Re: Long Successful Quitting

On Jul 14, 5:25 pm, ChrisL <cladu...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jul 10, 6:55 pm, "Richard" <rvardy<nospam>@hotmail.com> wrote:



Hi Chris

what helped me to stay quit?  well i decided not to smoke any more, no
excuses, no exceptions, regardless of whatever might happen with my life and
whatever thoughts i might have, i decided i would not smoke another
cigarette and i haven't. that's a successful quit.

I might sound arrogant but i don't think you have, in all of your 'quits',
ever made the commitment never to smoke again.  in fact I'm not even sure
why you use the word 'quit' when it seems more appropriate to say that you
managed to stop for a while or take a break from it.   you talk of quitting
50 times over a period of 4 to 5 years with some of those quits lasting only
a few days and it's no joke!  but what else is it although considering the
damage smoking can do it's a bad joke at best. you go on to say you find
quitting pretty easy and enjoy it immensely. well you must do or else why
would you do it over and over again year after year?

After 'quitting' everything's great and you have no cravings and are
enjoying a healthy life when all of a sudden you get a UNCONTROLLABLE URGE
TO SMOKE and give in to the NICODEMON.  to say that your mind forgets all
the negative after a while really doesn't cut it. don't you see the
contradiction? quitting smoking's not about always remembering the negative
aspects of being a smoker it's about not wanting to smoke! it sounds more
like you want to smoke but are trying to force yourself to stop by thinking
of all the negative things it's doing to you.  people with oxygen tanks are
still smoking and people smoke through holes in their throats so i don't
think that's gonna work for long!  we've all managed to stop smoking, no
matter how briefly, through a  panic about what smoking's doing to us but we
always start again.

if you are genuine and your post kind of makes that hard to believe, here
are some ideas

1. stop lieing to yourself about quitting smoking
2. decide if you really want to quit smoking and if yes then make a proper
commitment to doing it
3. read up about addiction, understand what it means to be an addict and
take a long look at the past 4 -5 years of your life.
4. read all the information here at as3, read the posts, join in etc

you are a serial quitter making excuses for why, although you find quitting
easy (not really addicted then) you keep starting to smoke again. you should
be desperate to quit for good because otherwise, as i think you see, you're
stuck in an endless cycle and 4 or 5 years will all too easy become 10 and
15 etc.
if you really found quitting easy and life without smoking immensely
enjoyable you wouldn't start up again. you are a drug addict, dependent on
smoking but able to abstain for short periods of time probably because you
know that you're going to start again even if subconsciously.  it's
interesting that you don't mention withdrawal symptoms and i wonder if you
are using NRT of some kind or other drug to suppress them?

as smokers we are very good at deceiving ourselves as are all drug addicts.
if we are ever to quit this addiction we have to start being honest with
ourselves about what we are, what we want and what we are prepared to do to
achieve it. when we fail we need to be honest about that as well or we never
learn or move forward.

if you want to quit you can.

richard

"ChrisL" <cladu...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:a6741eb3-cca4-49db-8d7b-cbdfde557072@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi,

I am attempting to quit again this saturday.  For the last 4 or 5
years I have been quitting and starting back up over and over again
(although most of the time I am off nicotine).  My longest quit is 3
months, and I reached 3 months several times.  I have probably quit
smoking close to 50 times in that period (no joke).  Although some of
those quits have only lasted a few days.

Usually i find quitting pretty easy, and enjoy it immensely.  My
problem however, comes later on usually after 2-3 weeks or 2-3 months,
when everything is going great, i don't crave cigarettes, and am
leading a healthy life.  An uncontrollable urge overcomes me, and I
end up giving in to the nicodemon.  And then after a week or two I am
sick of it, and quit again.  And the cycle continues.

I want to quit for good desperately. Can those who have had long term
success share what helps them stay quit.  My mind tends to forget all
the negative after a while.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Chris

Thanks Richard.  I think you are right about a lot of the things you
said.  I have been reading lots of books on addiction lately, and am
able to identify a lot of patterns in myself during quits.  To answer
your question, I havent been using NRT, my quits have been cold
turkey.  I do experience considerable withdrawal symptoms, but i try
be especially active in  the beginning, and to avoid needing to use my
brain for much.

I've known a couple of people who treated smoking (and alcohol)
cessation like a fast -- they would stop for a week or ten days to
"detox", knowing they were going to resume their old habits again.

The difference is that food is not addictive -- it's a necessity. If
you stop eating for a week or two, and just drink water, you'll
eventually start eating again unless you want to starve, which is not
a common desire.

Tobacco is terribly addictive, and alcohol is somewhat. Both are
unnecessary for survival. My suggestion if you're serious about
quitting is that you get a prescription for Chantix or Zyban, and
continue taking that medication for six months. Obviously, what you
have been doing has not been working. Has it?

.

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