STOP THE INSANITY!! ~RP~

I am a serial quitter on my final quit. I am forever a nicotine addict. Every day I wake I have to take a moment and remind myself of the reality of my addiction to nicotine and the road it takes me down if I take even one single puff. It has driven me crazy and made me do some embarrassing things in the past, just to get my fix. 

I got this post from a quit buddy. This repost is from a man who freed himself from the clutches of this addiction, until the day he died from COPD. I never knew him, but I did see him around the Quitnet forum and he is an inspirational and supportive man! Cheers and RIP

Adam
D26
NOPT

REPOST~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

STOP THE INSANITY

Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. One of the hardest things we have to do in life, to improve ourselves personally, is to change. But change we must because if we don`t like the results we are getting, and we don`t change what we are doing, we will keep getting the same undesired results.

Now I don`t like the term `Serial Quitter.` I prefer to think of my Q friends who keep relapsing, and keep resetting their Quit Date and Gadget Stats as `Serial Restarters.` These are the QSters who start over again and again and again and keep thinking, `This time I`m going to make it.` Understand, if someone is on the Q trying, I give them all the credit in the world for sticking it out. However, If a QSter keeps trying and keeps getting negative results, they have to take a serious look at what they`re doing. They have to figure out what`s not working; because if what they`re doing isn`t working they become like a car stuck in the mud with its tires spinning. They `re just not going anywhere and they will get frustrated and they will beat themselves up and think, `What`s wrong with me?`

So, do you think this post is addressed to you?. Then you need to step back, take a look at what you`re doing wrong and make a change. I know everyone has it in them to win this never-ending battle. But constantly thinking, `I`m only going to have JUST 1` or `Okay, tomorrow will be different isn't the way to go. You need to devise a Plan B that incorporates a `One Day At A Time` and `Not One Puff Ever` approach.

I know you can do it. I know you can quit smoking. You just have to `STOP THE INSANITY` and I`ll.....

See You At The Top
Dave

What's Ahead....(RP)

A post from a well seasoned Vet in the art of quitting, Gummer! This is a very inspiring post from someone who has been there done that and has made it over the hump and to the other side of addiction. In the early days we have to stay accountable, stay committed daily and most of all have faith and believe that we will come to a point where this whole "quitting forever" thing, doesn't have to be forever!

 

Adam

D26

NOPT

 

REPOST~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

What's ahead

From gummer on 5/24/2012 2:31:44 PM

Gosh, it was nine years yesterday. Nine years since I quit. It doesn't seem that long ago, but then I have a child a few months younger than my quit and he's huge, so I can sort of "see" how long it has been. It's a chunk of my life now.

I like to post around anniversaries just to... I don't know... report back to you from your future? ... let you know what is ahead... because when I first quit my fears of quitting and the struggle to come were far greater than the reality of what I have found. My fears got in the way and they should not have. I would have quit a lot earlier had I known what the future held.

Here is what I want you to know nine years after quitting:

(1) - No matter how you feel now, you will not be quitting forever. You get over the hard stuff. You return to your old self. You forget about smoking. You forget about quitting. You wonder what you ever found in it. Contrary to what I thought, you do not sit there pining for a smoke for all eternity. Quite the contrary, when you think of smoking all you feel is relief that you are no longer trapped doing it. Would I go back? Not on your life!

(2) You can never smoke again. But that's not a problem, because on this side of your quit it is a blessing rather than a curse. I really mean it.

(3) - By quitting TODAY, what you are doing is massively important. What you are doing TODAY will dictate where you find yourself in nine years. I was in my late thirties when I quit... now I am in my late-ish forties. I cannot even imagine how I would find myself today with nine extra years of smoking under my belt and in my lungs. That is an enotmous amount of unnecessary abuse and addiction. At just a pack a day that is another 65,000+ cigarettes I would have smoked!!! Sixty-five-thousand. And for what? Knowing what I know now that is not just tragic, it is criminal. I never needed to smoke. It was only smoking that made me smoke. And it took quitting to learn that.

(4) - You may think you love smoking. You may think you miss smoking. But you are just addicted. That's all. And that is not bad news, it is good news. Quitting is not going to deprive you of something you love... it is going to make you shed a huge burden you are carrying around. Realizing that you are just addicted is what will allow you to free yourself of this curse. Realizing that you are addicted is what will allow you to get yourself un-addicted.

(5) When you become un-addicted... can you smoke again? Nope, because when you become un-addicted the last thing you will ever want is another cigarette! If you find yourself wanting one, then you are still addicted, so you carry on quitting. But honestly, you'll most likely find you never want to smoke again.

