34 Days Smoke Free and Counting

Beezer

Beezer

Well-known Member
Gained 11 pounds already. Each day gets better though...less urges. If I can last 2 months, I'll start referring to myself as an ex-smoker. Until then, I just consider myself in remission.

I just know as soon as you think you have it beat...that you can have just one smoke...you're done. Right back to being a smoker again.
 

Yes you've broken it's Back now...you're in control not the nicotine... but remember, it's more addictive than Heroin.. just one little puff, and you're a goner, and would you want to go through this last 34 days again to quit again ?..I'm sure you wouldn't...

The extra pounds can be dealt with another time... good for you...(y)
 
As a person who smoked for 40 years, I am proud of you. I quit a couple of years ago and it is still an ongoing struggle. So much of it is a emotional journey. We were used to smoking to avoid many things that are mental. Depression, fear and social concerns.

I still do not give my self to say I am a nonsmoker. I am a smoker that choices not to smoke. You will have many struggles, it is important to take the time to deal with the emotional things to avoid smoking again.
 
Beezer, good for you. I'm not trying to be a kill joy, but I'm speaking from personal experience. I consider myself a former smoker, now-- but it's been 27 years since I last had one. It could have been 44 years but my previous record was 2 1/2 months. That was in '79. The desire to have a cigarette started and grew and grew and finally one day I had one -- and that was all it took.

You may not have problems at a month or 3 months, 6, or a year, but a lot of people do and wind up smoking again. It isn't uncommon to have the desire return even after your physical dependence is gone. Things like having dreams about smoking. I know I did for at least 15 years. Not often, but still I had them. This was something I had in common with some other exsmokers. I know someone who hadn't smoked in over 30 years, but he would still find himself reaching for his breast pocket reflexively. It doesn't mean you will have these problems, but I want you to be aware that it can happen.

I don't know about you, but all the things that were supposed to improve after one quits took years for me to notice, but eventually I got there.
I hope your road is easier than mine. All the best.
 
Oris Borloff said:
Beezer, good for you.

I don't know about you, but all the things that were supposed to improve after one quits took years for me to notice, but eventually I got there.
I hope your road is easier than mine. All the best.
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Indeed, well done Beezer. The craving can return and often comes back so strongly that many succumb. Don't let that put you off though, but you might need a little help with motivation.

My smoking habit started at college in my teens when the cost of a pack of cigarettes was minimal and back then, they didn't kill you. Encouraged by my young bride, I quit when I got married at the age of twenty-two. That motivation that I mentioned came from a doctor.

About two, maybe three years after getting married, I took on a big mortgage, the mortgage company insisted on a medical health check as well as life insurance. During that medical examination smoking was mentioned. I owned up to my former habit and was honest with the doctor's questions.

What the doctor had discovered is that my body had repaired the damage done by smoking, it was just the fillip my motivation needed. Thanks to that good news I was even more determined to remain tobacco free. And if ever there was further motivation it was the damaging effects discovered and the dreadful things like cancer that are linked to smoking. Stay strong Beezer.
 
Beezer said:
Gained 11 pounds already. Each day gets better though...less urges. If I can last 2 months, I'll start referring to myself as an ex-smoker. Until then, I just consider myself in remission.

I just know as soon as you think you have it beat...that you can have just one smoke...you're done. Right back to being a smoker again.
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Tobacco and booze. I've never been a smoker, but my business life had plenty of the latter. It was a relief to not have to drink as a norm.

Let's be honest, our bodies are older, and simply can't handle this abuse any longer. You've got to learn to listen to your body. For example, feeling slightly quesy after a night out is your body saying, "Yeah, don't really like this anymore."

Then again, like the OP apparently, I pick up bad habits. My favorite drink (other than a fine cup of tea!) is a can of Coke. And I"m not talking the diet stuff, I'm talking about full power. I love that stuff, and always have. It's probably as bad, perhaps worse, than having a beer. Life, huh?!?!
 
Beezer, you're simply amazing!
Oris Borloff said:
You may not have problems at a month or 3 months, 6, or a year, but a lot of people do and wind up smoking again. It isn't uncommon to have the desire return even after your physical dependence is gone. Things like having dreams about smoking. I know I did for at least 15 years. Not often, but still I had them. This was something I had in common with some other exsmokers. I know someone who hadn't smoked in over 30 years, but he would still find himself reaching for his breast pocket reflexively. It doesn't mean you will have these problems, but I want you to be aware that it can happen.
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My brother, who quit before I did, explained it to me this way: Although the chemical addiction is gone, the physical habit tends to last as far as it's paired with a certain activity, those habits need to be broken one by one.

He said that a few years after he had quit smoking he went skiing for the first time since. He found himself reaching for that breast pocket after he got off the ski lift, because he had always had a cigarette at that point whenever he went skiing. I remembered that and recognized the memory-habit when it popped up. The good part is that it only takes doing it one time without the cigarette to break that habit.

It's been thirty years since I quit smoking and I never think of it now, but I had "quit" a few times when in my twenties, each time lasting about a year. Both times I restarted when something really bad happened and I went for my old comfort stick thinking I would only have that one (ha.)

When that bad day comes, and we all get a few, tell yourself that breaking a good vow never made a bad day better.

In the meantime:

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Congratulations, Beezer. Smoking is one of the hardest addictions to stop. And 11 lbs. weight gain- it proves no good deed goes unpunished. You try to be healthy by quitting, and your body says, "No way, I like being unhealthy". And the lure of cigarettes follows you for life. We ex-smokers should have a Smokers Anonymous group.
 
Beezer, You're doing well, and probably over the worst part, but watch out for the occasional mother of all cravings that makes you feel like all was for naught. Those are discouraging, but resisting those, will gradually get you to your goal. Getting over smoking is a slow process and progress is not always a linear line, but the graph over time does get you to where you want to be, as long as you keep on not giving up.
 
Beezer said:
Wow!

So much encouragement and support! :)

I can't start smoking again now.

🎶 And here's to you, Mr. Beezer. A Nation turns it's lonely eyes to you...woo, woo, woo.🎵
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Let's just keep singing Paul Simon songs until the urges pass. (I'm having cookie urges myself.)

I was singing this one to my dog this morning:

I met an old dachshund on the street last night
She seemed so glad to see me I just smiled
She gave me lots of lickings
and I scratched behind her ears.
Still barking after all these years.
 

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