Hope its gone better today!

Thank you very much for drawing attention to these posts. Although I’ve read quit a bit of the archives, I hadn’t come across this bit. In fact the whole sequence of posts around that time is very valuable. I especially liked Steve’s description of H.A.L.T… since tiredness is my big thing at the moment, I need to keep reminding myself to look after myself and not do too much (holiday preps are going to be limited this year!)

I love the smell of the earth.. all sorts of smells seem wonderful without the smoke…..

Carol

I went through the old posts and found
#796, an old one of Cat’s. I just printed it up. Also #767 of
Steve’s. I didn’t print that yet but I’m going to. Take a peek at
them for future reference.
Alrighty then, have to get back to work. This will sound wierd but

have you smelled the earth yet? I’m a little stopped up at the
moment but everytime I smell nature, especially rain soaked dirt, I
am thankful I stopped smoking. I can’t believe I missed such good
smells for so many years.

Judy….. I knew you would find the quit. J It’s a profound move, I found….all sorts of things happen you didn’t expect before hand. I remember your earlier posts.. about searching for the quit and not really believing that it was possible…. Now, it seems like you have found that place of certainty, and “providence has moved too”…. I’m so pleased for you….big hug.

Aron… well done too…. another “just-quit”-ter. Its great, isn’t it…..

I echo a little of what Steve wrote below…. Just over 1 month in, I have now come down from my state of almost manic euphoria, to something that feels more ordinary and normal (or it would be if I could sleep.. seems like the 2 weeks of being wired have disrupted my sleep patterns).. I wouldn’t call it “less fun” though…more a place of quiet satisfaction and a return to more normal every day things. The one thing I have found is that as I am not spending so much time obsessing about having given up cigarettes, sometimes I go for hours without either thinking about cigarettes (or quitting cigarettes) .. and also forget to check in with my body. As a consequence, I have a couple of times found myself with a sudden craving for cigarette (or food), mainly because I’ve ignored the quiet signals my body has been giving me. I think I need to go back to making sure I do check my body more frequently even if it means setting the timer again. I guess this is the “danger period”
where things are becoming semi automatic, but not yet ingrained enough to be part of a standard behavioural pattern of action.

I found a great quote from Thoreau, which seems very apt

“”As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives”.

carol

Judy congratulations. It’s great that you’ve taken the ‘big step’.
Aron congratulations to you too and welcome to our group.
It sounds like both of you are finding immediate benefits of not smoking.
It’s my job to warn you both that as exhilarating and exciting as the first
couple of weeks can be, there is always a settling down period where life
returns to some sort of a day to day. It’s at that time that the quit can
begin to get rough, and not so much ‘fun’ anymore. Be ready. Keep working
with your ABCs to prepare for upcoming routine events in order to retrain
your autopilot and create new nonsmoking responses to the routines of life.
Again…. congrats to you both,
Steve