Good point.

How about we start a fundraiser so I can get one to keep everyone updated? lol
Aw, that's sweet!

And I know what you mean about crying. The first and only 2x's I tried quitting, I did cry. I was indeed losing my best friend. That'll probably happen this time too. bleh :/
Thank you lg :o. Very sweet of you.

did you see how long it took to raise our TFP money for the month this month?

Well yeah but this would be for something important.
















































http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/7164/giggler.gif

Strong emotional attachments, addictions are.
It's akin to breaking free from an abusive lover.

I had no such luck with the tapering method.

I used the gum. It's not like chewing regular gum, you just chew it a few times
till you feel the peppery tingle, and then park it between cheek and gum.

It truly helped with my ballistic rageful anger.

I was working a 'custom window covering' job where I spent two to three hours
dealing with sometimes arguing couples who were trying to find the 'right' shade of green,
to match their fourth bathroom.

And then I would go home and exercise till I was gasping for healthy air.

When a craving would hit, I would breathe very deeply for a few minutes,
and within five minutes, the craving would ease.

Exercise was the perfect exorcism. Oh yes, crying happens.

Giving up a loved one hurts, even though we know they are bad for us.

You can do this, you feisty fighter.

Thanks ring. I appreciate it. :)

this thread is somewhat inspirational.

ive quit a few times, but always came crawling back to my beloved mentholated buddies. with prices at almost 5 bucks a pack, i think i'll try to kick this habit again.


good luck, woods.

Thanks.

Back atcha. :o

I tried cutting back and while I didn't end up quitting that way it did end up helping my eventual quit. At one point I was in the range of 25-30 cigarettes a day, I got down to 20 but then shot back up to 25. I tried it again and got down to 12-13 a day but again bumped back up but this time to 20 or so a day.

A good way to start is to break just one of those habit smokes. Spend a few days keeping track of your habits, although you probably know them already, and decide which habit smoke would be easiest to break.
For me the first time it was taking away one of my lunchtime smokes. I was smoking 3 every lunchbreak and really cutting it down to 2 was way easier than I thought it would be. Alot of when I was down to a dozen or so was cutting away the extra cigarettes I was chain smoking.

That's a really good suggestion.

I need to go ahead and portion my smokes in a Ziplock bag I guess. For starters, anyways.

So then, how many cigs left? I otherwise think that since the beginning of this thread you have made no progress whatsoever. The point is to reduce to quitting. You haven't reported any progress.

lol

If you kept up with the thread, you'd see that I've purchased packs since the original post. You'd also see that I'm opting for Shani's method, which involves tapering. I also mentioned something about how Sunday would be a good day to start.

There's my progress report for you Xerxys.

stop saying lol.

wut

^^ OK! I ain't talkin' to you till Sunday!

I highly recommend you talk to me now while I'm fairly pleasant.

Nah, shouldn't be bad - like I said, I'll take one away every day... ok, day'ish lol. Probably till I hit 7 (lucky number.) Then I'll stop altogether and start the gum.

So whats the first cig to go? Decided yet?

Do you mean when?

Tomorrow. I have to actually be at the office tomorrow so I can't chain smoke at the computer like I do at home. Currently, I'm at 1 1/2 packs a day, give or take. I'm going to allow myself only one pack tomorrow. I'm normally mechanical about it all - pulling out a cigarette and lighting up, opening a new pack, etc. But I'll only have that one pack tomorrow that'll be opened as soon as I wake up. And that'll last me till I hit the bed. It'll be tough when I get home.

I shall post my progress tomorrow evening.

Hey - anyone out there wanna do this with me? I'll be more than happy to exchange phone #'s and we can text thru the day if need be. I can be nice if I have to. :o

Update? How did it go?

Well I ended up crashing around 8:00 last night. Woke up at 1:00 this afternoon. Guess I had to catch up on sleep. So I just finished off my pack from yesterday this morning. If I stayed awake last night, I would have definitely broken into another pack. So i guess I didn't do that good. Maybe I did - I mean, I normally go thru 1 1/2 packs a day... I dunno.

I guess the bottom line is yes, I did smoke less than I normally do.

Captain's log - 09/01/09

Didn't finish my pack from yesterday. I have 5 left. That's really good. But I went to bed around 12:00 last night and woke up at 4:00 this morning. And I plan on being home all day today. Not so sure how I'll do.

Just remember, the main goal is cut out ONE or TWO a day. If you smoke 40 a day, today you smoke 38 or 39, tomorrow you smoke 36 or 37. If you cut two a day by the end of two weeks you're down to 12 on your quit day

Also another thing they had us do was keep a log of every cig we smoked. Date, Time and what we were doing when we lit up.

oooh - that log thing could be intimidating.

