Day 18
Hello fellow freedom fighters,
I`d like to share my reasons for quitting with...well all of you out there in cyber land or those of you sitting with your ipad or iphone in one hand and a lighter and a relapse ciggi in the other !!
Anyway, 18 days ago i woke up and said that is it, i`ve had enough of this nagging tickle at the back of my throat and the constant hiding from anyone who i thought would judge me for being a smoker. See I am a practising Bikram Yoga devote, I eat a 75% raw food diet and I advocate the use of natural therapies any which way and how. So you can see my delema with having to "hide out" each time I wanted to enhale those 7000 compounds 250 poisionous chemicals 70 of which cause cancer.
The other and second biggest reason besides doing it for myself is that I am being a healthy role model to my 11 year old son. Who is far wiser than his years when he tells me "its a long process mum, but dont worry you`ll get through it" brings me to tears.
So yes, getting back to the day I quit. The first few days were a breeze. I grasped my new found freedom with both hands, hardly any sleep and some night sweats and plunged head first into positive thoughts and lots and lots and lots of yoga.
Then after two weeks things changed, it is as if the more I get used to the freedom from smoking both physically and emotionally the more challenging it is at times. I am so unfamiliar with being a non smoker; after 27 years of being a smoker it just feels so strange to not be one. Its like im scared of being a non smoker, my sister would call me a big sookie la la if she were reading this !!
So thats where I am at right now. I am off to have my 1000th cough lollie !!
Stay strong my pretties xox
Even though you thought you were hiding it ... they could possibly all smell it anyway lol there is no hiding a ciggie :)
But yes in many ways it does get harder as time goes on - exspecially if the thought patterns are of thinking smoking was your friend, someone who travelled all those years with you - all the good and bad times you shared.
It's all a lie. It never was your friend, it only ever was an addiction.
I know what you mean about being scared of being a non smoker - ive smoked since i was 9 and i'm 48 now. Long time. I feel a bit empty at times, like i am supposed to be doing something and i'm not. Feel a bit bored and think 'hmm is this all there is' but i am more scared when i lay on my back and my air is gone, i struggle t o breath.
I am more scared of smoking then of not smoking. The empty feeling passes, it comes and goes but emphysema is forever.
Stay strong in knowing that it is no friend ever.
Hi sunnysunshine, good going, and well done for quitting. It is a rough old road at times...I found by week 2/3/4/ were emotional and thinking of smoking as a friend as a loss. Looking back to how it all started etc... I know it makes no sense, but it was powerful and it was present. It is all part of the addiction.... and addictive thinking. I thought I was in calm waters once I was a few weeks smoke free. but I now know it is a real adjustment period , and it is really and truly is one day at a time. It is a hard thing to do and to adjust to being a non smoker.... scared is a good word of course, but you are doing it..... getting through each day. You cannot erase all the years you smoked, you can only accept it, and live for today, be good to yourself , every now and then , because it is a massive achievement. The positives are what you focus on, breathing better, feeling better , it can transfer onto eating better, your skin will look awesome and the hair too. Never look back , put one foot in front of the other and keep going. It a good path, so worth it. stay strong...xxx
Hi neverneverever,
Whether others could smell the residue smoke was not even a thought that crossed my mind, i just didnt want them seeing me put the ciggi to my mouth and drag on it like a pacifyer. Its feels very different to be a non smoker and knowing the statistics that 85% of Aussie`s are non-smokers now gives me comfort that i am part of the majority. Funny it seems though that most of my adult life has been about standing out from the crowd. Now id just like to meld in with it...hmmm comforting thought...i think?
That TV ad used to get my attention that we should all quit before the suffering starts, actually I am very glad it got inside my head and not a ABC3 kids program.
Stay strong neverneverever, thanks for taking the time to repost.
xox
Hi Converse,
Yep my gosh, the emotions...oh the emotions !! I find myself saying words of gratitude daily to close friends and family as they are seeing me ride the wave of ups, downs twists, u-turns and cartwheels, I am so relieved to have their support. And my new found support here on icanquit because only another addict truely knows what another addict is going through.
Its different for each of us in different ways. But fundamentally we all go through our own version of quitting no butts about it. pardon the pun !!
Thanks for your post :)
xox