Diana

Have not heard from you in a while.......how are you doing?  How is your house coming along?  

Glad you jumped back in.  Lesson learned.  

Ice water is a great help of fixing a craving with a blast of cold in your mouth.  I loved ice cold root beer myself.  Actually, anything ice cold really helped. 

Copy that! I'll try the root beer : )

Your doing fine. After a little slip and get right back into NOPEING. Thats great. Keep it going to the nope sid eand things will come around.

 
Hey Dipo, 

It seems you haven’t posted since the thirteenth. I hope all is well with you and look forward to seeing a post from you again soon. Congratulations on one month smoke free! I hope you treat yourself to something special. Wishing you the best as you keep moving forward on your smoke free journey. 

Have a great day.  

Hey 48yrsmokin, 

Congratulations on six weeks smoke free! It’s great to see you reach these milestones and to read the determination and optimism in your post. It’s also great to see you supporting others. You’re doing great and I hope you have a wonderful day celebrating. Best wishes as you continue to move forward. 

Have a great day.  

Thanks Denim.  Still on the way to be NOPER DUDE.  Think'n since I had done this before. That things would be a little easier this time around. But NOPE is the A

somehow I sent out the last message without completeing what I wanted to say. But yes I am still nopeing but it's not any easier than the first time I quit threw here. Oct 17th 2019.  Then screwes it all up in May 2021.  But I am back on track again.. Not any easier accept for the fact I know what I was missing when I had my quit time. and am looking forward to the time I don't have to keep my guard up all the time. Right now I get the hardest urges just out of the blue. Most of time they happen I'm not by anyone how's smoking. Was out camping with too much time on my hands. would get some pretty intense urges but luckily no smokers around. Keep telling myself that It's not worth the puff. I'm a lot better off without them. 

Hey 48yrsmokin, 

I’m so glad that you posted. Unfortunately no past quit will make quitting again any easier. We go through the difficulties of quitting each time we start again. I’m not only speaking from fact but from experience. Like you when I quit in 2018 it wasn’t my first time. In 2016 I thought I could have that ‘just one’. Yeah, it didn’t work out that way and I found myself here in 2018 trying to quit again. When we decide to start our quit again that’s exactly what it does, it puts us back to start. The good news is that when we find the strength hold on through it we can be free of it. As you said, we’re better off without them. You’re right to tell yourself that because that one puff really is not worth it. It’s not worth losing your quit, not worth the damage or the cost, and not worth having to go through the withdrawal again. I’m so happy to hear that your ‘back on track’. That’s important and so much to be proud of staying strong through that. Frankly, I’m proud of you too! Kudos to you for that! I’m glad you came back to the forum again in Sept. for your new quit too. This is such a amazing place for help and support, encouragement, and information. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the help, support, and encouragement that I received here when I was starting out, and I’ve said this multiple times, I’m not at all sure I would have gotten as far as I have. I’m so grateful for that and the forum hasn’t been able to shake me since, lol. Anyway, I’ll let you know, from my own experience, some of the things that helped me and maybe somewhere in it you’ll find something that might help you too. I’ll also post some articles to help you. One of the things that helped me was changing my thinking, that was a big one for me. I posted to Anthony about it this past July, so it’s easy to find. It was on July 11, it was message 75 on that thread. This link should help get you to it if you’d like to take a look, just click the link and scroll down to the message. 

https://forums.delphiforums.com/quit_smoking/messages/6686/69

Another issue, for me personally, was missing having that cigarette with me. I was used to holding it and having it in my hand. One of the suggestions here was and still is to drink ice water through a straw and that really does help many people during cessation but, again personally, it didn’t seem to be helping me. What I did take notice of though, and I’ve posted about this before too, was the straw. It was white like a cigarette and about the same diameter, so I took it and cut it about the same length as a cigarette. At that point it weighed about the same too, so I held exactly like I held a cigarette and that helped. It tricks the mind a bit I think and if I forgot and put it to my mouth, so what, it was only a straw. I can’t begin to tell you how long I kept those straws with me. A added bonus was that I could have/hold them anywhere, including places where smoking isn’t allowed. One of my group quit-buddies Brian (bmann018) found that chewing on a straw helped him. So whether you’re drinking ice water through one, holding one as I did, or chewing on one like Brian, I definitely recommend straws. Another thing is don’t look back at what happened before and don’t look too far ahead. Stay in the moment and focus on today. Looking too far ahead can sometimes cause added stress or anxiety that you don’t need starting out. Take each day as it comes, one at a time and let that be enough for now. The time will add up. You can do this. There’s something else that was a huge help to me too but this is already looking like a book, so we’ll save it for another time. I’d like to go ahead and post this so you’ll see that I’ve replied. Btw, I told Freckles earlier and I’ll mention the same to you, please post if you need help and/or support, encouragement, information, a sounding board, or to simply share a laugh. Also as I told Freckles, I’m sure someone might wonder.. did she say a laugh? I did. Laughter is a great distraction and as a added bonus has many health benefits. The games on the forum are also a good distraction and the Library here has a lot of useful information to help us too. You are not alone with your quit. We’re all here for you and each other. Again, congratulations on staying strong. You said, ‘am looking forward to the time I don't have to keep my guard up all the time.’ You’ll get there just keep holding on one day, one hour, one minute at a time. 

Have a great day.     

Verywell Mind

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