(6) Last one, but this one is REALLY important: Your quit will not just happen, it will take place when YOU make it happen, not a moment sooner. There is no magic bullet, no accident, no divine intervention, no luck. It makes no difference if you use NRT or go CT. What matters is that YOU make it happen because until that day, you will continue to be a smoker. Understand that before you let nine more years go by. Only you can stop yourself from smoking. Only you can make yourself smoke.

These are some random thoughts, which I hope will ease your way during the early days. Sometimes you have to plug ahead on blind faith, so I hope that having heard your future is bright might make you hang on long enough to get through a bleak moment, long enough to unmask what is really going on, long enough for that lightbulb to suddenly go off and let you see it so clearly that you start to prefer not smoking to smoking.

Congrats on your quits! Time will fly by once you're over the hump.

Gummer

I just want to feel normal again (RP)

This post is a great reminder that we are finding a "new" normal now, and that we have to be patient with ourselves. Our "new and improved" normal is fueled with a stronger and smarter set of beliefs and wisdom. We will rise to the top...one day at a time we climb that mountain of freedom!

Adam
D26
NOPT

REPOST~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I just want to feel NORMAL again!
From sallysails on 11/18/2010 8:18:01 AM
 
I wrote this over 3 years ago....New quitters, please know that what you're feeling now is so temporary. You WILL get through this :)

I just want to feel NORMAL again!
From sallysails on 11/3/2007 8:34:40 AM

I just want to feel NORMAL again!

I see lots of folks saying that. I said it. I thought it constantly for a few months after quitting. Around 3 months, I became depressed because I would never be NORMAL again. I thought I would never enjoy life again.

When we quit smoking we're doing a whole lot more than simply ceasing to ignite a tobacco filled tube. We are withdrawing from an addictive substance. One that wove its way into almost every aspect of our lives. The withdrawal process takes time. And we must be patient with ourselves. This is an instant gratification world we live in. We want it, and we want it easily, and we want it now.

When we made the DECISION to quit smoking that meant that we wanted to improve our lives. Already, that is not our old normal. Remember, our old normal was to feed our addiction. Our old normal was to build our lives around feeding that addiction.

So, we will never be our OLD NORMAL again. Thank goodness. We all are rebuilding our NEW & IMPROVED lives. And we will settle into our NEW & IMPROVED NORMAL. That's a very big deal. And it will take some time. And there will be frustration, tears, anger, depression. Weight gain, ugh. But there are also many, many great things, like white teeth, bright skin, fresh smelling house, clothes and car, more free time, self confidence. So please be patient and open minded. Because once you decide to improve your life, you must give yourself time to let the improvement happen.

And one day, in the not too distant future, you will look back on your smoking days and be very thankful that you no longer feel your "old normal".

Cheers,
Sally
enjoying my New & Improved Normal at 280 days
(and now simply estatic at 1391 days....my New & Improved Normal is now ME!!!! and it feels terrific! So very worth the initial days of feeling uncomfortable.)

Two Days We Should Not Worry! ~(RP)

For me, staying smoke free is an instant way to stay in the present moment. One thing I have realized with being free from smoking is that you are always thinking about the past in regret or the future of when you'll quit. I can never be in the "now" when smoking. That's not a way to live life to the fullest!

 

Adam

D26

NOPT

 

(Repost)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

From Welshcorgimom on 12/10/2007 11:11:04 AM

I've borrowed this from another club I belong to. I really like what it has to say and wanted to share it with y'all......

Two Days We Should Not Worry

There are two days in every week, about which we should not worry,

two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.

One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares,

its faults and blunders, its aches and pains.

Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control.

All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday.

We cannot undo a single act we performed;

we cannot erase a single word we said.

Yesterday is gone forever.

The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow

with all its possible adversities, its burdens,

its large promise and its poor performance;

Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control.

Tomorrow's sun will rise,

either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise.

Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow,

for it is yet to be born.

This leaves only one day, Today.

Any person can fight the battle of just one day.

It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities

Yesterday and Tomorrow that we break down.

It is not the experience of Today that drives a person mad,

it is the remorse or bitterness of something which happened Yesterday

and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring.

Let us, therefore,

Live but one day at a time.

Jill

D20

Build that Dream!

Wrote this for a quit friend and wanted to keep it close..... 

We gotta look inside of souls, be honest and do this for ourselves. Smoking has nothing to do with 3D right!!! We are addicts, one puff will just add back the big ugly problem that makes all others worse.

I'm not one much to talk. I am a student in this journey still. I am playing follow the leader. Let's do this though...surprise yourself and flip that attitude around and change your 3D, change your perspective...stay involved....keep moving forward. It's all we got now.

That addiction whether dormant or alive will use any little excuse, lie or problem to get us to open that stinky can back up. Anything that tries to get us to smoke, is a twisted brainwashed lie.

Chin up. Cheer up. Their is no excuse to smoke. period. period. period!
 
