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Remember the first few days? Remember worrying that the urges, wanting and craves would never end? If a cold turkey quitter, here's your chance to tell both smokers and new quitters what it's like now.

Tell@WhyQuit.com

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#226 | 09 Feb 2003 | Clay62662

I'm so happy to say that I may think about cigarettes only about 5 to 10 seconds every few days! I don't miss them at all, and I'm so glad I found this wonderful web site that educated me on how to quit. This was certainly the best move I've made in many years, and my health is improving, especially my sense of smell and my respiratory functions. I am so thankful not to be a slave to those **** cigarettes! Sorry for the adjective there, but cigarettes stink! Thanks so much Joel, for providing this site for us, you're truly a blessing, and I have reccomended this site to several people.

Check this out : I have chosen not to smoke for 6 Months 2 Weeks 2 Days 10 Hours 28 Minutes 33 Seconds. Cigarettes not smoked: 6013. Money saved: $977.13.

Man, I don't know why I waited so long to quit! I don't miss cigarettes, and I have great plans for my healthy lifestyle as I grow older...I'm a nursing student, and I have patients all the time who have COPD, and most of their problems have came from smoking...It's killing you guys who are still struggling with the idea of quitting...It's real simple to never take another puff...Educate yourself on what's going on in your body, and it makes things easier to deal with. I am so grateful that Joel has offered this FREE service, of which has been so helpful to people like myself. Joel, you're a super dude, and we love ya' Bro.! PEACE guys, I'll be back later...Darby

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#227 | 16 Feb 2003 | Toast (GOLD )

None

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#228 | 17 Feb 2003 | L z l

What an awesome thread !!! From a 4 week perspective:

Truthfully ? and this may very from person to person, which I'm sure it does because we're all different. But from THIS 4 week perspective I can honestly say that I probably have a cigarette thought maybe once every couple days, and it's VERY short, because I pretty much just shove it away feeling very solid as I do in my quit and knowing that I really DONT want to smoke helps too. In terms of minutes per day I would guess maybe 2-3 minutes per day where I have a triggered crave that needs to be dealt with, but honestly, that's about it !

And yes, I know that technically I'm still considered a newbie..but I thought it might be cool for lurkers who might be peeking in, to see how good it's possible to feel after only a few short weeks.

~ Quit Proud For 4 Weeks 13 Hours 16 Minutes 35 Seconds!
856 Forlorn Gag-a-rettes
still sitting on the store shelves, unloved, unwanted and Definitely NOT smoked ! ~

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#229 | 17 Feb 2003 | Tubes GOLD

Great Thread. I was just thinking about this today. For the past two days I have actually gone hours without thinking about a smoke....Hours! That has not happened in a long time. I look forward to the time when I can go for days without hardly a thought of those nasty little things.

Tubes
1W, 6D, 21H
375 NOT Smoked cigarettes
$100.37 Saved toward my Heritage Springer
Life Saved: 2D, 14H, 32M

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#230 | 17 Feb 2003 | A Golden Snip

To be honest I am surprised these days when I get any thoughts about cigarettes and they have gone in seconds. I think they are just testing my resolve to never take another puff.

Snip

Three months, two weeks, three days, 9 hours, 0 minutes and 40 seconds. 2296 cigarettes not smoked, saving $940.57. Life saved: 1 week, 23 hours, 20 minutes.

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#231 | 17 Feb 2003 | S Sweet

It's been over a year since I have thought of smoking and even that thought was only momentary. I do think of NOT smoking everyday, though. It's the best feeling everyday to wake up and take a deep breath without coughing my head off! It's wonderful to walk past a group of smokers and think "that's not me anymore!". It's great to be sitting in traffic and not even be bothered by it.. have no need to chain smoke and be snippy like the others.

