stopping smoking on the 1st of jan 2009

dollyk

well after 30 odd years of smoking im going to give it the best shot ive got on the 1st..how can i get rid of the fear that im going to go through the rest of my life longing to have just one. has anyone out there whos given up tell me that they are now truly happy non smokers..:(

WexCan

Very best of luck to you, I still have a while to go before I think I'll be able to quit, so please keep us updated.

I'm sure you'll find many who will tell you how happy they are having given up - but think mainly about the reasons why you want to give up. If you have a clear reason in your mind and can see improvements in that area (more money, more energy etc) then you'll be happy.

dollyk

fell really bad when i smoke at the mo, must be the years of build up, gonna cut out alcohol for the first two weeks, thats my downfall, and you are right i have to do it for me ..thanks

PaulieBoy

The very best of luck OP :-)
I'm off them three months now, I was a 30 a day for 30 years kinda guy!

I am overall a happy person, the downside of quitting smoking is not having a smoke! So there is one downside.
The upside of quitting smoking is : You can be a "social" person again, no running away from the dinner table to have a smoke! I can go straight into college and talk with fellow students ( I'm a part-time "mature" student!) and not stand out in the bloody cold hanging on till the last second smoking.
I can watch a movie from start to finish, without running out to have several smokes during it. And on and on the list of positive things goes. And I have not even mentioned the money saved, or the health benefits !!!!
My bedroom does not stink of fags, my clothes are not smelly etc, etc ....

One downside and many, many upsides.

I still do miss em, that's for sure, but I will never smoke again.

A bit of reading material might help you along the way, not the "self help" stuff , although that might help you, but I always found useless, I rate :
The Cigarette Century by Brandt , Amazon have it, read that and you will hate the cigarette companies with a passion that will make you want to quit!!

My opinion on giving up is that you have to be in the right frame of mind, if you are in that mode, then it's actually not as hard as you might have thought.

I love being a non-smoker, it's like a whole new life just begun.
Good luck :-)

poindexter

dollyk wrote: »

well after 30 odd years of smoking im going to give it the best shot ive got on the 1st..how can i get rid of the fear that im going to go through the rest of my life longing to have just one. has anyone out there whos given up tell me that they are now truly happy non smokers..:(

stopped 3 yr ago after a few attempts. the first couple of times i tried i had them fears, the time i eventually stopped there was no fear, i just wanted to stop so much. it's all how u think about it. just think of all the reasons why u wanna stop

moonboy52

@PaulieBoy - Nice post. you made me smile. i know whatt you mean exactly:)

nd not stand out in the bloody cold hanging on till the last second smoking

.

the GALL

the downside of quitting smoking is not having a smoke!

To the man who wrote the above line you think that way because your not in the right frame of mind
There's nothing good about smoking
the Taste
the Smell
the Health effects
the Financial cost
the Social aspect

There are no downsides to not smoking, the benifits are endless
Dolly if your gonna quit and you sound like your ready,
You go girl,
When it gets hard, and it will remember how you feel right now, write down all the reasons and read them every morning ....
That you hate smoking, that feeling that your a junkie(lets call a spade a spade your hooked, and dependent on them or so you think)
You hate the Taste of them, your cloths stink, your house stinks
Think of your health, (no wait dont think of your health) Have you kids?, think of them instead.

The money there Costing you and they do cost a small fortune(20 smoke a day @ €8 ish is €56 a week over a year that's €2,800 and that figure is before tax so lets say your an ordinary joe like the rest of us that could well be €5,000 before tax).

The way your Hooked and your circles revolve around them. You can't go to a pub and smoke or any other social place so the only place you can relax and have a smoke is in your own home.

48hrs after your last smoke the nicotine is out of your system and you've no addiction bar the mental one
I'm a recovering smoker and there's not a day goes by that I don't kick myself for being an idiot in the first place for starting and remind myself that I hate smoking and why I have given up

You can do it,
But you'll only do it if your honest with yourself
Think about it.
The best of luck with your quest,
the Gall

dollyk

aw the famous gall, it was reading all your posts that prompted me in the first place, maybe it is all mental thoughts, but youre right..i dont need them. i just believed for years that i did.:rolleyes:

the GALL

Dolly, now your talkin
Get into the right frame of mind and it should all come together for ya

HoorayForPeePee

You can do it dolly.

It's an old cliche, but just amounts to nothing more than taking it a day at a time.

48 hours after the last coffin nail, it becomes a purely mental battle, the physical addiction that you read so much about? That's gone, forever, if you want it to be.

You'll find yourself a new person, have an extra few bob in your pocket, and won't be looking at brown sputum in the bathroom sink each morning. You will rediscover your sense of smell, laugh off the notion of standing in a pub beer garden, rain hail or shine just to maintain the level of poison in your system.

