Cold Turkey
I am now 207 days smoke free.
After 43 years of 30 - 40 per day I was diagnosed with heart problems and had a quadruple bypass.
I went onto nicotine replacement therapy before the operation and tried hard (I thought) to stop, truth be told I smoked up to the day of my operation.
Apon waking up they put me back on the patches, but I decided to go cold turkey - just rip the bandaid off so to speak.
it was very hard for the first 7 days but as each week passed by it got easier.
Now I still get the thought of having a smoke but never gets to it as I will not want to go through that again.
Congratulations on staying the course and sharing your story.
While the fear of smoking is stronger for you than the fear of quitting, most people continue smoking and just hope they beat the odds. They don't believe that they can quit. To cope, theymake excuses. Fear mongering about health does not help, but only causes more stress and more smoking.
I know my one doctor rambled on about a dozen different consequences while I shut it out. Tell me something new. Tell me how to quit.
Here, we care. We know what it is like. We understand. We are human.
If fear is what keeps you from smoking then i guess that is good. It is better to have the right mindset though. Then you can truly be happy and let the past go.
FEAR..... the acronym....Forget Excuses, .....you have done admirably. but have you Accepted Reality. You have quit. You are to be admired and should be very proud of yourself. You should feel awesome being free. Why do I get the feeling that you still miss them?
You needed to quit. You did quit. Now is the time to be happy and proud and thankful. Read our stories and visit often. You will understand.
Well put Happiness, and congratulations is in order for you Dougie 207 days is great. I went on many a roundabout before stopping totally, simply because I did not have all the knowledge and did not belong to a forum like this one. You will learn many things from others and even just reading other peoples stories gives you some knowledge and comfort.
The Newest acronym is FEAR the best and oldest one for me was NOPE (not one puff ever) this acted as my main principle because like you said I did not want to go back to square one.
I also gained insight from reading Alan Car's book and embraced the happiness by looking at "How to grow to be a happy non smoker" by NASIA DAVOS, utube video so, this is something you might like to work on next. NOPE (not one puff ever).
When I joined this forum , I had been newly quit, hence my name .....Happiness .
Happiness is a state of mind.
Happiness is being in control.
Happiness is breathing easier.
Happiness is being free
good for you mate. its unfortunate like myself it took heart problems before you stopped but you have dont look back i have been of them 10 years this nov i think in that time i have saved at least $30000 in that time. Good luck mate