Quitting Mantra's (Wisdom for Recovering Smokers)

Wisdom for Recovering Smokers

From lancer071 on 10/30/2009 6:53:39 AM

Wisdom for Recovering Smokers 

Quitting is as repetitive a process as smoking. So, try to create new habits which do not include smoking. 

It's better to be an ex-smoker with an occasional desire to smoke, than a smoker with a constant desire to stop doing it. 

I DON'T SMOKE! 

Smoking is not an option. It's just no longer an option. 

The craving will pass whether you smoke or not. 

I'm a puff away from a pack a day. 

There is no such thing as just one cigarette. 

I am not deprived of anything by having quit smoking. In fact, it is the smokers who are deprived - of health, energy, money, confidence, peace of mind, courage, tranquility, freedom, and self-respect. 

We only have one day to not smoke in. Today. 

Don't envy smokers and bemoan the fact that you no longer are one. Start seeing them as the miserable creatures they really are and pity them. You wouldn't envy a heroin addict. 

Someday I'll find it hard to believe that I ever smoked. 

The cravings do diminish with time. HANG IN THERE! 

Own your quit. 

It's takes practice to become an experienced former smoker. 

Hang Tuff! Don't Puff! 

You're GREAT! You don't smoke anymore!! You don't HAVE to smoke. 

Smoking is a choice. 

Quitting is a process, not a single act. 

The URGE to smoke does pass! 

Craving - Nicodemon - BITE ME! 

Remember your discomforts (of quitting - the first few days)...They are valuable in order to stay quit! 

H.A.L.T. - Don't get too hungry, angry, lonely or tired. 

There are better companions than cigarettes! 

REWARD YOURSELF! Notice how you are improving!! 

Tell yourself, "I've ended the habit, just not the addiction".....(to stay off cigs). 

Drink lots of water in those first few weeks, and take deep breaths and slow exhales when the cravings hit. 

Don't be afraid to quit, rather be afraid NOT to quit. 

There is no way out but through. 

I can get up in the morning and take a deep breath without that tightness or coughing. 

My house smells great. 

Congratulate yourself on the fact that you have STOPPED, not on "having a go" or "another try". YOU HAVE STOPPED SMOKING. 

You should feel FANTASTIC about yourself because you no longer smoke; it's the best thing you will never ever do again! 

One is too many, and a thousand is never enough! 

"Not One, Not now, Not ever" 

Theres always money in my pocket. 

You can do this, you are doing it, one day at a time. 

Practice stress reduction techniques. 

'Progress, Not Perfection' 

You have to gain 75lbs to do the same level of damage to yourself as a pack-a-day habit will. 

Confidence is nice, but doing the foot-work is better. Confidence is the RESULT of accomplishment, and my money goes on the one who's got blisters 

Once you stop smoking the tendency is to blame everything that goes wrong on the fact that you have quit. 

No thank you, I don't smoke! 

"If I light up now, eventually I'll have to quit again.... who the heck wants to go through that again?--NOT ME!!!" 

Being quit for a year is just a long string of one day at a time quits put together. 

In restaurants always remember to say: "Non-smoking, please." 

In the end, you will be very swollen from the steriods you're on to keep what's left of your air passages open. You will have an oxygen tube hanging from your face, and you won't be able to go anywhere w/ out it. Your fingers, lips, toes, feet will all be purple, and your skin will have little to no color left to it. At the very end, you will be so oxygen deprived that you will not be able to form a coherent sentence, or even recognize those people who love you most in this world. You will be gasping for air. 

Say it out loud - "Today I am proud of ME!" 

Whatever it takes to stay smober. 

It was a long walk into the woods, its a long walk out. 

When you have a craving or a smoking thought, confront it, face it and don't hide or try to avoid it. 

When you have a craving, ask yourself what if anything triggered it? what are you going to do instead? and, the hard one for most smokers, how do I feel about the trigger and how do I feel right now in general? 

Everytime you think a cigarette will stop a craving, imagine a heroin junkie pathetically spiking his/her arm with a syringe. Is that really helping their situation? Will a cigarette really help yours? 

---The NOT AN OPTION list: 

1. "JUST ONE" is not an option. 

2. "NOT BECOMING UN-ADDICTED" is not an option. 

3. "NOT ACCEPTING YOUR ADDICTION" is not an option. 

4. "WALLOWING IN SELF PITY AND AMBIVALENCE" is not an option 

5. "DOING IT OVERNIGHT OR WITH MAGICAL TRICKS" is not an option. 

6. "GETTING HOOKED AGAIN" is not an option. 

7. "TO QUIT QUITTING" is not an option. 

8. "TRYING TO DO IT ALONE" is not an option. 

9. "TO SURRENDER BEFORE GIVING IT A BATTLE" is not an option. 

10. "TO SAY THAT I CAN'T DO IT is not an option. 

Slipping is not an option. 

Skip don't Slip; Keep the Quit. 

Be more and more focused on living life,and less focused on how you need to change. 

Don't smoke no matter what ... no matter what don't smoke! 

Whatever you decide will work --- will in fact work. 

The Q LIFE: read the information in the library, don't smoke, check out the news section, don't smoke, read the posts, don't smoke, reply to the posts, don't smoke, post your own, don't smoke, chat, don't smoke, post, don't smoke, read some more, don't smoke, drink water, don't smoke, go for a walk, don't smoke, call a friend, don't smoke, have a bubble bath, don't smoke....do whatever you want to do EXCEPT smoke!!! That's out of the question!! 

If having problems, keep asking yourself "How is smoking going help this problem." It won't. Don't smoke! 

To everyone who is just starting to feel the benefits of quitting: smoking is pretty disgusting when you're a non-smoker. It hurts, it makes you splutter, it tastes bad. Smoking will never be the way you remember it, because you aren't used to it any more. 

If you fail to prepare, be prepared to fail