It wasn't always this easy but it just gets better and better the longer you do it

Beccy
2+ years

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#232 | 17 Feb 2003 | BirkyGOLD

Guess what... after 3 months I don't even want a cigarette! Do I think about them? Yes, but in a very different way. I am trying to remember what was so enjoyable about them in the first place. I truly don't remember and when I smell them, they are so disgusting. What was I thinking those 30 some years of puffing away? Birky 3mths+

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#233 | 17 Feb 2003 | jen33 (bronze)

One of the biggest trigger times as an ex-smoker is the morning...before I quit, I'd use hunger, fatigue, & the stress of getting out the door as an excuse to put more nicotine into my body. For example: often, when I was hungry, I'd think, "well, must be time for a cigarette."

Today when I was hungry, I thought, "must be time for breakfast." It was only minutes later I realized the thought of smoking had not even occured to me. Now, thoughts of smoking only occur a few times a day- mostly as a passing acknowledgement ("wow, ususally I'd be smoking now") and I only have 1-2 times a day when I think "a cigarette would be nice". My true cravings last only one to two seconds. I only crave smoking about 3-4 seconds a day. Frankly, the seconds spent on really wanting a cigarette are pretty feeble, and now are just annoying me.

Jen

No nicotine for 3weeks 16 hours. 430 cigarettes not smoked, $83.85 saved, 1d 11 hours 50 minutes life saved (I got a whole day back!!!!)

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#234 | 17 Feb 2003 | BestieUK (Bronze)

After one short month I can honestly say that it's hardly at all - generally speaking I only think of it at all if someone is smoking near me, and most of the time I don't feel remotely tempted but just think it doesn't smell very nice.

Bestie

1 Month 14 Hours......

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#235 | 17 Feb 2003 | jeanne

It's been 2 weeks and 3 days for me. I still do think about smoking on a daily basis but usually only once or twice, and its very fleeting. Sometimes the thinking involves how glad I am that I'm not smoking. I'm hoping that after even a month(just another two weeks) that it'll be even less. I don't want a cigarette, the thinking never involves wanting a cigarette, I just think about how after eating I would've had one. Jeanne F.

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#236 | 01 Mar 2003 | Repmars Bronze

Thanks Sammy, I appreciate the thought, it was for me and it was helpful.

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#237 | 02 Mar 2003 | Subie0(Gold)

How many seconds a day do I think about smoking. I am really glad to say that I think of smoking 0 seconds a day if we are considering in terms of wanting to smoke. I do however think often of smoking in the terms of being so grateful that it is not me creating the discomfront that comes from a smoke filled environment. I still feel remorse knowing that I once put people in such an environment and did not even realize the hughness of the situation. I perhaps should restate that. I did realize but was so caught up in my addiction that I could rationally convince myself that it really was not effecting anyone. Yeah, right. Major selfish. Bless you in your efforts and Praise for your success in giving up smoking. The rewards are many. Subie Two years, two months, 4 hours, 37 minutes and 23 seconds. 27621 cigarettes not smoked, saving $3,936.10. Life saved: 13 weeks, 4 days, 21 hours, 45 minutes.

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#238 | 11 Mar 2003 | Triin (GOLD)

The answer is 0, I don't want cigarettes at all. I can't remember the last time when I thought I'd want a cigarette. Must have been months ago. More than half a year ago maybe.
Can't remember.

Smoking is disgusting.

YQS,
Triin

I've been quite for 2 years and some weeks...

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#239 | 11 Mar 2003 | redhotfire9

Hello everyone. I remember when I was the newbie and wondered if ever a day would pass where I didn't want a cigarette. Well, I'm 5 months and one week smoke free now and I tell ya, I think maybe 1 second of every month is spent thinking about smoking. That's usually when I'm encountering a situation that I haven't yet encountered since I quit and so my first thought is "how do I handle this withough a smoke?" But, like I said, it's only one second so it goes as quickly as it comes. I went out to a club tonight and the smoke in there just about choked me. It's funny, cause when I was smoking, I never noticed it was that bad...it didn't bother me at all then. It made my throat scratchy just to be in there this evening and when I came home, I noticed my clothes and my hair...everything really stinks like cigarettes. I never noticed that before either, well at least not to the degree I do now. So, don't despair Newbie....trust me and all the other recovering addicts when we say that eventually you really don't think about it at all. You just have to think about it in pastense terms and remember to never take another puff.