Before Sunday, I experimented with burning various herbs for anxiety and what not. Didn't really notice a difference but I choose to think I did lol.

Was thinking earlier - if I quit smoking in my car, that would be a huge step. But I'm not close to quitting in the morning yet. I love my cigs and coffee way too much.

One of the things that helped me was...I would have two as soon as I got up, and I do mean the minute I opened my eyes, so after a couple of days of cutting one out, I waited 10 minutes after I woke up before I lit up, and had two back to back, the next day I waited 15 minutes and had two, next day I waited 20 minutes and only had one. Also, I had it timed that in 10 miles I chained smoked three in my car on the way to work. I started not lighting up as soon as I got in the car, I'd wait til I got to my first red light...same on the way home... you get the idea I'm sure. I seemed to always smoke 2 cigs back to back so when I was cutting out my one or two for the day I would only have one.

I was a horrible chain smoker lol

Hm. Yeah I see what you're saying. Start making yourself wait and what not. I'll think on this lol.

I disagree, Shani - that's like cutting off a leg an inch at a time so the patient doesn't suffer the whole loss at once.

Quitting is quitting. Period. Slowing down is torture. Leave the slowing down to the patch or gum.

wooÐs - if you're going to quit, you've got to smoke your last cigarette NOW, and when you stub out the last of it in your ashtray, you've got to know in your mind that it was the last cigarette you'll ever smoke. If you're not committed to that, don't even bother trying - you'll just be torturing yourself for a few days for no good reason.

90% of quitting smoking is simply wanting to. It really is. Most people who successfully quit smoking agree that the reason they were finally successful is because they finally really wanted to stop smoking. Again - if you're not 100% sure you want to quit, then you're not going to succeed.

In my case (27 years smoking; quit 11 years ago) I found the nicotine patch to be an immense help - it really cut down on the physical cravings. In fact, I even remember thinking "This is too easy - when is the other shoe gonna drop?" It never did.

Psychologically, you'll still want cigarettes for a long time - way after the physical addiction is over. Whatever you do, don't fall into the "reward myself" trap. No matter how long you've gone without a cigarette, you don't "deserve" to smoke "just one."

'Cause it's never just one.

I used to describe the psychological cravings as a mental game of Whack-A-Mole - you never know when or where they'll pop up, but you've got to smash them in the head and force them back into their hole . . . until the next one pops up.

Please be encouraged by the fact that every day will get easier, and the cravings will get weaker and the time between them longer. Soon enough, you'll actually be able to look at a smoker and think, "Ugh! I'm glad I stopped doing that!"

You'll start to feel healthier in only a few weeks. Your stamina will increase, you'll breathe easier, and smell and taste food better. You'll even notice that when you catch a cold it won't affect you as badly as they used to.

You can do it - as long as you really want to. All it takes is being totally committed to being an ex-smoker.

Good luck!!

Thanks for that post.

I have decreased. No question about that. But I'm scared to try again all at once. It was way rough on me before.

So far, I'm really good on planning on 'the day after tomorrow' to up and quit. But then I decide to ween myself. I don't know wth I'm doing.

I need a long hot bath. lol

I don't know of anyone who quit on their first try. I forget the exact number, but I read a long time ago that the average success was on the 8th try - or something like that.

The most important thing is that you really, really want to quit. If you're just doing it to please someone else, don't even try.

In my case, I was re-landscaping our 1/4 acre yard. Not only was I cutting down large shrubs, digging out the roots, and digging trenches for irrigation lines; but since I'm in Arizona, I also had to move and rake into place - one wheelbarrowful at a time - over 25 tons of decomposed granite. I got so tired of having to stop to rest, bent over with my hands on my knees, wheezing and gasping for air. That's when I realized that the physical consequences of smoking were no longer something "down the road" - they had arrived.

I also ate lunch a lot at a Denny's right down the street from work. I noticed two things about that restaurant - One, there were dozens of very senior citizens who ate there; and two, I never saw any of them sit in the smoking section. All those people in their 70s, and 80s; and not one of them was a smoker. I think that's when the light bulb finally clicked on.

Those two things are what made me determined to become an ex-smoker. Until then, I never really had the necessary motivation to succeed. Looking back on it, it was easier than any other attempt. I credit both my motivation and the (then relatively new) nicotine patches. But I'd be lying if I said it was easy. The thing is though, every day gets easier than the day before. It's a reachable goal.

