Re: Please read: What would you say...?
- From: "eleonora66" <eleonora66@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 20:35:18 GMT
Jef,
just a few comments as I am in a hurry BUT I don' want to miss the
opportunity to tell you what I am going to say.
In my last 35 years as a smoker in the UK, my husband and my doctor have
tried to help me quit and in the last ten years
I've been *sent* to various cessation groups. I've never got anything out
of them, on the contrary they made me feel worse and more reticent.
It is true that junkie thinking always had the better of me then but when I
think back now, I know that not ALL was my fault.
The common advise of putting all the money saved in a jar and then reward
myself, the scary pictures of what my lungs might look like,
the lack of smell on my clothes ... and I could go on, used to make me so
angry, patronised an therefore frustrated.
The last one I attended to, was taken by a joung man who, as soon as he
entered the room, took out a number of small boxes containing
nicotine replacement products. Which one did we think was the right one for
us? Not looking into our eyes, no talking or encouragement to talk,
looking at his watch, eventually he snapped at a young woman because she
refused to agree to take any of his drugs as she was
pregnant.
I am telling you all this because I used to cry my heart out every time I
came back from one of these sessions, aski
*If only I could see someone who has been a smoker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*
Mine was not only junky thinking, I know this now after three months without
cigarettes, to get here I needed to be guided by someone who knows
first hand what was going on in my brain.
So, I am glad for those people who will be so fortunate to have you there.
You ask:
What would you say to a roomful of people who were entertaining the idea of
quitting smoking?
What would you tell a bunch of folks looking for information, advice,
encouragement and assistance in giving up cigarettes?
My strong advise: Let them ask you question, You know all the answers, the
answers that count. You really want to help these people and
they will know this as soon as you open your mouth, it will be a success.
My admiration for taking this up and best wishes.
Of course they'll need a link to the AS3!
E
"Jef." <jefo715@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:y8idnVALVZ2it7_anZ2dnUVZ_qqgnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
What would you say to a roomful of people who were entertaining the idea
of quitting smoking?
What would you tell a bunch of folks looking for information, advice,
encouragement and assistance in giving up cigarettes?
My wife works at a large hospital in Washington, D.C., as an Occupational
Therapist. Their Director of Therapy mentioned to her recently that
they're about to establish a smoking cessation group, and Marsha mentioned
that I'm a former smoker, have been active here, created a support
website, and that I know --in real life and online-- lots of quitters, and
so forth and so on...
The Director asked if I would come and speak to the group, and despite my
aversion to addressing rooms full of uptight, jittery strangers with way
too much nervous energy, I'm seriously considering it. I'm not yet
entirely clear whether the attendees will be hospital employees (one would
think the ranks of smokers working in health care would be pretty thin...
but who knows?) or just interested community/neighborhood people. (I'll
probably get a free lunch out of the deal... woohoo!)
Hey-- it isn't often that we get a chance to really lay out all the stuff
we've learned during this strange adventure we're all on, or that we're
asked to spend some of the hard-won knowledge we've saved up on our
journey toward smobriety. Sometimes we tend to get carried away in our
zeal to tell everyone the great news about how we've managed to turn our
lives around. Our attempts to share this information may cross the line
into proselytizing or preaching, and wind up turning the listener off,
instead of serving as helpful motivation.
Godnose I'm no expert on the subject, but I'm almost 8 years clean, now,
and I fancy that I've learned a few solid things along the way-- largely
with the help of this community. I was in awe of the quitters I saw when I
first came here-- the ones with A WHOLE YEAR OR MORE clean...! My God! How
do people manage to DO that...?
Well, I found out, the hard way. Didn't we all? I certainly know what
worked *for me*, and what was helpful and what wasn't. Don't we all? I've
always found JUNKIE THINKING to be amazingly clear and effective at
stripping away a lot of delusional rationalization, and will certainly
share that, as well as my own story.
There is so much accumulated wisdom here that AS3 is an absolutely
staggering resource. I'd like to refer a bunch of soon-to-be trembling
newbies here, in the hope that some of them will find the same beneficial
resources available to them that have helped me. We have a WORLD of
experience here. It'd be nice to be able to say to these folks:
"So, that's a bunch of good advice from people in California, New
Hampshire, Texas, Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, Illinois and Minnesota-- and
then there's this, from some of our *foreign* members..." They'll be
dazzled, eh?
So: If you had thirty minutes of time, a roomful of shaky, about-to-be
quitters, and the chance to offer them some help, what would you say? Got
a sentence or two of pithy advice? I'll gladly quote you, and credit any
helpful bon mots, illuminating, anecdotal info or other examples of
inspirational prose to whoever provides it. Whaddaya say? A whole roomful
of wanna-be quitters... think of the possibilities!
Thanks--
Jef.
.
- References:
- Please read: What would you say...?
- From: Jef.
- Please read: What would you say...?
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