Cognitive Quit Smoking

OK, this is really weird because I had a bad day on Monday also.
After getting onto Pam for being up so late on Sunday night, I stayed
up til past 1:00a.m. to work on an unfinished piece of furniture (I’m
a great one for “do as I say, not as I do” by the way). When I got
to bed, I was overtired and just lay there for another hour before I
finally went to sleep. I started wondering why I didn’t have a strong
urge for a smoke since, in the past, these circumstances would have
had me up and smoking til I got tired. That got me thinking about
overconfidence. When I see others who smoked after having been quit
for a long time and when I think about how I had gone back to smoking
after my last long quit, I have to remind myself that I need to keep
on practicing my disassociation exercises so I can get to the point
where smoking just doesn’t enter the picture anymore when I am faced
with any type of trigger. Here’s the analogy I like to think about
when I start getting in my Swelled Head state of mind because I can
(more…)

Hope everyone’s day was better than yesterday - mine really was.
Bedtime in England, so nite everyone Pam

Three and a half months in thought I was doing really well and today was
worse than the first week. I have taken this week off work to prepare for
the holidays. Give the house a thorough cleaning, decorate, bake, shop. I do
this every year. Today felt like one huge crave. I spent the day doing
housework. By the time my husband came home from work I was in tears.
I need to come up with some ABC’s before tomorrow, but I feel like I can’t
even think. I’m pretty sure the craves were a combination of needing to
reward myself when I finished a job and procrastination on starting another.
Char

Hi Mike
Glad you stayed around. Thought I had scared you off and don’t listen to cat
cos yes I can be scary but not all the time, sometimes I have been known to
be nice and friendly - so long as you follow ze rules and do as you are
told!!!!
Anyway use this group of wonderful oldies and us young ones aren’t too slow
to put our two pennorth in - sometimes it makes sense and sometimes it doesnt.
What I did find was helpful was being so close to quit date with Cat cos we
were able to share the walk together, support where needed and blame allsorts
of horrid people when things werent going according to plan.
Its a hard journey Mike but believe me it is really worth it. Read back to a
post which Steve wrote to someone recently where he mentions 4 weeks of hard
work and us never being the same again - well he is right although I have to
do a bit longer time cos my first 3 weeks I didn’t work hard enough!!!
Catch u later
(more…)

Just want to let y’all know (see, Victoria, I use y’all!) that this
is going to be an extremely busy week for me too so if I disappear
for a day or two, don’t worry, you know that you can’t get rid of me
for long! I have got some projects at home I just HAVE to get done
this week or
1. The Health Department is going to come shut down my house;
2. My hubby will be looking for another wife; and
3. My daughter will be looking for another mom.
Although sometimes it’s tempting to let these things happen, I do
realize that maybe this would not be a good plan. After all, who
would get the dog?
Later Gators,
- Cat

Good luck today. I hated those first few days. Well, I hated those
first few weeks. Since you said something about anxiety, you may
want to go back and read post #2. Steve wrote about stress in that
one and it helped as I was in my first week at the time I stumbled
across it. Let us know if you have any questions. Someone will
answer or give you support.
Hang in there and learn.
- Cat

Morning,
Well it’s time… I have an anxiety problem and I know that my smoking has a lot
to do with it…
Thanks for the welcomes and well wishes…
CalgaryMike
ICQ : 63173588
MSN: calgarymike1

Sounds like your vacation ‘window’ is the best possible time for you to get
a jump on the quit.
www.cognitivequitting.com

Just being aware of the nature of your family is info that takes you
half way to being prepared. You’ve obviously got some pretty solid beliefs
re: the ‘good’ sister, her ‘pervert’ husband and their ‘pervert’ spawn, the
‘nerd’, and the rest of the herd. With some more detail about their
specifics, you can reasonably anticipate, based on past experience, events
that will be connected to your beliefs. Some of those events will be
‘conversations’ that you’ve heard before, attitudes and ‘voiced’ opinions
that are characteristic of the individuals involved, even seating
arrangements. ‘All’ we’ll have to do is come up with some prepared new
beliefs that will have you observing these people and the entire
‘dysfunctional dance’ from a safe objective distance. I think your greatest
asset is your husband. He’ll be with you all the way on this. It’s like
having a team mate to lean on.
I think making time for ourselves and rewarding ourselves comes from a
similar place. Maybe working on one will effect the other.
(more…)

Hi everyone
I am still here and have been reading all your posts, just quiet cos
I was still smoking. But today I have not - I planned ahead, I have
a diary and decided it was today or never. So far I am doing fine,
but feeling very light headed and a bit “strange”. Will check in
later.
Lynne