good days bad days
Hello everyone! I just want to send some rays of support and encouragement out there to those of you struggling with quitting. I finally quit cold turkey almost six months ago after up to a pack a day for 26 years, one of THE hardest things I've ever done in my life. In my experience nicotine replacements DON'T work, they just keep you addicted to more expensive products and you still have to go through that crappy 3-day withdrawal at some point. Once you get those three days over with, cleansing the nicotine from your system, it's all psychological triggering from there. You manage each trigger at a time, learn to cope ( or enjoy! ) that situation without a cigarette, and you never have to revisit that trigger again. REALLY. Plus you can BREATHE again!!!!!!!! You're not coughing up junk when you laugh around other people ( gross ) you're not constantly looking for opportunities to sneak away for a ciggie, or panicking when you're down to two or three in a pack. You're not making decisions in your life based on whether or not you can smoke in that place or around that person. When smoking was made illegal in bars and restaurants in Chicago I stopped going out- I decided I'd rather stay at home alone so I could smoke.
My mom died of alcoholism two years ago at the age of 71- after retiring she spent the last five years of her life depressed, chain-smoking, and drinking, hardly ever leaving the house and hiding her substance abuse. I was myself going down that road and had to put a stop to it.
So saying that, although I'm SOOOOO grateful I've been able to quit, I've been having some rough days lately, REALLY wanting to buy a pack, or what's really gross is the temptation to pick up a half-smoked ciggie from the sidewalk... can't even believe I could get that desperate! I'm trying to remember that my current mood and circumstance are just another trigger, and if I can slog my way through it I will have won another victory and can check that trigger off my list. FOR GOOD. So that's why I'm writing this now- to remind myself why I quit in the first place, that I'm not alone, and that this too shall pass... :)
LIST OF HELPFUL TO-DOS
1. Find non-smoking role-models! I'm an artist and the arts community is rife with smokers. Georgia O'Keeffe and Yoko Ono are two of my non-smoking gurus.
2. Keep a journal about why you're quitting- this helps six months down the road, believe me!
3. Make a list of things you've sacrificed so you could smoke
4. Make a list of things you can do when you stop smoking!
5. How much money will you save in one month if you quit?
6. Do a Google search for images of oral and throat cancer victims. Cancer may not kill you, just deform you terribly and you'll have to live with that. You won't be able to eat normally, if at all, you can't drink, maybe not even talk. And then you'll STILL have to do through the agony of quitting anyway.
7. Hang out with people who don't smoke and go to fun places with them. Smoking is allowed in fewer and fewer public places now and YOU"LL BE ABLE TO GO THERE TOO!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!
8. My first three "Detox Days" were spent online reading about quitting, what to expect, physical symptoms of withdrawal, researching various hideous deaths caused by tobacco, biographies of famous people who smoked ( check out Sigmund Freud ), and personal stories of both quitters and victims. It helps to scare yourself a little and get a reality check.
9. Keep your hands busy with something that also engages your imagination. If you need your hands for creating/working/holding things they won't be holding a cigarette.
10. Take "cigarette breaks" but just don't smoke. Have a coffee and sit in the sun, write in your journal, read, draw, meditate. Best of all, socialize with others, laugh ( without coughing! ), go for a walk, make love... You just bought yourself FIFTEEN MORE YEARS by quitting so what will you do with that time?
Much love to you all!
