Quitting smoking, day one early morning...

1. 79

   kirstenblogposted 13 years ago

   So thats only a few hours by my math (however long I have been awake). Got me some really stale gum from last time! I didn't know if it was even likely to be rancid or what but its OK was just stale. I might have more in the flat but I will probably want to buy some more anyway. I keep fixating on how well or not well I am doing and even feeling proud feels like another way to fixate. Maybe I should go argue about who has the cooler God on a religious forum (by the way, mines the coolest, she wears shades )
   
   Well anyway I thought I would share here. If over the next week you see me in a thread arguing who has the cooler God, or whatever, don't be fooled, I am just seeing if arguing over god helps cravings. Could be a use for religion in this world yet

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      Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Nah - It doesn't help.
      
      Bitch time for me was 3 months in - get past that and you are home clear.

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2. 0

   zampanoposted 13 years ago

   Go jogging.
   Enjoy your new breathing capacity that will grow each day (if you're still young).
   And that pleasure is the most effective medicine to remain a non smoker.
   Congratulations.

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      kirstenblogposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I think counting the money saved might be more enjoyable (its why we are quitting, to damned expensive). The other thing I am trying to keep in mind is the fact that I want a child, and I want to raise her/him in a smoke free home. I imagine growing up with smokers made a huge impact on my smoking. So many of my role models were smokers. With the next week off I hope I can make it past my usual 7 days before smoking again. I hear that it takes 28 days to break a habit, I have that as my first main goal.

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         zampanoposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Those are certainly the best reasons in the world. And noble reasons too.
         I deeply wish you can keep up to that vow.
         And that when your child grows up to be a dynamic infant, you'll be able to run with him without coughing of shortbreath.
         Sincerelly

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   Kidgasposted 13 years ago

   Best of luck to you.  Just take it one moment at a time.

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   Uninvited Writerposted 13 years ago

   Well...good luck. I was never a serious smoker so I don't know how hard it is. We will be rooting for you

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   DanielCookposted 13 years ago

   Hi Kirsten, well done for making the decision to quit. I found the most useful way to stop was by changing my habits and routines completely.  Every day I used to get in from work, make a cup of tea and have a cigarette - in order to break this routine I would have a glass of juice and read my book after work to start with.  I found that it took a while before I could drink hot drinks and not think about smoking.  If you have any set routines for smoking try and break them down one by one.
   
   Good luck!

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   Rafiniposted 13 years ago

   Congratulations on your decision to quit! 
   
   Try not to think about it, but when the urge comes don't try to wait it out.  Get up and do something!!  Like, get a glass of water.  Walk around the kitchen table.  Eat a few crackers.  Pick up the cat.  Then, when the urge is gone, go back to what you were doing - after a pat on the back for surviving.

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7. 79

   kirstenblogposted 13 years ago

   OK, from all you ex smokers, what did you do when angry with family like a spouse?
   
   Am at a loss at the moment, had the smallest ever tiff with the old ball and chain, over him distracting me from something I was writing and now I am in tears, can't seem to stop. Was in good spirits earlier but now I just want to curl up and sleep or something.

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      Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Mood swings are normal for a while. Curl up and go to sleep.

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         kirstenblogposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         You know what I needed?
         
         New piece of gum!
         
         Bloody hell, its crazy how quick I went from river of tears to fine again with one little piece of gum!

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            Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Yup - I know. I was a miserable bastard for 9 months.
            
            Back to my usual, lovable self now of course.
            
            Stick with it - it is worth it - really - I feel great now.

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               kirstenblogposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               That long?!
               
               
               Glad to hear you are feeling great, I just want my wallet to feel great, n heavy!
               
               It really is a money motivation for me. I have this upcoming week off for the schools half term holiday so I have been answering and asking questions with that site web answers that does revenue sharing. Playing here and probably will go offline to tweak some images and maybe create some for my online store. Funny how many little things there are online geared toward making money that are as easy to obsess with as a video game. Too bad backlinking isn't as fun, if it were my hubs would be at risk of doing even better in searches

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                  Rafiniposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  The length of time is different for everyone.  I was fine after the first 3 days with not even a craving after 30.  (after a pack a day for 25 years habit)
                  
                  As for emotions - do your best to ignore whatever will set you off, and laugh at it instead.  (as in - yeah, I know, the nicotine really wants me to be pissed off right now, but...I DON'T have time for it!! lol)  In other words, beat down your anger with a Sarcasm stick.

