Cognitive Quit Smoking

In a message dated 31/12/01 13:20:59 GMT Standard Time,
katie2905uk@… writes:
Hi Katie
If you are an adopted Geordie then that makes me an exiled one - born in
Hebburn and lived in Newcastle from getting married until 1983 when I
migrated down south!!!
I really can’t give you any more tips than there are on the site - I actually
stopped this time with zyban but only took it for 2 weeks into my quit then
stopped it cos I thought the ’side effects’ were too much.
Only after stopping it did I realise that the ’side effects’ I didn’t like
were all to do with cravings anyway.
I cannot emphaisise enough how important it is to do the ABC’s - and I am
sure that Steve will be too pleased to help you with your first one - so just
do it as best you can then post it and he will ‘tweak it for you’ - that
sounds really exciting doesn’t it???
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Hello again everyone. I’ve had visitors for a few days, but at last
I’ve got time to update things here and think about my quit date
tomorrow! now they’ve gone home. Thanks everyone for welcoming me
on board I’ve been reading quite a lot of the posts, and a couple
of chats to Steve has got me thinking about Foundation Statements
(what a great idea) and ABC’s (which sound hard, but I’ll give it a
go). I’m a bit of an internet `rookie’ only went into a chatroom
the first time a few days ago and didn’t know what to expect, but as
I mentioned before I think, I met Steve who talked me through it..
Bit more about me first. I’m in my 40’s (not being too specific
here!) married to Colin for 20 yrs, and 2 kids in their late teens.
I’m originally from Scotland, now living in the North East in
Newcastle-u-Tyne, so I’m an adopted Geordie I guess.
I’ve tried to quit many times and never got further than a few days
if I’m honest. (I’ve had longer `quits’ but having a ciggy
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A couple of words and she gets to be pushy. Guess I’ll haveto take
lessons.
Having at it…..
This is good. You’re defining your 10:00AM discomfort clearly.
However, it looks like there are a couple of events here, 1- “working hard
for about 2 hrs” = fatigue/need a break, 2- “feel rushed” =
energy/concentration levels dropping, 3- “back starting to hurt” = physical
discomfort situation. Marde, if you wanted, you could break this down into
a couple of smaller ABCs. Sometimes small and simple is easier and more
effective.
Good question. It’s important to examine the old belief and see just how
valid it was. Nicotine is a central nervous system stimulant so it
certainly did help sagging energy and concentration levels. Cigarettes also
create an instant change in physical and mental condition which, in the
case of hunger and a sore back, was probably pereived as ‘relief’.So to
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Thought I’d quickly introduce myself here - I joined the group a day
or two ago. My name’s Katie, and I’ve quit so many times I’ve lost
count. My next attempt is going to be Jan 1st and I really want it
to work this time. I did some searching on the Internet and joined
a couple of other groups, heard about cognitive quitting and signed
up here.
Last night I went into a chatroom at one of the Smoking cessations
sites I joined and met Steve. Thanks so much Steve for setting up
that chat and talking to me like you did last night (well, it was
the early hours here in England). It really got me thinking a lot,
and I’ve written out my Foundation statements, and know that
quitting is something I badly want to do for me, and that smoking is
never going to be an acceptable option whatever life throws at me.
I told Colin (hubby) I might be spending a bit of time online
chatting about my quit and I think he’s getting used to the idea.
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Well I survived Christmas and am still a non-smoker - I knew I would and
wasn’t really worried about it at all. I knew I would encounter many firsts
but that I would deal with them like all the other firsts.
No. 1 first was Christmas Eve at my daughters - she smokes and usually not in
the house but her children were away at Dad’s for weekend so guess the
smoking zone changes.
She was sitting rolling her smoke and then lit up at the same time as DH was
sitting next to me with a glass of wine in his hand.
Both of them really stank - now I don’t know what it is about ‘quitting’ some
habits and then becoming very sensitive to the substances cos the smell of
booze and cigs surely never bothered me when I drank and smoked!!!
My friend Brian passed away peacefully on Christmas Eve and I got the news of
his death when I reached our motel. So really this news was my No. 1 first.
My first ‘bad news’ - that would have made me smoke big time but it wouldn’t
have changed the fact that Brian had died and really wouldn’t have made my
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,
Just wondering how you’re doing. You’re on your 6th day, coming up on
an week. How are you feeling physically re:withdrawal symptoms? How
about the emotional part of the quit, feeling o bit up and down? Are
you watching yourself through the day, keeping an eye on ‘how you’re
doing’? Are you looking ahead to small ‘normal’ events and putting
together a plan of action to deal with them? Am I being a nosey pain in
the a** ?
Hope this ‘lull’ tween Christmas and New Years is a smooth quiet one.
Steve
www.cognitivequitting.com

Ok, I’m back. I came back on in digest mode though, because
January is going to be really busy for me.
Life has thrown a lot at me this last week… I told someone that I
was having a bunch of stuff thrown at me this last week in an
attempt to see just how strong I was. LOL
But anyway… it’s going, if not well. Car in shop. Big website
change at work. Mid-winter convention planning to get done,
presentations to prepare.
Smoke free 8 weeks, 2 days now and considering this week,
damn proud of it.
I gotta say though… through all of it - it has occurred to me to
think “you know, all these things would have happened no matter
what.” Smoking wouldn’t have helped.
Victoria

Pam
(10 months quit TOMORROW!!)
Now, our Miss Pam is going to be celebrating a HUGE milestone tomorrow.
I would love to be the first to say, I wish you a VERY heartfelt
Congratulations! I know you have struggled at times to get to where you
are. What an accomplishment this is for you. Well done, darlin’.
Plain excellent.
I hope you celebrate in style!!!
Pat

Gosh, it seems like ages since I’ve “seen” y’all. There were a few
posts I’d read in the past week before I took off for New York that I
wished I’d had time to reply to but time just hasn’t been on my side
and I’m still pushed. Got home a few hours ago and was able to log on
a little while ago and got caught up reading the posts. This non-
smoking thing is a trial at times but not as bad as even as recent as
last weekend. The past four days in NY were good. I was able to spend
most of my time with one of my sisters-in-law who smokes and it didn’t
bother me too much. For one thing, she doesn’t smoke much during the
day and most of her smoking is done outside, although when the kids
were put to bed she did stand in the kitchen blowing smoke out the open
window over the sink. Geez, that looked familiar. I remember when I
had started smoking again after my last long quit, I would actually go
into my bathroom off my bedroom, open the window and sneak smokes! I
was 34 years old, for crying out loud! Anyway, she is going to go get
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Hi All
Just wanted to share with you all my sadness and yet at the same time my
gratitude. Many of you will remember I have a friend who has been diagnosed
with terminal lung cancer. He is a smoker and is the only person I have ever
let smoke in my house except for the last time he visited when I really
couldn’t face the smell of smoke in the house so I told him it was a ‘no
smoking zone’.
He said (jokingly I thought) well then I will never visit you again and he
hasn’t. His partner (sort of) broke her ankle last week and was not going to
be able to spend xmas with him so I planned to visit them both yesterday
before she went to stay with her son.
Except I got a message on Friday evening telling me he was back in hospital
so I rang Frances on Saturday morning and found out he had another chest
infection and was quite poorly. She was planning to visit the hospital later
so I arranged to meet her there.
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