Stay strong!

Rose.

Time/Life saved: 2 Wks 1 Day 1 Hr 22 Mins. I have chosen not to smoke for 5 Months 1 Week 6 Days 18 Hours 49 Minutes 59 Seconds. Cigarettes not smoked: 2168. Money saved: C$1,029.90.

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#240 | 11 Mar 2003 | Rickgoldx5

First my stats: Ten months, one week, 5 hours, 11 minutes and 44 seconds. 24897 cigarettes not smoked, saving $3,722.64. Life saved: 12 weeks, 2 days, 10 hours, 45 minutes.

I maybe think about a cig 3 seconds a month, mostly when I'm watching a movie where they'er smoking.

Rick

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#241 | 11 Mar 2003 | kito40 Gold

NEVER!

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#242 | 11 Mar 2003 | SammymnGOLD

At 8 months, 1 week: zip, zero, nada, nil, never, as in, not at all. Can't recall the last time I "wanted" a cigarette. I think there might have been a day in December during one of those family things......

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#243 | 11 Mar 2003 | nadette bronze

these all give me hope. thank you.
nadette
1wk, 1d

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#244 | 11 Mar 2003 | So gold

Hello Freedom! I've seen this post go to the top many times now, but every time I postponed a reply because I wanted to be sure of my own quit.

This time after a little musing I can truthfully say that I haven't had a crave in a three weeks time. The only time I do think of cigarettes and smoking is when I'm around other smokers and being in here. But it doesn't make me crave. And that really was what I was waiting for, to be able to think about smoking without wanting to smoke.
I finally made it here.
Sten@140days

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#245 | 12 Mar 2003 | LornaMc5

Even though I am still very new... I can honestly and certainly say that the time I spend wanting a cigarette in a day is already so amazingly, significantly, wonderfully reduced!

Today, for example, when I think back through it so far, I spent about 15 seconds in total thinking that I wanted something, not necessarily a cigarette - more like a fix or an "ahhhhh". Very arbitrary, not concrete. Not a specific "I want a cigarette!" kind of thought like I used to have. More like a vague "what was I just going to do..." kind of thought. Kinda hard to describe, but I have a feeling 99% of you know pretty much what I mean.

So, in the short (albeit mind-boggling) amount of time since I quit - I have gone from thinking about and/or wanting a cigarette pretty much every 15 seconds (so roughly 5,760 times a day or so) to thinking about (but not actually wanting) a cigarette maybe 2 or 3 times a day (or roughly 15 seconds in total). ...now that's mind-boggling!

Oh how I just love this Freedom!

LornaMc
1 month 1 week 19 hours 20 minutes... (wow!)

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#246 | 14 Apr 2003 | John (Gold)

From: Jeanne ~Silver~ Sent: 4/14/2003 10:13 AM

Thanks, everyone, for helping me to celebrate my silverness. Anyone whose ever seen my posts would know that it was definitely not being able to narrow the words down, not the absence of words that left me speechless. LOL That would totally NOT be a very female thing to do, huh?

Plus Friday was the craziest, most stress-filled day at work all day long, and when I got home, I had so much to do that I was sure it wasn't all going to get done. I was overwhelmed, completely stressed, and too busy for words, and here's the glorious part...

During all that stress and pressure, not ONCE did I ever even consider smoking. That thought actually seems rather bizarre to me now. HALLELUJAH!!!! Bizarre thoughts are really bizarre to me now, THAT WAS THE GOAL!

It was not too very long ago that I spent my days waiting and waiting to get some relief from the irrational thoughts that once consumed me when I was an actively-feeding addict. Those thoughts seemed so powerful, the urges uncontrollable. The desire for nicotine was more than simply a desire, I thought it was more urgent a need than food or shelter or self-preservation.

