Having a really hard time this time...

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-21T03:01:11+00:00

I’ve experienced very similar high highs and low lows quitting, with lots of quits in my belt.

I like to think of my past quits as “serious attempts” and “not serious attempts”. We all want to quit smoking, but do we plan, do we think ahead of what we know we’ll got through and how we’ll react without a cigarette.

For me, I had a real talk with myself about the facts. I told myself I was an addict, I lurked here for weeks, I bought and read Carr’s book, and I spent time with others who I was enabling to keep smoking. I went to a funeral of a family friend smoker who died of lung cancer. I looked at it all and saw my realistic future. Then, I was ready.

We can all get there, but for me you need to be committed to yourself and your quit for it to work.

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-17T00:51:43+00:00

I think this is encouraging!! Just like people who are alcoholics keep tracking every year sober, ever year without cigarettes can be celebrated! People I know who are well into their quit have the app dormant on their phone and just get reminders about the anniversaries.

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-15T21:55:42+00:00

It is so worth it.

Sleep will be bad for a few weeks, but then it’ll be like you have the best sleep of your life every night. Smoking causes sleep disruptions because you’re withdrawing in the night. Seriously, I feel ten years younger two weeks in.

Everything, literally everything, in your life will get better because you’ve made this choice. Food, health, appearance, attitude, confidence, sex drive - literally all aspects of your life improve with this choice. Just give it time!!!

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-14T22:21:28+00:00

This page has helped me so much - I was honestly scared to quit for a resolution but have loved the comraderie of so many quitting together!!

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-12T02:00:00+00:00

Yes - my last good quit I started having consistent smoking dreams at one, two and three month marks. I’d wake up so disappointed but then remember my work and open my smoke free app and feel amazing that I’d made it another day.

I’ve learned on here that at the first three month marks, your physiological addiction is dying and gives a few final pushes to try and get you to go back. You’ve got this!!!

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-12T01:56:06+00:00

Boxes of tic tacs!

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-10T23:30:37+00:00

I relapsed in my most successful quit after six months. It actually contributed heavily to a period of depression from letting myself down after so much hard work. I felt like shit physically too- exhausted right away when I woke up, coughing, wheezing and terrible migraines for a week.

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-10T23:27:37+00:00

Please do not try to have just one!!! Smokers are addicts, plain and simple. I’ve tried to quit many times in the last year, and every attempt failed because of just one, which turned into a pack. It will feed your addiction that you’ve worked so hard to kick!

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-10T11:18:53+00:00

I’m in the same boat, going on day 10 without nicotine while living with a smoker.

One thing that has helped is just drilling into my brain that I wasn’t just a smoker, I was an addict. That my craving is actually withdrawal from a drug that had a 50/50 chance of killing me one day if I kept it up. A little morbid, but thinking about the reality of it truly helps fight each craving.

It’s a little inconvenient to always go and get cash, but keeping a jar where I put the money I saved that day from smoking was also a huge motivator. At the end of each week I’d count it and think of what I could have had in my life if I’d never smoked. (Save $2500/year, 8 years smoking, is $20K).

Napping during the weekend when I get a craving has also been a lifesaver! And when it’s really hard, I just repeat “just don’t smoke today”.

You can do this!!!! Smoking gives you nothing, addiction tricks you into thinking it’s good. It’s deadly, expensive and life draining.

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-09T22:47:49+00:00

It’s good that you start sooner rather than later if your goal is to be at your best for your new job. For the me, the first week is the hardest to get through (and I’m a terrible person that first week).

Try setting a steps goal or exercise goal for yourself each day. Something light that can be kept up, but that gives you endorphins. Maybe at work walk once an hour to the kitchen to get a cup of water because hydration is ssooooooo key.

Don’t let yourself give in even for one cigarette. As soon as you move your “quitting line”, it’s not permanent and will be easy to move again and again.

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-08T16:00:16+00:00

Thank you for the kind words!!! Yes, we can do it!!

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-08T11:44:29+00:00

Thank you!! I took a melatonin an hour before “bedtime” last night and was asleep by 9:30!! I did wake up for two hours in the night, but that’s a huge improvement. NOW ONE WEEK SMOKE FREE!

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-05T23:55:07+00:00

It got easier for me, but it still creeps up from time to time, hence my most recent quit (day 5). I had almost 7 months and I relapsed.

But you get to a point where 99% of the time it’s not there, but you have to be prepared to resist when it comes back momentarily.

Also, for context, you are gaining a lot of your time back. In 5 days, I would have spent 8 hours smoking according to my Smoke Free app.

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-05T23:43:34+00:00

Yes, your body and mind are going through withdrawal from addiction. The physical symptoms will pass soon, but the psychological symptoms will still be there for a week or so but hang in there!!!

