I’ve started!!
I’ve made it six whole days without a cigarette. I’m actually
civil. I’m using a zyban generic whic I’m sure is helping. The
habits seem to be more of a challenge than the actually cravings.
I’m used to smoking every time I get in the car or leave a “non-
smoking” building which means that there are a lot of triggers.
There was one funny time when I was only two days into it. My
response so so automatic it was funny. I was leaving a non-smoking
building to get something out of my car and my adreneline started as
I quickly thought “Great, I can grab a cigarette.” I did catch
myself real fast but I hadn’t realized how my thinking was connected
to my smoking.
I’ve only been smoking for the past 10 months. Prior to that, I was
smoke free for 7 years. I know I can do this again. And I am!
Sharon
August 21st, 2004 at 12:24 am
Hi Sharon and all “newbies” to cog quit……………
but gradually I have worn him down in that regard………..
Still I allow myself some slack - (I think I should be allowed a little
Can’t give advice……………:)
At 6 mos quit as of 11:00 pm last night (I do not know anyone not in
this group who can appreciate what this means)……….. :)))
Please read the past posts at the cog quit site……………!!!!!!
I was almost 50 years a smoker………….heavy one………..smoked
ALL the time when it was possible!!!!!!!!!!
And surely found it difficult understand cog quit…………..
but eventually it started to make sense…………….
smoking had become Warren’s response to any kind of
tension………………..(big or small)
so many seemed programmed responses…………..(I had a hard time
finding Warren’s input in the felt demand for nicotine when I first woke
in the morning)
A cig is no longer the first thing I reach for …………….
(I plug in the kettle instead)
but tension keeps recurring (and I keep trying to identify the
source)………….
most of it is “feelings” I find……….(I hurt - and want to reach for
solace)
Tried some inappropriate stuff - (wine - and then realized creating new
problem)
(admit I have yet to find anything as effective in calming that tension,
though)
Perhaps we all need a ‘major’ reason to stick to a quit……………
(mine happened because a doctor I admired warned me)
So I vowed that any response (other than smoking) was OK……………
(at least for a while)
If you can (avoid this route) <I am now 35 lb heavier
Admit I feel for those of you younger than I………………
I manage to cope with “brain fog” (but I do not have to go to work)
while to recover from those 50 years of smoking……………..
Admit I have no guarantee if my vow to quit will withstand any
catastrophic happening in my private life………..but I shall be
trying……………….
There simply HAS TO BE a more appropriate response !!!!!
Jean
August 21st, 2004 at 7:39 am
Thanks so much Gai!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :))))
So good luck everyone……………….
Jean
I am playing this game one day at a time…………..
So far - so good………………..
but I am as unsure as any newbie that “my way is the right
way”…………
Think Steve has the right idea ……………………
August 24th, 2004 at 7:56 am
Hi Sharon,
It can be a bit of a surprise when we start discovering the extent to
which our smoking behavior followed the ‘running commentary’ we call our
own thinking. You’re coming up on 2 weeks quit, are you becoming more
aware of the connections between what you’re thinking and how you’re
responding? Let us know how you’re doing.
Steve
August 24th, 2004 at 3:11 pm
Hi Kajha,
I remember leaning over the kitchen stove, inhaling a cigarette smoke,
blowing the smoke out the exhaust fan, and thinking that I didn’t own me.
It was as though I was controlled by a cigarette. I think you were
refering to the same sort of control issue when you wrote:
“One of the reasons I wanted to quit was that feeling of the cigarettes
having control over me. The statement that I use to keep me going is “I
refuse to be controlled by a substance, I want freedom!” Problem
is I put the patch on because without it I smoke so that statement isn’t
working well.”
Here’s another way to look at it… Cigarettes have no control over us.
A burning cigarette is only a manifestation of an active addiction/habit. I
seperate addiction from habit for ease in dealing with them. The
controlling, or directing, element in my leaning over the stove was found
in my thinking. There was a reason why I ‘had’ to light up any particular
cig. (My belief is that the reason was invariably either withdrawal due to
a sagging nic level or it was in respnose to any sensation that remotely
resembled a sensation of withdrawal.) How I perceived the reasons and what
responses I chose to deal with them, how and what I thought, were within my
control. I just had to learn how to manage the control. How are you
managing so far?
Steve