Time to build those dreams! Can't do it while smoking anymore!

KISS

Adam
D23
NOPT

It's not ever the quit...(RP)

This is a repost I definitely needed to see and let sink in for the last week or so. My junky mind is trying to blame every little thing on the fact I quit smoking. That's a lie. I keep reminding myself that it is because I smoked for 18 years that certain things are happening. This repost hits the nail on the head!

Adam

D22

(RP)===========================================

From CarlyKicksButts on 3/29/2012 6:19:16 AM

When you quit, you are going to have symptoms. You might....

-have bad gas

-get headaches

-get stomach cramps

-lose all focus

-get discombobulated

-forget things

-have dry mouth

-get little mouth sores

-get a sore throat

-develop a cough

-start coughing up dark gunk

-feel weak and tired

-feel anxiety

-etc.

This is NOT from "quitting" smoking. 

THIS IS THE RESULT OF THE SMOKING. Smoking caused the pain and agony you are going through.

"Not Smoking" does not cause people discomfort, folks. Ask a non smoker...."does not smoking give you a headache?" "The last time you didn't smoke, did not smoking make you tired?" :-)

Nicotine and the hundreds of chemicals are what CAUSE all your agony. The process of getting them OUT of your system isn't pleasant. But the GOOD NEWS is that if you do NOT take one SINGLE puff, this process is a ONE TIME thing. You never have to go through this ever again, and then you can enjoy "not smoking" like the rest of the world.

And it's even way cooler than you can imagine it is.

After smoking 32 years, I just didn't know. It's fan-freaking-tastic. NOT smoking causes happiness. Smoking causes all this crud you're going through.

Maintain the proper perspective and you'll love getting that toxic sludge and crud OUT of your system, even though it's not comfortable.

Just don't blame the quit. Please blame the smoking; that's the cause here!

Carly

d879

Days I Just Want to Die (RP)

 So much in this repost struck a deep chord with me. In these early days I have been angry at the smallest of things, thinking I have been deprived of the one thing I found happiness in. I have been holding on to that thought that "things get better", and still have to. I know anything that tries to get me to smoke is a lie from the junky. I have found myself on the floor crying deep in the guilt, fear and shame of not feeling able to escape from this addiction. Such an honest and true post of what it's like going through quitting, and how I trust things will get better, and I'll look back in disbelief at the thoughts that have controlled and brainwashed me into believing that smoking does something for me. SMOKING DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BUT KEEP YOUR ADDICTION ALIVE AND ADDS ONE BIG PROBLEM THAT CASTS A SHADOW OVER ALL OTHER "REAL LIFE" PROBLEMS.

Adam
3weeks

(Repost)=================================================

Days I just wanted to Die
From: Melissa777_-Gold (Original Message) Sent: 7/14/2003 9:34 PM

Hi

I was laying in bed this am thinking about life in general.
I do that a lot now because there is no rush to get up and get a fix.

I thought about a lot of things and just before I got up it dawned on me that smoking was not one of my first thoughts as a matter of fact it only came to mind when I was thinking about all the really bad stuff I have been through in life.

There were days early in my quit that I just wanted to die.
Death seemed a better option then what I was feeling trying to quit.

I remember being on the bathroom floor crying so hard I was gagging (smoking related) I never gag anymore. Why the Bathroom floor you may ask, I have no earthly idea.

I mean it could have just as easily been the bed or a chair, but I was just losing it and nothing I did or said was making much sense.

My husband got on his knees and said "what can I do to help"? I used words he was not accustomed to hearing from me and told him I needed to smoke and that I couldn't do it. I repeated over and over "I just cannot do this". I didn't realize until much later that while I was saying I just cannot do this... I was doing it! I was getting through what ever life threw my way. It wasn't necessarily the best way I can think of to handle emotions, but I was new to it at the time and did the best I could.

I was new to not smoking when things got hard and putting aside what ever the problem was until I smoked two or three.

Simple everyday life things came at me when I first quit and I felt overwhelmed. I mean my car needed work and they actually wanted me to wait while they fixed it! I couldn't see doing that ...didn't they know I couldn't smoke while I waited? that I didn't know how to wait and not smoke?
It felt like the world would end that day.

It didn't though, I got something to drink and looked around at things I didn't notice much before like the beauty of the sky, the trees flowing in the wind, Flowers in bloom, birds chirping. I guess that was all clouded before by all that smoke I so blindly sat in thinking I had it all together.

I look back on all of it and there were 100's of times I said
"I cannot do this"
100's of times I said"I am just going to smoke this too hard"
100's of times I said this isn't the right time and got in my car to go buy a pack.
AND 100's of times I got through each temptation each so called crave some I really believe were just thoughts.
100's of times I got out of the car realizing that smoking was not the answer and that I already had everything I needed inside me to deal with life and in my house in my husband and children.

