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The Giving Up Smoking Thread!! Part 2

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  • larmy16
    larmy16 Posts: 4,324 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Well done Mumof2. That is so inspiring for the newer quitters.:0)
    Grocery Challenge £139/240 until 31/01
    Taking part in Sealed Pot No.819/2011
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  • Hi all,

    Just checking in again - another great weekend for me (hence why I haven't been on here :o). My very best friend at work has left to emigrate to America, and we went out on Friday to see him off. Not only was I very slightly intoxicated, I was also quite emotional and I managed to not smoke!

    Can't wait until Friday and then I'll have done four weeks. It's starting to seem really alien to me now - I know what people mean when they look and say "why are you doing that?" (my nephew who's 6 is one of those, always asking "Auntie? Why do you smoke?" - and it's horrible saying "I don't know darling.... I just do....") - now I feel a bit like that.

    Hope everyone's doing really well still!

    Xxxx
    [STRIKE]Smober since 12/03/09 :T[/STRIKE] Time to try again methinks....

    Last Ever Cigarette - 28/01/10

    DFD 01/11 :eek:
  • FEE_100
    FEE_100 Posts: 113 Forumite
    Well done Mum of 2 I remember reading all your posts just before I signed up to this thread! Im not on this thread every day now but still like to come on and see how the newbies are doing and stick some advice in if I can.! I met the friend who inspired me to quit for the first time since I`d quit on Sat and told her it was down to her Id stopped and she was soo pleased. Felt so proud of myself to say Id been quit for 2 months now!!!
    Smoke free since 16th Dec 2009
    :dance:
  • Mumof2, well done! I started reading this thread about the time you gave up and have watched your ups and downs. You are an inspiration to us all - epecially as you have done it "cold turkey"

    Choille, how are you today?

    Neenie-o, I do hope that, by 4 weeks, smoking will seem alien to me, too! I am finding it very difficult to remember why I stopped in spite of all the lists pinned up around the house. I enjoyed smoking; it was one of the few pleasures in my life.....my doctor pointed that out to me :( Of course I can see the benefits - I smell nicer, the circulation in my hands and feet is improving, I am not drowning in my own phlegm, I am not wasting money.....the list is endless!

    Each day is more difficult than the last but I am determined to win.
    I am a non-smoker :j last cigarette 10th February 2010
  • choille
    choille Posts: 9,710 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Hi oldreekie - you're doing really well.
    I know what you're saying.

    I have an elderly cat who was wheezy - the vet asked me if I smoked.

    So our animals suffer from passive smoking too. He seems a lot better since I stopped smoking.

    It is hard & you have to keep having an inner dialogue with yourself about why you are stopping.
    I think it will get easier - it will - it will. It's getting to that point without starting but we can do it & we will do it.
  • Hi Oldreekie,

    I know it's hard, and I know you're going to think of it as something you're depriving yourself of when you first stop, but it really does get easier. You just cope.... and slowly things get easier. That's not to say I'm going to let my guard down - I reckon I was one of the few people who say they loved smoking, really enjoyed every one I had and did regard it as a little treat, as others would a bar of chocolate or a nice meal out - when I knew I was ready to quit I actually wrote down how many of the cigarettes I smoked I really wanted, and it was 4 or 5 out of twenty. Waste of time and a definite waste of money!

    I feel so much better now, and you will too. You've done so well and you know you've made the right choice no matter how hard it seems right now - it'll be worth it in the end. You'll find you do things more quickly that you'd have put off when you were smoking (whether it's to take your mind off the fags, or because you have more energy I don't know). You must know the situation; you've got a job to do and you think "before I tackle that I'll just have a quick fag" and when you've had your fag, you might do something else - and you just end up procrastinating and having about four fag breaks while still not getting the job done.

    Someone once referred to smoking to me as like "toxic yoga" when I'd used the "I'm stressed" excuse to pick up the fags yet again. I thought it was a great description. Basically, when you're stressed you have your fag and you take a great, big, satisfying drag on it and then you're calm again - well really, it's just the big breath that's calming you down not the nicotine as that's a stimulant and will stress you out further! I think of toxic yoga and think of people in a smoke-filled room trying to do yoga.... and it doesn't seem very pleasant!

