Congratulations Jason!!
That’s great!!
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This isnt even three days. But i feel like for me the first three days are the hardest…every time I’ve quit.
So far I’ve quit smoking 6x in my life (four from pregnancies, once when i was 16, and now)
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Loving this for you!!! Yeah to your progress.
is this totally cold turkey or are you using any patches / lozenges?
keep up the amazing work girl – you are stronger than your addiction. after 19+ months i still find myself wheezing so believe me your lungs will thank you
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Cold turkey.
Also i didn’t mention earlier, this is the first time I’m quitting for me. (Other times were for the kids, and once for the person who i was going to try to live with)
I did try about a week before all that other crap happened at the end of April…but figured I’d wait until i was a little more stable to stop… And here we are. One break at a time.
I find that i use(d) cigarettes as a thing to break up my day. At work I’d go out every 2 hours to give myself 5 minutes alone (since i rarely get regular breaks)
But also, before i went anywhere with the kids, or after i took the big kids to school, or after I ate, or a timer for how long to talk with anyone outside 
…
Now i need to practice better ways to transition between tasks…
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Thats fantastic- doing ot for you is the best thing!
I totally understand using cigs for breaks…i did same and it was the only breaks i would get /take during the day.
Ive got faith in you- you will overcome tgis addiction too 
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How do you feel about a friend who has to go everywhere with you? Not only does he tag along all the time, but since he is so offensive and vulgar, you become unwelcome when with him. He has a peculiar odor that sticks to you wherever you go. Others think both of you stink.
He controls you totally. When he says jump, you jump. Sometimes in the middle of a blizzard or storm, he wants you to come to the store and pick him up. You would give your spouse hell if he or she did that to you all the time, but you can’t argue with your friend.
Sometimes, when you are out at a movie or play he says he wants you to go stand in the lobby with him and miss important scenes. Since he calls all the shots in your life, you go.
Your friend doesn’t like your choice of clothing either. Instead of politely telling you that you have lousy taste, he burns little holes in these items so you will want to throw them out. Sometimes, he tires of the furniture and gets rid of it too. Occasionally, he gets really nasty and decides the whole house must go.
He gets pretty expensive to support. Not only is his knack of property destruction costly, but you must pay to keep him with you. In fact, he will cost you thousands of dollars over your lifetime. And you can count on one thing, he will never pay you a penny in return.
Often at picnics, you watch others playing vigorous activities and having lots of fun doing them. But your friend won’t let you. He doesn’t believe in physical activity. In his opinion, you are too old to have that kind of fun. So he kind of sits on your chest and makes it difficult for you to breathe. Now you don’t want to go off and play with other people when you can’t breathe, do you?
Your friend does not believe in being healthy. He is really repulsed by the thought of you living a long and productive life. So, every chance he gets he makes you sick. He helps you catch colds and flu. Not just by running out in the middle of the lousy weather to pick him up at the store. He is more creative than that.
He carries thousands of poisons with him which he constantly blows in your face. When you inhale some of them, they wipe out cilia in your lungs which would have helped you prevent these diseases.
But colds and flu are just his forms of child’s play. He especially likes diseases that slowly cripple you - like emphysema. He considers this disease great. Once he gets you to have this, you will give up all your other friends, family, career goals, activities - everything. You will just sit home and caress him, telling him what a great friend he is while you desperately gasp for air.
But eventually your friend tires of you. He decides he no longer wishes to have your company. Instead of letting you go your separate ways, he decides to kill you. He has a wonderful arsenal of weapons behind him. In fact, he has been plotting your death since the day you met him.
He picked all the top killers in society and did everything in his power to ensure you would get one of them. He overworked your heart and lungs. He clogged up the arteries to your heart, brain, and every other part of your body. In case you were too strong to succumb to this, he constantly exposed you to cancer-causing agents. He knew he would get you sooner or later.
Well, this is the story of your “friend,” your cigarette. No real friend would do all this to you. Cigarettes are the worst possible enemies you ever had. They are expensive, addictive, socially unacceptable, and deadly. Consider all this and - NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF!
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Congratulations on your three days! Super proud of you. I quit cold turkey after years of trying the other ways. I always cheated on the other ways and it kept nicotine in my body. For me I did best saying FRO and getting the nicotine out of me. Each to their own.
Editing to add for you and your three to five minutes alone. Consider doing something truly relaxing, the breathing exercises, 4-4-8. Four in, hold for four, exhale for eight.
Just being.
Just being, quiet and doing nothing for a few minutes.
Heel raises or kegels…
Anything but smoking
Listening to one of your favorite songs, you and the song.
Listening to whatever is going on around you ( good sounds) being in that moment without the cigarette.
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WOW!!! this was a fascinating read and i will be book marking for when the urges hit! Damn that friend!