I was killing myself for a poison that I was sure I couldn't live without. I remember when I truly learned what ONE DAY AT A TIME means. It literally means DON'T SMOKE TODAY! That's it! It's that simple. Tomorrow we'll deal with tomorrow, but for today, don't smoke, NO MATTER WHAT. That is all it took to get to six months. But, somewhere along the way (and I'm not entirely sure when it happened) I started being comfortable more than I was uncomfortable, and now I am very rarely ever uncomfortable.

I was uncomfortable last week for about 10 seconds. I went to my daughter's first softball game of the season, and sat in the same place I sat last year and the first thing I thought of after I got sat down was, "Time to smoke". Luckily for me, there was a couple sitting really close to me smoking. (I know, how is that lucky?) It was lucky because I was able to quickly see them smoking, smell them smoking, and remember just how much I used to HATE, REALLY HATE smoking at my daughter's games with all the non-smoking parents glaring at me in disgust. I took a deep breath, smiled, and RELAXED because I had reached my goal...I AM AT LAST A COMFORTABLE EX-SMOKER!!!

These days, the smoking thoughts (yes, thoughts, not urges, not cravings, nothing but fleeting thoughts) are followed in short order by a smile and sometimes complete laughter, depending on how silly the smoking memory. Usually all it takes to stop an imagined or remembered desire is the actual smell of a cigarette burning. In the early days, I was afraid that being around others who were smoking would make me want to smoke. Now the opposite is the case. One lungful of second-hand smoke, and I'm thanking God that I no longer subjecting myself and my family to that aweful stench, the burning eyes and throat, the whole nasty feeding frenzy!

BTW, I remember early in my quit I would see someone write that they had smoking thoughts at 6 months, or a year quit, and the junky inside would say, "See, they've been quit a long time and they still want to smoke. You might as well just give up now and save yourself the misery." I want anyone who is having those kinds of thoughts to tell your inner junky to shut up. The fact of the matter is that a smoking thought now is NOTHING like a smoking thought early in your quit. It doesn't hurt. It doesn't pull at your mind. It doesn't make your stomach clench. It doesn't get in your head and ruin your life. It just comes and goes like any other thought. There's no emotion attached to it anymore. It is a benign thought.

Now, let's qualify all this talk of success with my knowledge of addiction. This is truly what has made it possible for me to stay quit forever. Knowing (and believing) that one puff will cause a complete and total relapse to 2 packs a day no matter how long I have been quit is the secret to my success.

In closing, (yes, I am really gonna shut up soon) I want to share something. Last year at the same ballpark, my son fell and broke his arm. I enjoyed relating my smoking memory to his arm-breaking memory. It would have been absurd for him to get to the park for the first time this year and think, "I broke my arm here last year, so I need to break it again now because I'm here." Another trigger bites the dust!

~Jeanne

6 months, 2 days and counting...and totally in love with my quit!

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#247 | 23 Apr 2003 | Marylouise silver

I am a newbee, however, I can honestly say I hardly ever think about smoking. I sometimes feel like something is missing, but not a cigarette. I have been around people who smoke since my quit, but their smoking doesnot bother me. It is absolutely amazing after all the years I smoked (37) that in such a short period of time, I really have no great cravings.

marylouise, smoke free for One month, six days, 3 hours, 20 minutes and 37 seconds. 371 cigarettes not smoked, saving $77.90. Life saved: 1 day, 6 hours, 55 minutes.

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#248 | 25 Apr 2003 | Patticake (Gold)

Per a request I've moved a reply I made to someone to this thread. I just hope my experience helps some of you to understand that Freedom is giving us an opportunity to enhance for ourself a healthier lifestyle by learning the ins and outs of addiction and therefore enable ourself to break the addiction.

I have no regrets concerning quitting, for any times of discomfort I may have experienced I have been rewarded ten-fold by being absolutely free of the hindrance of addiction and by feeling and watching my mental and physical being rise to the occasion of having this opportunity to live a healthier lifestyle. I knew that breaking the addiction would be rewarding, but never, never in a million thoughts would I have believed the significance of the total benefits as to my personal well-being. Through determination in commiting to Freedom's program I empowered myself in learning that I could take 'MY' life back from something that had no concern of the quality but only the destruction through addiction.