    I think you're doing brilliantly - and it won't be long before you start to feel normal again (as you'll know, you've stopped before!). Everyone on here is, and I really hope this is the last time they have to go through this horrible period and come out the other side!

    Xxxx
    [STRIKE]Smober since 12/03/09 :T[/STRIKE] Time to try again methinks....

    Last Ever Cigarette - 28/01/10

    DFD 01/11 :eek:
  • ameliarate
    ameliarate Posts: 7,389 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I would like to know - so I can be on my guard - what happens to make someone start smoking again after being stopped for a few months or even longer.

    I can understand it if something really major happens but do people just have a few drinks and have a fag and that's it, smoking again or just feel one day I have to have a fag and go buy some?
    We don't stop playing because we grow old; We grow old because we stop playing.
  • choille wrote: »

    It is hard & you have to keep having an inner dialogue with yourself about why you are stopping.
    I think it will get easier - it will - it will. It's getting to that point without starting but we can do it & we will do it.

    Absolutely agree choille about the inner dialogue and love the "it will - it will" get easier! My mantra is - I can do it.

    Oh yes, Neenie-o, I always had to have a cigarette before moving onto a new task.....just to clear the mind, have a rest....even when it was snowing outside! But, I still insist that I enjoyed every cigarette. The depression after going cold turkey last summer lasted right up until Christmas and I only felt better, happier, when I had a cigarette. So sad:( Well, we are moving on, as you say, and I am really looking forward to getting to where you are now:D

    All of you are utterley brilliant and I am sooooo grateful to you for the chats. You see, this time I have not told anyone that I have stopped because last time they all kept telling me how proud of me they were and then I let them down. This time, it has taken my OH 7 days to realise that I was not going outside for a cigarette!! He has not said much about it.....probably because he is still smoking. I do not want to put any pressure on him.

    Now, I must get on with some work!!
    I am a non-smoker :j last cigarette 10th February 2010
  • ameliarate - for me it was thinking I could have one and it wouldn't matter. It went ok for me like that for a couple of weeks, just being a social smoker - having the odd one on a night out etc. Then I started feeling bad for cadging fags off people when I was out so I'd buy a pack of ten and give away what I had left at the end of the night. Then I stopped giving them away (well, it's a waste of money isn't it!) so I'd just finish off that box and then I'd have smoked on Friday night and Saturday day for example - eventually I got to the point of just smoking full time again. This happened gradually, I'm sure others here will understand, I never thought "s0d this, I'll start smoking again!", it just kind of happened.

    Not really anything you can be on your guard against I don't think. Just never get complacent, and never think you can be a social smoker! I never could before so I don't see why I'd be able to now!
    [STRIKE]Smober since 12/03/09 :T[/STRIKE] Time to try again methinks....

    Last Ever Cigarette - 28/01/10

    DFD 01/11 :eek:
  • ameliarate
    ameliarate Posts: 7,389 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Neenie_o wrote: »
    ameliarate - for me it was thinking I could have one and it wouldn't matter. It went ok for me like that for a couple of weeks, just being a social smoker - having the odd one on a night out etc. Then I started feeling bad for cadging fags off people when I was out so I'd buy a pack of ten and give away what I had left at the end of the night. Then I stopped giving them away (well, it's a waste of money isn't it!) so I'd just finish off that box and then I'd have smoked on Friday night and Saturday day for example - eventually I got to the point of just smoking full time again. This happened gradually, I'm sure others here will understand, I never thought "s0d this, I'll start smoking again!", it just kind of happened.

    Not really anything you can be on your guard against I don't think. Just never get complacent, and never think you can be a social smoker! I never could before so I don't see why I'd be able to now!

    Thank you, I was just curious. None of my friends smoke, my partner doesn't so there is minimal risk there.
    We don't stop playing because we grow old; We grow old because we stop playing.
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