Day 1
I live in the wrong time zome - get up and see all these posts!!
OK, it’s 10.50am on my first smoke free day, and so far, so good.
I had one cig left in the pack last night, had planned to
ceremoniously smoke it, got chatting here and never got round to it.
Patch on, went to bed, and woke up around 9am. Usually first stop
is the kitchen for a cig and the first cup of tea of the day, so
soon as I’d made the tea I logged on here and got reading instead.
Was so engrossed I realised I was enjoying the drink and reading,
and didn’t think about the smoke I wasn’t having. Good start!
Mid morning - hmmm, feeling a bit spacey. Maybe that’s adjustment to
the patch? My body missing some of the stuff in cigarettes?
Colin’s taken the kids out (well, at 17 and 18 hardly kids) round to
his brothers, so I’ve got the house to myself today. I
want ’something’ - the old pattern of ‘I’m bored, I’ll have a cig’.
I don’t really want to smoke, just that familiar pattern. Ok Katie,
think of something else to do instead. Did anyone else feel like
their head was totally somewhere else?!! I remember this from
before, and it’ll be a few days of this.
I’ll get moving, do a few jobs round here instead of the usual
lounging round. I’ll report in later. Happy new yr one and all!
see you later
Katie
PS Cat - my daughter’s 17. Who else has got teenage daughters round
here? Aren’t they wonderful 
Mine’s passed little comment yet
about my quit - just wary !!
August 17th, 2003 at 2:21 pm
Hi Katie
You are not in the wrong time zone at all its just that Cat was obviously
feeling very verbose last night!!!! Not unusual really *vbg* - don’t worry
I’m not being rude Cat accepts all this ribbing (hope she hasn’t made a new
years resolution not to do!)
Anyway you are doing really well and you will feel as if something is missing
cos something is - it took me a long time to accept that I used to think that
I shouldn’t have these thoughts!!!
But think about it Katie for ?years at certain times of the day/after certain
tasks we used to light up - now we don’t so there is something missing.
Accept that it is missing and try to identify what it is you need to do now.
It was always one of the hardest times for me - the ‘reward’ factor - after
doing household jobs I needed my reward. The first week was hellish (that
was before cog quit) and one day it was so bad cos I couldn’t find any
‘reward’ to take away the ‘craving’ that I rang the NHS Quitline.
What a waste of time that was - got through eventually to a ‘young
counsellor’ who told me that maybe I could join a gym!!!! Well did you ever
- can you imagine me running off to the gym in between the ironing and the
vacuming????
Fortunately a couple of days later I found Steve and the rest of the gang.
So keep on quitting Katie - talk later hopefully.
Indi
August 18th, 2003 at 4:51 am
Hi Marde
You are doing really well - glad to see you are preparing yourself for going
back to work - been thinking about you and your trip to see the doctor about
your eye - not really too good at actually writing out the abc’s but if it
was me in the same situation it would be going something like this……..
A I have a 3 hour drive ahead of me.
B I will be tired, grumpy, scared, lonely - my muscles will be tense, I will
be sitting in the same spot for a long time, I will have to concentrate
intensly to deal with all the traffic (or darkness).
I am likely to be Hungry, Angry (at other drivers) Lonely and Tired.
I will have all of the feelings which used to be ‘releived’ by a cigarette.
I can choose to smoke my way through the journey OR
I can choose healthier responses to my feelings
Cos I have to make the journey regardless - smoking will not alleviate the
things that I feel - I will still be Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired but as a
smoker in fact I will probably be a lot more angry at me for smoking (sound
familiar Marde).
C. I will choose to make sure I have a good meal before I leave to make the
drive.
I will choose to take some bottles of water with me (sort with drinking spout
so I can drink and drive)
I will choose to listen to some nice music on the way and every so often
change the channels on radio so I get some ‘talking stuff’ - (cos I used to
listen to music and smoke anyway)
I will do some positive affirmations before I leave about living in the
moment and not projecting into the next few miles/hours etc.
I will accept that there could be delays and programme my time accordingly.
I will do some controlled breathing and some shoulder exercises while I am
driving about every half hour.
I will plan to stop every hour to have a walk and do some stretches.
Well thats the bit about the driving sorted now I just have to consider what
to do when the doctor tells me what is going on.
I know its not written out exactly as it should be but hey I’m only a newbie
at this. I just wish I had done this while I was away instead of doing it on
the hoof - maybe I wouldn’t have gotten so tense.
Maybe ‘the old man’ is right about having them prepared in advance:)))
Catch u later
Indi
August 19th, 2003 at 6:02 pm
Hi Katie,
About feeling spaced out … again, you know that’s a temporary
That antsy, nervous, ‘gotta move’, ‘climbing out of your skin’ feeling
is a hallmark of the first couple of days. But then you know that. Vigorous
walking is about the best reliever I’ve come across. Anything that spends
energy is great. Have you cleaned the casing above the doors? Dust collects
there. And the flat part on the top of the door too, another dust shelf.
symptom of the quit.
Steve
www.cognitivequitting.com
August 28th, 2003 at 4:52 am
Hi Marde - thanks for this. What you said really made me think
about this ‘reward’ thing. I realise in my list-making that I’d
light up after I’d finished something as a reward, like you said.
But then again I’d also light up before I actually started doing it,
and probably half way through as well. It was like I needed a cig
to do anything (Steve described that on his site as well). The
times I found a lit cig in my hand and didn’t even remember getting
it out the pack, finding my lighter and lighting it. Scarey.
Before I went out this morning I found myself looking for the
ashtray to put in the kitchen (one of the old rituals), and looking
in my bag to check my cigs were there. It’s really hitting home
just how much I was ruled by smoking.
I hope you do ok with your trip to see your doctor Marde, and that
you get good news,
Katie
— In CognitiveQuitSmoking@y…, “Marde Tibbets”