Cognitive Quit Smoking

Hey, Pam….
I’m beginning to think I truly am an Old Fogey by the way I feel today.
Giggle. (I’m gonna take a lazy day today as my poor *old* self needs a
break. And I am teasing you.) How it goes over in AS3 is:
1 year quit - Old Fogey (OF)
2 years quit - Double Old Fogey (DOF)
3 years and 4 years quit - Very Old Fogey (VOF)
5 years and above quit - Olympian Old Fogey (OOF)
I’ve been chasing Steve, OOF, for a long time now. He won’t slow down for
me either!!! But I guess that’s a really good thing. Smile. And brain
fog? You mean I have to own up to it’s passing and this is who I truly am?
Omigosh!!! I’m in trouble.
To Indi… a VERY Heartfelt Congratulations!!! 3 months is an awesome
accomplishment. When we have fought hard to rid ourselves of this addiction
that is literally robbing us of the breath of life, we get to stand tall as

we pass each milestone along the way. You get to stand real tall right now.
You’ve earned it. You are doing really grand. I truly mean that.
Congratulations. Cat, you’re next, right?
I had the pleasure of hugging Ann (Brumley) in person yesterday. I can’t
tell you how beautiful she looks. It’s amazing. (I told her I was going to
write something about her. Just so you know… I wouldn’t embarrass her for
anything.) I have known Ann for quite a while now. I don’t think I was
smoking when we first met (I believe I was newly quit but I’m not sure.) but
she was. I have watched her go from that person to the person she is today.
Funny? Omigosh, she’s so fun. But more than that, her face and body have
really changed. She’s become beautiful.
I know I was told when I first quit of the changes in my appearance as well.
But all I knew for sure was that a (previously felt) tenseness in my body
had gone away. I don’t quite know how to put it because when one first
quits, they certainly don’t feel very tense-free. But it was like an
underlying feeling was gone. Since I was learning to deal with the
addiction part (thank you Cog Quit), then tension involved over the panic to
obtain smokes and the need to smoke was going away. And gratefully so.
Also my face had gone from a pinched expression to an open one. I would
never call myself beautiful (Is that an understatement or what? giggle) but
I saw how my face had changed… especially the lines. So… in that Ann
has become beautiful is no real surprise to me because she has quit smoking
but to watch the process of change in her has been a really wonderful gift.
Congrats, Ann… I can’t tell you how proud I am of you.
There are many things that I did to help myself get from there to here…
but I found the path was made a bit easier by my recognizing all of the
gifts from my quit. No matter the struggle at the moment, I knew the chest
pain was gone. No matter the (one more!) change that was required of me, I
was finally breathing free and clear again. No matter what the price tag
was at the moment, I was to realize that the benefit far outweighed it in
the long run. As I was bumping around the archives of AS3 today (I was very
active in that newsgroup for a long time), I found one of my old posts that
spoke of my gratitude for the gifts of my quit. I don’t usually repost my
old stuff but this one speaks of this gratitude and I wanted to share. It
was written at my 3 year milestone. I’m warning you, it is *very long*.
You’ll need a cuppa for sure.
I am standing right with you in your walk. Keep walking. I am here to tell
you that it is truly worth whatever the price tag is at the moment. The
gift you will realize in the end will far outweigh it. I am sure of it.
Keep on keeping on, you *VERY* beautiful people,
Pat
new ICQ#146526898
(This post is also archived on my website, www.talkingstick.net . If you’ve
traveled the website, you might have seen it there.)
****************
The Journey - VERY long and not a repost….. Smile.
5-25-01
I am Yukpa hashi. I am adopted Chahta, Cherokee, English, Irish and Scots.
Mitakuye oyasin. Yaqne. I have accomplished many things in this lifetime but
one of the accomplishments that I am most proud of is being 3 years
smokefree. My journey has taken me over paths that I could not have
predicted yet no matter how many boulders, no matter how many mountains
there were to climb, I still got from there to here.
I fought very hard for this quit. I had quit so many times before, it is a
number without knowing. But this quit is different. How is it different?
1. I found my 5/25′ers, my quit group. We are still a strong family of 7
with 6 of us still quit even after all of this time. Frank, Franz, Harry,
Map, Mark and Sister Selma…. You guys are the absolute best. However we
found each other, walking the walk with all of you has been my great gift.
You listened to my tears, read my innumerable e-mails, shared each milestone
along the way and now we have babies and marriages and finally a planned
get-together in September. For all time, we will have one another. In that I
am grateful for you? That is a tremendous understatement. Thank you for
being there for me. Now…. just to brag a bit on our quit group… below is
our group meter:
Group Totals:
Cigarettes not smoked: 166,197
Money saved: $23,269.09
This group has not smoked for a combined total of 17 Years 11 Months 2 Weeks
3 Days 10 Hours 7 Minutes 51 Seconds
Is that awesome or what?!!! HUGE smile. (We should send this meter to
RJR!!!)
2. I had ddSteve for a quit coach and he taught me Cognitive quitting. (You
can visit his webpage by going to www.cognitivequitting.com.) He taught me
how to change my responses to life’s many emotions. Where once I would have
picked up a smoke because I was angry or stressed out or even joyful, I now
pick up a glass of water or take a breather or whatever new option fills the