Thank you Alisa for this post and congrats on your cigarette free time. Yeah to day 3 @Scorpn
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JUNKIE THINKING: “One puff won’t hurt.”
RESPONSE: “One puff will always hurt me, and it always will because I’m not a social smoker. One puff and I’ll be smoking compulsively again.”
JUNKIE THINKING: “I only want one.”
RESPONSE: “I have never wanted only one. In fact, I want 20-30 a day every day. I want them all.”
JUNKIE THINKING: “I’ll just be a social smoker.”
RESPONSE: “I’m a chronic, compulsive smoker, and once I smoke one I’ll quickly be thinking about the next one. Social smokers can take it or leave it. That’s not me.”
JUNKIE THINKING: “I’m doing so well. One won’t hurt me now.”
RESPONSE: “The only reason I’m doing so well is because I haven’t taken the first one. Yet once I do, I won’t be doing well anymore. I’ll be smoking again.”
JUNKIE THINKING: “I’ll just stop again.”
RESPONSE: “Sounds easy, but who am I trying to kid? Look how long it took me to stop this time. And once I start, how long will it take before I get sick enough to face withdrawal again? In fact, when I’m back in the grip of compulsion, what guarantee do I have that I’ll ever be able to stop again?”
JUNKIE THINKING: “If I slip, I’ll keep trying.”
RESPONSE: “If I think I can get away with one little “slip” now I’ll think I can get away with another little “slip” later on.”
JUNKIE THINKING: “I need one to get me through this withdrawal.”
RESPONSE: “Smoking will not get me through the discomfort of not smoking. It will only get me back to smoking. One puff stops the process of withdrawal and I’ll have to go through it all over again.”
JUNKIE THINKING: “I miss smoking right now.”
RESPONSE: “Of course I miss something I’ve been doing every day for most of my life. But do I miss the chest pain right now? Do I miss the worry, the embarrassment? I’d rather be an ex-smoker with an occasional desire to smoke, than a smoker with a constant desire to stop doing it.”
JUNKIE THINKING: “I really need to smoke now. I’m so upset.”
RESPONSE: “Smoking is not going to fix anything. I’ll still be upset. I’ll just be an upset smoker. I never have to have a cigarette. Smoking is not a need; it’s a want. Once the crisis is over, I’ll be relieved and grateful I’m still not smoking.”
JUNKIE THINKING: “I don’t care.”
RESPONSE: “What is it exactly that I think that I don’t care about? Can I truthfully say I don’t care about chest pain? I don’t care about gagging in the morning? I don’t care about lung cancer? No, I care about these things very much. That’s why I stopped smoking in the first place.”
JUNKIE THINKING: “What difference does it make anyway?”
RESPONSE: “It makes a difference in the way I breathe, the way my heart beats, the way I feel about myself. It makes a tremendous difference in every aspect of my physical and emotional health.”
The best time to quit would have been yesterday but that day is gone now. The next best day is today (not tomorrow). Quit smoking TODAY.
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Almost past the three day hump.
Worked this morning all overtime. But only worked 7 hours today. Then took the kids out.
Little one picked the playground, so that was stop one
I picked coffee so we stopped at Starbucks
Big girl picked smoothie, so we stopped at tropical smoothie
My boy picked McDonald’s so we are here now (fries for me 
). Luckily at one with a play area so the kids can have some fun. Then home and hopefully some sleep.
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Sounds like something for everyone! Fun day!
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Done Day 1 again. Sigh, please let this time be successful x
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I wrote this when I was 16 years quit. Hopefully, it will help someone.
16 years quit: “What advice do you offer a brand-new quitter?”
The best thing about being a non smoker? Not Smoking!! The smoking part of my life, long as it was, is long gone! I will never smoke again and am so grateful that I have not for the past 16 years! I always wanted to not smoke but I kept on, kept on and kept on for many decades. There is NOTHING in me that wants to be a smoker and it has been that way for most of the 16 quit years!
All of you have every reason to not smoke and no reasons to smoke. Smoking only serves to calm down withdrawal from your last cigarette and to hurt you physically and mentally.
Sometimes, oftentimes, it is difficult for someone in active addiction to rise up and above the addiction by themselves. That is why support groups are crucial for success. Here there is a community of well meaning individuals to help you through the quitting process.
My request is that you open your mind up to you as a non smoker and try to fight it as little as possible. (My most tormented smoking years were the ones leading up to STOPPING, I just about drove myself a bad crazy with all the back and forth, do not do this to yourself.) Accept that quitting is the best for you and listen carefully to what others are telling you. And then work hard and diligently and make it, let it happen. Complete the task and be done with it once and for all! As I like to say, let the support guide and love you through the lows and highs of your quit.
Distance yourself from smoking, make it a closed chapter in your life like I and so many others have. We all start at the same place. We all are just as addicted as the next and all have to start with a day one. Embrace yourself and your quit!