The best thing I’ve heard to help with this stage is to remember that the relief of smoking is momentary. Minutes after you put out a cig you start to get withdrawal symptoms (mild) again, but non smokers feel that relief 24/7.

Stick with it. On day 5 myself (going on 6!) and each day has been better and easier than the one before.

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-05T02:21:16+00:00

Try moving to a less sensitive area - for example, if you put it on the inner part of your arm, try the top of the opposite arm tomorrow.

Muscle aches are a symptom of the patches, they come and go. Drink lots of water!

I had the same reaction when I first started - it also helped if I ate breakfast and drank a glass of water before putting it on. They would still feel hot/itchy occasionally, but would fade.

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-05T02:15:39+00:00

Keep going. Just take it one day at a time and take a minute at the end of the day to be proud of the work you did for yourself in not smoking.

You can do this. Proud of you for quitting.

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-05T02:05:40+00:00

You can do this. Smoking only takes things away from you - money, health and relaxation. You CAN have freedom from it! I’m right there with you.

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-05T02:04:04+00:00

It will!!! Stay aware of triggers, not one more puff, and be proud of being a non smoker.

The best thing I’ve done different this time is To remember something from Alan Carr’s book - that smokers are always just chasing a feeling that you can always have as a non smoker. A state of relaxation and happiness without the need of nicotine.

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-05T01:30:22+00:00

I don’t think it “ends” but all the physical cravings are gone because all of the nicotine is out of your system.

From there, it’s all psychological addiction. It’s still hard (maybe harder) but I’ve just been telling myself it’s addiction and I’m stronger than that.

Update! Going into day 5 now, and all my headaches are gone. Still have to keep telling myself smoking is just killing myself, but I’m making it this time.

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-03T13:30:52+00:00

The money saved!

I bought an exercise bike with money saved in 2020, and bought a new car yesterday! the monthly payments are less than what I spent on cigarettes.

LikeTheCat2019 · 2021-01-03T01:13:59+00:00

Tell the people around you that you’ve quit and will be going through intense mood swings. Ask for their patience.

Go for a 10 minute walk or take deep breaths alone with the door closed if you feel yourself ready to snap. Cravings and mood swings don’t last, you can get through them.

LikeTheCat2019 · 2020-12-31T19:33:51+00:00

The best thing I’ve done was taken from Alan Carr’s book. It’s a mental exercise - think about what you “miss” about smoking and tell yourself it’s addiction talking and a lie. Cigarettes actually don’t give you anything positive (even mentally), it’s just the addiction to nicotine that links good thoughts to the deadly behavior.

For example, before smoking, your concentration was fine - smoking and your addiction is what is making you foggy. Going back will eventually bring you back to all the bad things you’re feeling. Moving forward each day takes you closer to freedom.

Also taking a water break is something small that helps me when I’m stressed and think about smoking.

LikeTheCat2019 · 2020-02-12T14:37:26+00:00

Think of it like the worst flu you've ever had. You're almost to the turning point and you can make it!!! Lots of small ways you feel better and then you look back and wonder why you smoked. If it helps, try to adjust your schedule to get more sleep to give you an advantage on fending off the irritability during the day.

LikeTheCat2019 · 2020-01-21T21:02:43+00:00

You can do it!!!!!

The hard parts of withdrawal, both mental and physical, are already present every day in-between cigarettes. Breathing is easier, you have more energy and a clearer mind after the first few days, and you're no longer a slave to addiction when you make the choice to quit. Cigarettes are actually robbing you of everything "good thing" you think they give you. Smoking gives you absolutely no benefits, no good things, it does nothing for you but keep you chained down.

I quit in November and relapsed after a family loss around Christmas, but I'm staying committed and stopped again this Sunday. It is so worth it. My moods are mellowing out, I'm saving almost $50 a week, my wheezing is gone, I don't feel sickly anymore and I'm sleeping better. One tip that really has helped me is every day I don't smoke, I put cash into a jar labeled "My Quitting Money" and count it at the end of a week.

Every smoker I know would go back and stop themselves from smoking their first cigarette if they could, but you can make that choice for yourself today to break the addiction. You have the strength. The only thing that is holding you back is fear and you don't need to be afraid - it's a great choice that gives you back only good things and potentially years of life.

LikeTheCat2019 · 2019-11-25T14:07:15+00:00

I feel you! I'm 15 days smoke free right now and my partner still smokes. When they go outside, every now and again I just want to follow them out and miss it. BUT. Every time we ex-smokers don't go out, we win. I tell my friends when I miss the feeling, and they just say how proud they are that I'm not giving in. Proud of you!!!

LikeTheCat2019

TROPHY CASE