bill. I don’t even think about smoking nowadays. I can’t tell you how much
this means to me. ddSteve, you’ve made such a huge difference in my life.
We’ve been jabbering together for 3 years now. How wonderful is that? VERY
wonderful. Thank you for being there for me through thick and thin. Let’s go
kiting together soon?
3. AS3…. the newsgroup, Alt.Support.Stop-Smoking. It is here that I found
all of the information I would need for a successful quit. One other BIG
thing in the AS3 plus column is that I met some friends who have since
become very important to me. I started a list but I got lost…. there are
so many. But Melly, you top the list…. One day soon we *are* gonna sit
across the table from each other and talk until we are hoarse. I so look
forward to that day. To the many others who have walked this path with me,
you have made my smokefree journey easier just by my knowing you. Your
support has been more that I could ever have hoped for. To say ‘thank you’
seems woefully little for all that you have given to me. But thank you,
nonetheless. I would like to especially thank Mona, Miss Maggie, Steve
(slackr) (you are an awesome webmaster and friend), ddJacque and Paul….
you guys have impacted my life for all time. Thank you…. so much! To the
newbies, I especially appreciate you. You remind me of where I don’t EVER
want to go again. Thank you for all of your posts. Keep on keeping on. You
can get here…. you can!
Because of the above, I have made it to a milestone that was not even a
dream of mine; at the time I quit, it seemed like something so far fetched,
I couldn’t even envision getting to this place of smoke freedom. But I am a
study in putting one foot in front of the other, walking right on past the
horrible craves of a cold turkey quit, the quit depression that nearly
sabotaged my quit many, many times, the roller coaster ride, the tears from
hell, the junkie thinking, the plain hard work that was required in this
quit and the innumerable changes that have been required of me.
Does it sound like the price of quitting this addiction might have been too
high? Smile. Know what the payoff has been?
1. I get to hug my two grandsons with abandon…. knowing they won’t turn
their heads away because I smelled like an ashtray. I get to out walk them
through the museums. I get to play ball with them. I get to snuggle up on
the couch and read books with them. And I get to see the pride in their eyes
because they have watched me the whole way. And I will hopefully be around
long enough now to see my daughter become a grandmother. At least I know
I’ve given myself that opportunity with my quitting smoking.
2. All of the physical symptoms have long since gone. My lungs don’t hurt
anymore. I can laugh until my stomach muscles ache and not once, NOT ONCE
does it end in a coughing spasm. How sweet that is. I don’t wake up and
first thing, need to clear my lungs of that awful black gunk. (Was that
disgusting or what?!!!) I have regained my lung power. I can breathe deep
and clear. I am truthful with my world. I no longer have to hide a
disgusting habit. I found I had courage that I never knew I had. With that
discovery, I tried lots of new things. The bottom line is that I reclaimed
my body…. I reclaimed me.
3. The gifts have been so many, it’s hard to list them all. My greatest gift
has been the freedom. How is it that when one quits smoking, the world seems
to open up for them? That is how it was with me. I think I once wrote about
‘becoming big’. Indeed. Smoking defined my world. My whole day was set up
around smoking whether or not I was conscious of it. There were limits
placed on all of my activities…. especially if I couldn’t smoke during
them. But once I didn’t have the addiction confining me anymore, I was able
to go everywhere I wanted to go, do anything that I wanted to do and be all
that I could be. There were no smoking imposed limitations. That is called
freedom. And I am indeed now free.
Quitting smoking is a process. I mightily wished otherwise, but I had to put
in the time and had to have the patience to allow my body to heal. The price
for my smoking was much higher than I knew…. but that became my past when
I made the decision to quit this addiction that was robbing me of the breath
of life. Each of those moments that I did everything else but smoke (And you
all know me now as one who wrote and posted a lot!!! But this also includes
everything in my Tool Kit… walking, drinking lots of water, Jolly
Ranchers, deep breathing, etc.) have added up to this:
Three years, 1 hour, 34 minutes and 7 seconds. 21921 cigarettes not smoked,
saving $3,595.09. Life saved: 10 weeks, 6 days, 2 hours, 45 minutes.
To my 5/25′ers…. let the party begin and save me a spot in the tubs. As
you know I am off to Vision Quest. I won’t be able to check in with you
until Monday night. But know that I am there with you in spirit in
celebrating our most awesome accomplishment together. You are simply the
very best….
To my brothers and sisters in AS3…. Thank you…. so much…. for all of
the support you have given to me…. whether or not you knew you had. This
newsgroup made the difference for me between my success and racking up
another of the (too) numerous failed quits that I had.
I can’t encourage you enough to keep on keeping on. I am one who lets you
know that through it all, it can be done…. if one simply adds up the
moments of freedom. I have been called many things over this journey….
Gaire Solas, Yareakh Tzokheq, budette, round-bottomed grandma, one-way Yuck,
kitemaker, Sister friend, OF and DOF to name a few. I think that…. I’d
gonna just settle for VOF now. What a journey this has been! Thank you for
travelling it with me.
Yukpa hashi,
VOF
www.talkingstick.net

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