I kicked a fifteen year habit nearly a year ago now, and discovered fitness. That may not be for you, but given time, you never know. Point being that the biggest steo you can take is tossing that box in the fire.

Go for it, and if you miss a day here and there, get up and go for it again. Third time lucky here, and I know there won't be a fourth.

the GALL

hey dolly
how's thing's going today still there?
good, your over the first part the nicotine addiction and now onto part two.
Keep it going you'll get there.

C_Dawg

Hey DollyK,

Glad to hear you made the move to give them up.

I tried it myself on the 1st of Jan but lasted only a few hours. Let myself down bigtime.

Keep up the good fight for us all and keep us posted how you are doing

dollyk

still hanging in, wasnt as bad as expected to be honest, havnt really had a drinking session tbh, maybe i never will. sleep was very bad for a few days, its better...sitting here smiling at the big deal about quitting, its like it takes over my whole life, i feel like ill still be mumbling in 40 years time..its been 40 years and three days and a second since i had my last cig. :P. to be honest it beats thinking about the credit crunch and the bloody mortgage, why did it seem like a great idea to buy a house and worry for 30 odd years pml. omg my humour has all but gone help:eek:

the GALL

well done dolly
how are you today?

carebear2

hey
just logged om here this morning as ive decided today is the day im going to quit,great to have these piosts for support and help, heres wishing me luck

mjg

Fair play to both Carebear and Dolly and to all the ex and soon to be ex-smokers out there. I stopped smoking on Saturday, it's going well so far.

dollyk

the GALL wrote: »

well done dolly
how are you today?

well i for one woke up this morning looked in the mirror, and hey a beautiful princess stared right back..well maybe i exaggerette a little:P, the thing is im sleeping rings around me. and as ive also stopped my alcohol, just for the moment im looking good for a granny. not having any real probs this time . think its like the gall said, there is NOT one good thing about smoking, im still very nervous about slipping up, not sure how long into quit this will ease off.
ive joined the gym, so much for the credit crunch lol. so im off there now..i just checked a little dairy i found..seems i dedicated my whole 20s and 30s trying to stop. but the support on here is the best motivation ive ever had..feels like ill be letting everyone down if i start again..and guess what..i stop and start so many times my husband hasnt noticed ive stopped again..:rolleyes:

good luck to all the other posters who are doing the same xx

DarkJager

dollyk wrote: »

well i for one woke up this morning looked in the mirror, and hey a beautiful princess stared right back..well maybe i exaggerette a little:P, the thing is im sleeping rings around me. and as ive also stopped my alcohol, just for the moment im looking good for a granny. not having any real probs this time . think its like the gall said, there is NOT one good thing about smoking, im still very nervous about slipping up, not sure how long into quit this will ease off.
ive joined the gym, so much for the credit crunch lol. so im off there now..i just checked a little dairy i found..seems i dedicated my whole 20s and 30s trying to stop. but the support on here is the best motivation ive ever had..feels like ill be letting everyone down if i start again..and guess what..i stop and start so many times my husband hasnt noticed ive stopped again..:rolleyes:

good luck to all the other posters who are doing the same xx

One thing I kept in mind when I started my attempt to quit was that it only takes 21 days to break the habit. You are nearly there now, well done for going so long without them and keep it up. You really will start to feel better and better as the weeks go on.

the GALL

That's great news dolly
Well done....:D

the GALL

Hey dolly,
Just reading your op and your off them 21 days,
You broke the habit
You need to go out and treat yourself

dollyk

well i think im a scarecrow, someone took my insides and BRAIN away and filled me with straw. last night i wanted a smoke, was it because i was gaging for one puff, was it because i couldnt face the day, NO it was because i am soooo happy to be free of them :eek:NOW whats that all about. another thing is for me anyway 98 % of the so called withdrawel (sorry but i dont believe there is any) is purely in my head. 2% is there but the rest is caused by thinking long term ( for me anyway). when i got it into my head to have a quick one did i think logically , no no no , i fixated on my granny and my sisters friend and my uncles partner third cousin and all the imaginery people who didnt smoke but died anyway..and then i sat feeling sorry for myself and all the holidays where i loved to have beer by the gallon and smoke till i choked. so i rang my son ( who is 26 and never smoked and doesnt understand anyhoo) and moaned to him, his reply....:rolleyes:AW ma sure you wont be going on any holidays with this bloody credit crunch anyway.. i pissed myself laughing.. now thats logic.. CARE BEAR AND THE REST OF YOU KEEP IT UP , AS THE GALL PROVED ONE DAY AT A TIME..YIPPEE:D

dollyk

keep it up mjg , its easy if you want it to be

carebear2

Hey dolly your posts are great really great to have support and motivation on here and well done on passing the 21 days. 2nd day for me and so far so good tg. Very little cravings aswell but using the patches so maybe thats why, but im finding that i keep fidgeting with my hands but im sure in time that will stop!