Again - good luck.

Oh - and if your schedule allows, join a gym - you're about to pack on some pounds - might as well kill two birds at once. Besides - as pointed out earlier - your friends and family will appreciate an extra hour away from you. The irritability will fade in a month or so, though :)

I've been in the car a lot today. After an appointment with my therapist, I decided around 2:00 that I'm no longer smoking in my car. I drove a good bit since then and didn't light up. Next plan of action is to clean out the car to try and lose the smoke smell. Therapist helped me a good bit to create a sort of plan. As well as more 'deep' stuff involving the addiction itself.

I have other steps I plan to take, but I think it's pointless to list them until they're checked off. Physically, I'll be working to not smoke in the house at all. That'll be a huge step, not to mention losing smoking altogether while online at home.

And I do have the nicotine gum that I'll use later down the road when I'm definitely smoking considerably less. I feel better about this now. I feel this just may be do'able.

Thanks to all of you. :)

---------- Post added at 03:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:28 PM ----------

Oh - and I'm not telling my Mother that I'm trying to quit this time. Otherwise, like before, she'll stress the fuck out of me with 'Well, how'd you do today? You failed??? OH GAWD {insert name here,} WHY????"

Woods Babe, don't tell anyone anything about quitting. That's like "borrowing trouble..."

It's all up to YOU. Do YOU want to really kick smokes and get healthy...or do YOU want to keep making lame excuses and pretend that life without cancer or an early death doesn't matter. Use the patch or gum. Be bitchy. Friends will understand. Mine promised not to smoke around me (better for them!). But remember - that this WILL PASS. And once you're on the other side where you quit buying or stashing cigs,you are
stronger than the addiction.

Then you celebrate and get a manicure or whatever makes you reinforce this healthy behavior.

wooÐs,

You're still thinking of "quitting" as part of your future.
Make it part of your past.

If you absolutely can't do it today, that's okay. But you've got to set a date and time and stick to it. And it won't mean a thing if it's more than a week away - that will just give you more time to postpone it.

ps - tell your Mom about it when you do it. That little bit of extra motivation might just put you over the top. Ask her to keep her questions and comments to herself, though - tell her you'll give her progress reports. Just think how good it will feel to call her up and say, "Not a single cigarette in 10 days."

Which, BTW, you could be saying today if you had quit when you started this thread :)

I agree with yournamehere. Cutting back is great but if you are serious about quitting you need to set a date.

bleh. Setting a date makes my stomach bubble lol.

I did slip up and tell my Mother tonight on the phone. I was actually telling a story and it came up but I followed up with 'DO NOT ask me how I'm doing - do not ask questions - don't talk to me about it, just let me do this, etc.' Her reply was 'Ok, I'll just pray for you.' aw, momz <3.

She's been all over me since Tuesday - well, for years, but especially since Tuesday. My Father had a surprise quadruple bypass almost a month ago. The doctor agreed with them on Tuesday that yes, it probably was from him smoking, even though he's now 64 yet quit at 35. Apparently the lungs can heal themselves when a smoker quits. But the heart is still riddled with plaque. So they're both on my ass.

Imma sleep on this 'quit date' deal. Don't wanna think about it anymore tonight.

You guys rock. I never imagined this much support from strangers itt. :o

Just stop, its willpower you need, not nicorette.

Hi Woods,
How's it going? Have you decided to just stop buying the packs yet? That's the big one from the "get go".

We aren't going to give up on you. Don't give up either. Just see how long you can go. Stay busy with other stuff, esp. things using your hands. When I quite my house was cleaner than ever before. And I even did stuff like needlepoint and repainted a few rooms. (The paint smell was nicer that the butts in an ashtray in the living room.)

I just found out the other day that I'm losing my job. I haven't bought a carton, but I did buy 3 packs last night. I'm a little stressed. And pissed.

/update

Hope you can do it!

thanks :)

I'm sorry about the job. I can relate - I've been laid off for 10 months now.
But if you're waiting for a "good time to quit," let me assure you there is no such thing.

Use the financial aspects of smoking to motivate you. My wife's (who still smokes) mail-order cigs were late this week because of Labor Day, so I had to go buy a $73 carton to tide her over. SEVENTY-FUCKING-THREE DOLLARS. And neither of us are working.

Talk about pissed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy crap.

I think I found my solution. Fucking move up north. That's ridiculous!

You just have to stop buying the packs. Plain & hardly easy! Prepare to be without.

Don't buy them, and don't make excuses about why you had to get 'em.