Take a deep breath of fresh air, grateful in your heart that you are alive and able to take that breath.
Feel joy in your heart and look for and find joy in your life, even when things are not perfect, even when bad things are happening, which they will. Still find joy, love and peace where you can. Your quit will give you a lot of that.
Each of your accomplishments and triumphs gives me great joy and I am here with you through your challenges.
I am healthy, fit and able. Had I continued to smoke, I would not be.
Continue down this smoke free road with me, each of you… thank you all for being here with me and celebrating with me! Keep your quits, find your happiness and contentment.
You will never regret your decision to not smoke!
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I have chosen to stop smoking vapes. Vapes make me very worried about my health. I want to be here with my wife and live a long time. I always thought I’d quit when I have a reason or health concerns which is totally crazy. It’s like yeah I can do this until something decides my fate. SOMETHING not even a person. I’m very nourvous yet excited. I have 2mg lossinges Incase of emergency stress. I will always have them on me but only use them when I get stressed.
I always thought the taste of a vape is good
How about a Gatorade instead or a piece of yummy gum that freshins up my breath or a regular mint
That’s the short term motivation
How about my health
Dieing from cigs isn’t how I’d like to go
It’s a ball and chain
I haven’t had a cig in months but this vape is killer. I can smell the nicotine in my lungs. It’s gross so I’m done
I set my counter 20min ago
20min vape free
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Congratulations to you. Smoking/ vaping is definitely a ball and chain. Release yourself from the bondage. Free yourself.
You can do it.
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i love it - 20 min vape free!! heck yeah
i find that people that vape after quitting cigs don’t realize the amount that they vape - cause it is allowed in most places they tend to do it more.
i was like you with the mentality that i would quit if my health failed due to smoking - what a stupid thing to think about. i now love the fresh deep breathes i am able to take.
congrats to you my friend - keep strong!!!
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Thank you to you both for the support
Right now I am over 13 hours no vape
I haven’t had any lossinges either
I’m just practicing the acceptance
Relising Im addicted and I’m going go through a little nicotine withdrawal and accepting it then I’m letting it go
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14 hours now! the first few days are the hardest. I went through intense cravings. Everything was a trigger. The nicotine withdrawal gets easier in a few days. Then it becomes about changing habits. I had to keep my hands busy. I cleaned and I organized. I held my breath. instead of lighting up I would hold my breath as long as I could.
I went on hikes and wore myself out, so I could sleep as often as possible. That was the easiest time for me not to smoke. When I was sleeping. I pushed myself on steep hikes. I had to take a lot of breaks to catch my breath. Gasping for air and the further I got away from any stores with cigarettes the better.
When you make it to day two. I went out immediately and steep hiked again. I didn’t sit around for a minute drinking coffee like normal. I woke up and hit the trails. Morning smoking routines are the hardest moments. this is when day one becomes valuable. Day one was fucking hard, but I did it! I can do it again! I don’t want to start over again. Its killing me slowly.
Making not starting over again priceless has been huge! Day one. Week one, every milestone along the way. Priceless! It was fucking hard and I don’t want to start over again. I’ve started over enough, and its killing me slowly.
Hiking is easy access for me, if I lived in a city, I would go somewhere I cant smoke, like a museum. if you cant smoke at work I would work as much as possible, find a new habit for breaks. Standing in line at stores and looking at the smokes for sale was hard. I had to avoid that as much as possible. I had to take a break from AA meetings, I haven’t been since I quit, but I should start going again. I was able to not work with smokers while I quit. I made it 26 days a few years ago and jumped on a crab boat with smokers and was smoking again by the end of the day. I was careful to not do that again. When I did start fishing with smokers I prepared myself mentally. I held my breath a lot. I can hold my breath for a minute now. I don’t gasp out running crab gear any more. There were times I thought I might pass out gasping for air stacking gear. Not any more.
I can hike steep and fast without having to rest as often. Ten months!
I had a really strong craving recently. Some unexpected events caused excessive stress and anxiety. A smoke sounded good! "I’ve made it ten months! I didn’t even think that was possible! It was fucking hard! I don’t want to start over. I’ve started over hundreds of times! It was killing me slowly. Now I’m healing!
Its been mostly easy for me not to smoke for months. I rarely notice them or crave them.
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17 hours in no vapes
I’m still going no vapes or cigs. I have 2 more lossinges left for the day. I use them to beat withdrawal.
Cravings are tricky. They trick me to thinking I want them. I’m going to keep it going
Just keeping in the right here right now
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By the end of today I will be 10 days cigarette free.
It’s a start. Thought I had this habit kicked back when I got to eight months and again when I had around a year and a half. Just like they say in Alcoholics Anonymous, cunning, baffling and powerful.
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