenty year love affair with cigarettes. I started at 14 and I enjoyed every single one of them. I'd probably never have quit if they were healthy for me (now I'm glad they aren't).
I'll make this story short: I ended two very dear, very long term friendships in the week to two weeks smoking my last cig. I finished my degree in biology as a returning adult who held a part time job on campus, a full time school schedule (15 credits with four senior level bio classes which translates to 24 classroom hours in this major), with a demanding study schedule which saw me with about four hours of sleep per night..maybe about six on weekends but I never had a day off, in biology, there are no days off. I started a bootcamp fitness class the day I quit smoking because I didn't want to gain weight (I was very overweight at the time and this fear had kept me quit for years). I exercised at least three to four mornings a week through the whole thing because the feeling of fire in my lungs was the only thing keeping me from smoking.
My school and my personal life and my lack of sleep and everything else made for a VERY difficult first six months. I cried every single day of that fall semester. I turned into a person I couldn't image I could ever become. I have NEVER experienced stress at the level I had. Every person I knew was worried about me, they didn't know what to do with me, and my grades slipped because my head was spinning, which in essence pissed away the plans I had for the future of my education; thus, adding an intense amount of more stress and the snowball effect continued. 
The spring semester was quite similar, but slightly more manageable. 
I will tell you that I have never cried as much as I did the first year. I have never felt like that before. And as I said above: there were days that I took my non-smoking an hour at a time. It was the top priority along with school but it had to still be the most important. I could NOT cave. I HAD to make it through. I worked so hard to be were I was a to start from the beginning would have, eventually, been the end of the quitting process.

When I celebrated my first year without a smoke, I really celebrated. I invited all my closest friends who had struggled through it, watched me cry, watched me meltdown, seen the complete transformation of lifestyle in not smoking and exercising, and who had supported me through it to the brewery down the street and I bought drinks for everyone. I could not have been prouder in all my life. I wasn't even as proud of my degree. I made it. I survived. I was an ex-smoker at last.

Sometimes I would think that I picked THE WRONG time to quit smoking. Perhaps I did, perhaps I didn't. I do know that by picking the most stressful time ever to break away from this addiction could've been the best thing ever. If I can handle THAT, I can handle just about anything. It was pure hell. And I did it. And I feel amazing.

Why do I tell you all of this (if you even read it all)? Because it IS possible. I am proof. Since I quit smoking, I've lost probably about sixty pounds (I didn't really pay attention the first six months, only this year which is about 43), I've run in five 5k races, I've learned to deal with stress without cigarettes, I've learned to embrace this new lifestyle/new health/this crazy thing called "breathing". I love it. I don't ever want to go back. I don't ever want to lose the amazing strength and health that I have worked so damn hard for. I exercise six days a week now, sometimes twice a day, and I'm constantly out doing things. I walk everywhere I can. I breathe so much easier. I never want to give that up. I have never felt physically better in all of my 35 years.

But some days I miss it. As I mentioned in the maintenance part. I still crave cigarettes. I still sometimes miss them. I still sometimes get a little drooly when I smell them. I dream about them. I notice them on the ground. But I maintain. I know I can't do it, because my health is more precious than falling back into that pattern of addict thinking. And when those moments hit, I accept that this is just a craving and it will pass and I wait until it does. Some craves are harder than others, but they all go away. 
And they get easier too. And you will see that, eventually, you don't crave them all day, you don't even crave them every day. These days I have found that I can go for a day or two without too much craving (sometimes none). And sometimes I get POWED with a doozy. But for the most part they are getting easier.

I don't even know if you'll read this; it's quite long. But if you do, take it from a champion smoker, this is possible.

You can do this! It WILL get easier! It got easier for me, and it will get easier for you. Take a deep breath, remind yourself that these feelings will pass, and just keep repeating, "I got this. I can do this." 
One day at a time.
One craving at a time.

My very best to you! Keep the quit! You can do this!

Bill D562