Cherish your quit, protect it, learn everything you can about the addiction to the point you have most of the material memorized in some fashion. By doing this you'll come to learn that when triggers hit so does the related material and it will get you through every time. And too, always remember where you were, then think of where you are and where you're going...............and keep going because where you were is where you never want to be again.

....................................................

Recommend Delete Message 6 of 7 in Discussion
From: Patticake (Gold) Sent: 4/22/2003 4:58 PM

Hi TMS. From the looks of your quit date looks like you're heading to your three year milestone, good for you!

Ah, the freedom from smoking and all that concerns it. Pretty wonderful isn't it? There are days at a time that I don't have time to visit my websites and most often when I do I feel a little tinge of suprise when I see Freedom From Tobacco tucked into my favorites. The suprise is always the fact that I haven't even thought about nicotine until I see the site. I guess the memory of being an addict has been the last to go so it seems when I do think about it the memory is becoming dimmer and dimmer. Not bad for someone who puffed away 1-2 packs a day for 40+years huh?

I've noticed so many changes in my life it's unbelievable. I feel better with energy to go with it. I haven't had any bad bronchial problems, some allergies but they are mostly seasonal. I think what I enjoy the most is the absolute freedom from anything to do with the addiction, no smelly purse, clothes, me, healthier looking skin, my teeth are nice and white and healthier too. I also have a whole lot more quality time now that I don't spend so much time thinking or worrying about when I'm going to get that next puff. I'm just free of all that and I'm loving every minute of it.

I too get the occasional twinge of guilt thinking I should be here every day and give back some of what I so freely received. But I can't help but feel that Freedom gives us the opportunity to live our life as it should be lived, and that is free from addiction and if possible the freedom from the thoughts.

I do try to drop in though and give a little nudge or boost on occasion. I read some of the posts and can't help but think that was me not so long ago and I just wish I could jump into my monitor and hug the person and tell them that this program is doable and they're going to be okay. I just wish I could find some magic words but all I come up with is the certainty of what I learned here and that is to take it one day at a time and never take another puff.

And too I see newbies that continue with normal and regular routines and I know smoking was a part of that routine and I just want to shout that everything will be okay that they just have to challenge the routine minus the smoking. Looking back I can honestly say that the actual part of putting the last one out was the easiest, changing the routines I had within the smoking habit was the hardest. Example: Cup of coffee in the morning with a cigarette, sitting on the porch smoking off and on during the day, a cigarette with a glass of wine, seeing someone else light up and automatically reach for one myself. Smoking after dinner, etc. It was all part of the habit and once I established a new routine I was okay. And I had to dicipline myself every time a 'thought' came along, made myself start thinking about something else. I guess I can say now that once one of us has control over the 'thoughts' the rest can also be controlled by what we've learned here. And that is so important, I don't care what color flag we're waving......we've got to be diciplined in making regular visits to our Library and keep on our toes and prepared. In my opinion even one hour invested in quitting is something to hang onto..........that first step leads to many others, and others and along we go on our way to Freedom.

Your quit friend @ 2 years, 3 months and counting,
Antonia

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#249 | 25 Apr 2003 | casper700kawa

point.ooooooo.32 of a sec in other words nil , nata, nun , ozeo, hole punch of nuthing.i don, think of it at all..ect....and for you lurckers this cud be you tooyqb..casper ....wwwhhhooooeee feelin just fine ...freedom works...Three months, one week, four days, 5 hours, 32 minutes and 7 seconds. 3036 cigarettes not smoked, saving $607.13. Life saved: 1 week, 3 days, 13 hours, 0 minutes.

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#250 | 03 May 2003 | OBob Gold

Every few weeks I get what might be described as a fleeting memory of the "ahh" cigarette. They last maybe 5 seconds, before being dismissed into the ash heap with the rest of my smoking memories (all the crappy memories that came with the occassional "ahh" cigarette). More often, I don't even consider cigarettes. It was nice to be able to answer "no" in the "do you use tobacco" field on an insurance form today...

Still comfortable at a year and just about 4 months.

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