Today is the Great American Smoke Out. Hopefully, you're browsing around looking for a reason to quit. You already have a million of them.
Maybe now you just have to decide. Decide you're going to be a non-smoker and declare yourself a non-smoker.
Do that here. Please post how long you've been smoking and what's the reason you're deciding not to do it anymore.
Tell us what your quitting strategy is. I've been known to personally encourage people who want to quit smoking, so it's likely I'll respond.
You can totally do this. I know it.
4 comments:
I wrote to you a couple of weeks ago about being in a smoking situation for the first time after not smoking for 4 weeks. I made it. They all smoked up a storm. It smelled awful. I still wanted to smoke, though. It's now been almost six weeks and I'm still taking the Chantix and still not smoking. I want to, though. I wish I could feel set free of it like you do. I didn't want to quit, but knew I should for my sons. This is my first attempt after 35 years of smoking. Why don't I feel proud? Because every day I think I might start again! My husband and I quit together and he feels just as you do. It's me that fights it! Any advice? Susie
You're doing everything right Susie! You're not smoking even though you want to. You're taking the Chantix.
You don't feel proud because you don't believe it yet. You get to mourn the loss of your friend first. Smoking has seen you through all the dramas and traumas and milestones of your life.
It's necessary to mourn what you're losing. You are losing something significant and you have to find things to replace it with.
I quit in April. It was not the first time. I quit and I failed and quit and failed.
During all those failures I did a lot of emotional work. Saying good-bye, acknowledging my loss, giving up my justifications, examining my soul.
The emotional work is what makes a quit stick.
Waht is it about smoking that you miss? Acknowledge it and then decide you can let it go.
You can do this Susie. You totally can. Your kids are worth it. You deserve to be a non-smoker.
"A non-smoker....". Hmmmm. That's it. I don't think of myself as a non-smoker. I think of myself as a smoker who is currently not smoking! Like an alcoholic who is currently not drinking.
When I smoked I hated the expense, the inconvenience in today's world of not being able to smoke in public places, and the smell. I was always concerned that I smelled like cigarettes when my sons or students at school hugged me. I rarely thought about the health issues.
Now that I've "stopped smoking" (I still can't say quit) I've got extra money, I don't have to hide to smoke, and I smell great!
But I sure miss my cigarettes. Sometimes I can almost taste one in the back of my throat. Isn't that wild? Coffee, a glass of wine, a meal....what a loss.
Still, I carry on with the Chantix and the thoughts of how proud my sons are of me.
I always feel more determined when I read your blog. I truly thank you for taking the time to write to me. Your encouragement means a great deal. I hope some day to see this "not smoking" from your point of view.
Susie
Susie what you are experiencing is normal and temporary.
See that picture of my wrist?
I actually wrote:
I AM A NON-SMOKER
on my wrist for several months. I read in an article somewhere that you have to change your identity.
You do. Write it on your wrist. Make it your wallpaper on your cell phone. Send it to yourself in email. Scrawl it on the bathroom mirror in lipstick. Ink it out on your calendar. Write it on your rear view mirror.
Sometimes a little brain washing is effective. You can't overdo it.
Repeat it to yourself every time you think of smoking.
I AM A Non-Smoker.
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