I hated the fact hat I had even tried to quit because now people expected me not to smoke.
They looked forward to a healthier me. My logic was if I had not tried to quit I could still smoke with out letting anyone down. I hated my own Quit I hated that I had ever tried to quit at all! I believed I was in prison and smokers were free.

I began to think dying from lung cancer would be better then feeling as bad a s I was. How utterly stupid! SO Pathetic! I am embarrassed to say I thought that way. That thinking now makes me laugh and cringe too, I cannot believe I thought that way and actually tried to make logical arguments out of junkie thinking. I actually got mad when anyone said my arguments made no sense.
I no longer have those kinds of thoughts at all.

I resented people in my life enjoying anything. I would see my husband sit down and act like he enjoyed drinking his coffee and I would just steam inside, because I didn't feel I had anything left to enjoy. He Wanted me to stay quit, but he could sit there doing all the same things he had always done while I had top relearn everything. I just resented it, because at the time there was nothing I enjoyed I even hated eating because I didn't know what to do with myself after I was done. Now I just feel full like everyone else when I am done eating and I am not looking for anything else to do. The act of eating for me now is complete when the meal is done. seems simple enough and the way it was always meant to be.

I hated waking up because it meant doing things different then I could ever remember doing. I actually ate breakfast instead of smoking for my morning meal. I hated soda because I associated that with smoking.

It seemed all the things that once made me happy I now disliked. I hurt inside daily for a while like someone had died... I mean down to my soul deep, deep, pain. I had no clue who I was now or how to live my life. I mean I cried! For Me crying was rare. It took something like death or serious illness of a loved one to make me shed a tear before. I was not a sensitive type of female at all. Here I was now crying if someone looked at me wrong. I felt silly too, I felt like I must look funny doing this instead of smoking. I thought smoking made me look cool like I was deep in thought even when I wasn't. I thought it masked pain so I just appeared unshaken to whom ever was around.

I found out later that most of family saw me as not very strong at all because I needed that crutch to deal with everything even shopping. I also found out that my pain was never masked they saw right through it all.

I was never this cool tough girl I had created in my own head to them just and addict who smoked to deal with life and they saw long before I did that it never solved anything.

It was horrible at times and really hard to do, the hardest thing I have ever done in fact. At the same time it is by far one of the biggest, best, and most important accomplishments in my life.

I love soda, and all other foods probably to much now, more than I ever did smoking. I am no longer resentful toward other people because they are enjoying things in life, because I am enjoying those things with them.

Waking up is only hard for me now when I didn't get enough sleep. I do not wake up feeling like anything is missing.

I am no longer plagued with thoughts of smoking, not smoking, how hard it is or isn't, anything else smoking related. My days are just normal days now.

I get through my day and smoking doesn't cross my mind.
Neither does the fact that I am not smoking.
I just live life the same way everyone else does.

I am not saying that smoking or the fact that I used to do it doesn't enter my mind. I wouldn't be here today if it didn't. But it crosses my mind in a very different way now. I want others to know it can be done no matter how hard and impossible it seems at first. I think about all the help I got here and want to give back. I have regrets now, but it is not that I quit.. It is that I ever started. I also hope I didn't do irreversible damage.those are my thoughts now.

I know I never needed it. I know life is livable, enjoyable, and doable without them. My life is better! I am serious. I am not just saying that, it is real. Just how much better I feel physically alone is worth every minute I suffered in the beginning. Not to mention all the other benefits. If you stick it out, you will be here listing all the ways your life has improved just hoping someone will believe what you say so that they also stick it out.

I could have given in, but had I done that, I would never know the comfort I know now, the health, the happiness and the peace. There is an elation that comes with no longer being a prisoner to something that is killing you. If I had given in I would still be smoking my life away believing freedom is unobtainable and continuing to poison myself until early death came my way.

Stick it out! It gets better! As bad as it gets trying to quit, being terminally ill would be much worse.
Tobacco companies have had enough of your money, they are filthy rich while they rob you of not only your money but your health and ultimately your life. Use your lungs for breathing air the way they were meant to be used and watch and see how much better life will get.

Smoking is something I no longer choose to do. It no longer has a hold on me. I am no longer it's prisoner. I am not consumed by thoughts of it. I believed what was said here "IT GETS BETTER" I hung on to those words, fought through it, and you know what they were right. So much better! It is only better because I stuck it out and never took another puff! Days of just wanting to die are now over I have peace and want to live a long life and watch my kid grow.

I hope this helps anyone here struggling. I was blessed enough with the People here helping see light in total darkness and lies in my head and I just want to help where I can now that I am in the light of truth.

Melissa