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   skyfireposted 13 years ago

   I never touched ciggy in my life, so this may not work for you. Try playing video games to get your anger out. Plants vs Zombies, Angry birds or some hard FPS game will do just fine to get your anger out.

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      kirstenblogposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Don't have any video games but I do have some great art programs, fractal generators mostly that are easy to obsess over as much as any video game I ever played or worse, that I can actually use online to potentially make money (check out my zazzle art hubs to see my fractal work if you want). If I had a video game console in the house nothing would ever get done
      
      Just had a fresh piece of gum and went from tears to OK again. Man its amazing what the gum can do for ya, wasn't sure if I was going to need it or not. Was down to about 2 smokes a day, and smoked non-nicotine honey-rose ginseng cigarettes for ages now but even that little bit of nicotine has enough of an effect that the gum now is making a bigger difference then I expected.

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   skyfireposted 13 years ago

   Cool. One more fractal lover here.

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      kirstenblogposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I am a big fractilist! I see fractals everywhere! I just wish they would do UF for macs, and that they would do a newer version of apophysis-j, that buggar is a pain the the *ss! I now get my parameters set in apo then take the flame into oxidizer to render as I have yet to have a two hour render create a black image and apo was doing that all the time (like the gamma or exposure was not enough even tho it looked more then enough in the preview). I try oxidizer as it has different fractal types but its too slow and the control is not as effortless as apo-j. I got my husband doing a kaleidoscope program for me in flash when he has the time. So that I could take any image and make a slice of it into a kaleidoscope image of similar size/quality to the original, also with the ability to drag the image around the pie slice cut-out so that I can find many cool kaleidoscopes from one image. There is a fun free one online but the images come back REALLY small. I don't know if there would be a market for this when he has it done and of course it would need more tweaks to make it commercial so for now it will be a mac version to run in flash

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    Pearldiverposted 13 years ago

    I gave up about 4 weeks before you Mark.
    
    I still occasionally go out and beat up some drunk for a Smoke
    
    Apparently you must wear shorts when you give up seriously, as the urge to continue to smoke has been found to be in our jeans...
    I checked every pocket, nook and granny... but nothing!
    I'm sick of getting older and loosing good urges like that!

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    Gemsongposted 13 years ago

    I quit exactly one year ago on March 1st and even wrote a couple hubs on my experience. Sugar free jolly rangers were and are my friends.

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    Jule Romansposted 13 years ago

    Gemsong---My quit date is March 1 this year! :-) I am reading a book called "The easy way to stop smoking" by Allen Carr. Ironically, I found the book while hub-hopping. Someone had written a review of it, so I checked it out and bought it.  I am really nervous about quitting. I have smoked my whole adult life.  I don't know what I will do without cigarettes. My husband smokes, too. I am not going to make him go outside to smoke, or change his habits. I always hated that in ex-smokers.

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    CARIBQUEENposted 13 years ago

    We are with you all the way - just hang in there.  Don't give up! You will win the battle. It is admirable that you want to raise your children in a smoke-free environment. Hats off to you!

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    mtsi1098posted 13 years ago

    congrats - good luck...if you think u can u will

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    Scarlet Hendersonposted 13 years ago

    Me and my dude both quit this past summer, so it's been about 7 months or so. Neither of us has relapsed. He had to use nicotine patches for about 1 month. The worst part for me was the act of smoking the cig, so I got some wooden popsicle sticks and chewed on those for a few days and also chewed Big Red gum. The cinnamon taste cuts the cravings. Do I still want one? Yeah, occasionally, but it's rare I even think about smoking now. It just got to be too expensive and too much trouble since smokers are now treated like scourges of society LOL. Think about the money you'll save for motivation. It's a lot! Good luck. You can do it!

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    CYBERSUPEposted 13 years ago

    Good Luck---If I can do it, anybody can!

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    runescapeprivateposted 13 years ago

    Quitting. Sucks. Good luck to you, just keep at it and don't give in.

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