dollyk

well this morning my ma 68 years was taken into hospital by ambulance, what did i do when i got the call, yea i got my husbands fags and sat and smoked ten one after the other.i dont know if it done anything for me but it seemed to help and at that min i didnt care.. seems her oxygen levels were low and she should have been grasping for breath, but she wasnt, because she had smoked for over 40 years (she gave up 20 years ago ) her body had got used to low levels, not sure what it really means something to do with smokers shallow breathing so as not to cough, now im thinking is it really worth it, i know the answer to that but im too upset to think positive.. will i stop again and make a fresh start just putting this down to a crisis, i dont really know, am i gonna do this every time something goes wrong.. i dont know that either..x dollyk

mjg

I'm very sorry to hear about your Mam Dolly, hope she's better soon.
Don't beat yourself up about the smoking. At least you now know that you can stop it, and I'm sure you will. As for going back on them when things go bad, I wish I had some words of support but I've been off them and back on them using so many different excuses to myself that I have nothing to offer I'm afraid, except the hope that when the quitting sticks, it really sticks, so you should stick at it. I'm going to.

Good luck with it.

who007

Have you read the Allen Carr book - Easyway to give up?
I read it 3 times - first couple of times I quit for about 3 months and ended up back on them. But I ended up back on them cos of 1- being really really drunk (normal alcohol levels were fine and didn't prompt a desire)
2- Sure I am off them now and that one tasted terrible (only had it to prove I could take or leave them now - yeah right!)

I read it again in Sept and quit.. 10.09.08 (like a countdown if you think of it!)

I am absolutely delighted to be free of those things after 25 years!
I just wish I hadn't started.

Yo ucan do it. Just don't accept that those 10 fags means you are back in the clutches! Shallow breathing may have done some good for your mum in this situation, but deep breathing does your health enough good that it may stop you ending up in the same situation!

Stop smoking girl, you deserve to do yourself that favour!

dollyk

thanks whooo, im going to start fresh this morning, i dont feel disgusted tbh just sad that i gave it so easily, my smokes/myback up/ my friends/ thats what im feeling after 30 years of smoking. no point in lying. i have to work to get myself back to the right frame of mind now, but i will.i did read the alan carr book i also went to his seminar, did stop me for a while, got more inspiration from reading the posts from the gall. well baby steps again .today no nicotine, i will worry about tomorrow when it comes DAY FOOKING ONE AGAIN.

dollyk

back on track, have wrote a little note to myself, kinda like a reminder of why i gave in so easy, and the whole thing of starting again...but hell one slip up wont doom me to hell ..:D

the GALL

hey Dolly,
my thoughts are with you and your mother
Don't go beatin yerself up over havin a smoke,
your doing fine
the Gall

carebear2

Hi everyone
Dolly hope your mam is ok. Fair play to you for going straight back off the fags again.

Well its day 5 for me and so far so good apart from 15 minutes ago when I had a big argument with my partner and thought about lighting up, I was so tempted that I actually went to get his fags and smoke but I just walked away, took a few deep breathes and decided to log in here to read the posts for support and I've gotten rid of the urge already. These posts along with my nicorette patches are a great help.

Im back to work tomorrow after being off sick for the whole month of Jan, and Im really dreading it, as I drive everyday I smoke about 3 cigs on my way there and then smoke throughout the day in work so I think Im going to find it really hard but I'll just keep thinking positive

bunnybaloo

carebear2 wrote: »

Hi everyone
Dolly hope your mam is ok. Fair play to you for going straight back off the fags again.

Well its day 5 for me and so far so good apart from 15 minutes ago when I had a big argument with my partner and thought about lighting up, I was so tempted that I actually went to get his fags and smoke but I just walked away, took a few deep breathes and decided to log in here to read the posts for support and I've gotten rid of the urge already. These posts along with my nicorette patches are a great help.

Im back to work tomorrow after being off sick for the whole month of Jan, and Im really dreading it, as I drive everyday I smoke about 3 cigs on my way there and then smoke throughout the day in work so I think Im going to find it really hard but I'll just keep thinking positive

hi carebear i was like that for first few days when i gave those horrible things up the least bit of stress and all i was thinking about was goin for a smoke but that will pass and you will be able to look back and say well at least i didnt give in to temptation im off the ciggs 25days today and never thought i would give them up wouldnt have been able to do it only for champix think they are best things on the market tried everything from gum to patches even tried zyban about 6 years ago and still smoked so now im so proud of myself so keep it up and the best of luck