Our New Year's Quit Smoking Advice: Page 2
Successful quitters sharing New Year's quitting tips.
GreenSolveg Dec 29, 2004 #26
Read this if you're under 25 and you've got the thought that it's way too early to quit. You just started a few years ago. People don't get cancer til they're like 60. You are still in your prime. You have years to smoke away and be in your prime and still quit in plenty of time to be sensible and safe.
Wrong. This sort of thinking is very, very beguiling. It seems unanswerable. So why are you here? You have come to this website and now you are reading this, so you must be having different thoughts, too. Thoughts like: I should quit now, while I still have time to. It's only going to get harder as the years go by. I feel gross and sick a lot, I smell like crap, I'd rather buy a pack of smokes than lunch if it came to that. I avoid hanging out with my family because I can't smoke around them and I feel guilty.
I'm 23 years old. I started smoking when I was 14 and smoked a pack a day from then until a year ago. Let me give you a few possible answers to some of these "unanswerable" thoughts:
I still have time. People don't get cancer until they're like 60.
This is simply not true. Read about Gruen's Missing Jaw - age 17 and about Sean Marsee - age 19. These are extreme cases. But they're not that rare. Cigarettes are filled with huge quantities of unbelievably deadly substances.
I can afford to smoke. I'm still in my prime.
I used to think this all the time. Now I think it sounds sort of like saying, "I'm full of energy today! It makes sense for me to drink a can of paint. If I were old and tired, it wouldn't make sense to drink the can of paint. But I can afford it now." The prime of your life is a wonderful time that will not last forever and, once it's gone, will never come again. Since I have quit I have felt young. I have energy. I am calm and relaxed. When I was a smoker I was always freaking out because I needed to smoke whenever anything happened. Now I'm enjoying myself.
You've come to a wonderful place. You're thinking about things that are true and real. And though I don't wish to sound melodramatic, time is not really so long as you might imagine.
I am here to testify that I am 23 years old and that quitting smoking has been the most wonderful thing I have ever done. It has made my life 25 times more enjoyable. It can do it for you, too.
One more thought..the world is busting at the seams with people in their 40's, 50's, and 60's who would give almost anything to have quit when they were our age. They thought they had time, too.
Happy New Year!
Erica
1 Year and 1 Day free from Cigarettes and Nicotine.
Ima GoldDustWoman Dec 29, 2004 #27
I am almost there... On January 11, 2005 I will have quit smoking for one whole year! Once upon a time I NEVER would have thought I would be here. That was before I found WhyQuit.com and FREEDOM. I have learned that it is as simple as "Never Take Another Puff." That true comfort does come for everyone given enough time and enough success. I do not crave cigarettes any more. I only think about them if I see someone smoking or a butt on the ground and I am disgusted by both of those images. I do not feel better than anyone else but I do feel proud of myself.
I feel strong and healthy. Since quitting smoking I have taken better care of myself in every way. I walk everyday and lift weights. I have completely changed my eating habits and I get so much more sleep than I used to. To date I have lost 60 pounds and have another 20 left to go. I know I will do it. Just like I know I will never be a smoker again. I LOVE the new me and the example I am setting for my children. Don't ever let anyone tell you have to gain weight if you quit smoking. I may have picked up a pound or two in the beginning but as a smoker I could never exercise the way I can as an ex-smoker. And, as a result, the pounds just melted away. I can do this and so can you. Go for it! You are worth it!
Kelly
Time Saved: 11 Months, 2 Weeks, 3 Days, 3 hours and 26 minutes (352 days) Money Saved: $1,232.49 Cigs Saved: 7,042 Life Saved: 3 Weeks, 3 Days, 10 hours and 50 minutes
Kirstenmara1 Dec 31, 2004 #28
I must say, it's not New Year's day you're going to quit smoking. You just quit smoking and it's a new day!!! I've tried to quit for 34 years on a New Year's day, and never succeded- then I just quit - and I got it!!! I'm nearly double green now-I quit on October, 30th . I'm so proud, I haven't smoked a single cigarette since then . I don't want to smoke cigarettes anymore! I'm feeling so much better and I'm so happy that I don't even feel the urge to smoke. Of course I've had and I'm still having bad days, but I'm going better every day feeling I really don't want to be a smoker again. My advice is: just spend a few minutes reading on this site every day and NTAP-but seriously, NTAP-that's the very thing that counts. Happy New Year to all of you!
Toast (GOLD ) Jan 01, 2005 #29
You Can Do This.
Bobbie416 Jan 01, 2005 #30
My story is much the same as everyone elses. Except that I've continued to smoke for 49 years! Hopefully most folks are not this slow, and will see the light a little sooner!
Oh, I've quit before. A few times I've even quit for over a year. But I lost all those quits due to one simple fact. I didn't understand the nature of addiction!
My best friend of 50 years is a true "social smoker". Together, we learned to smoke all those years ago. She's always been able to take them, or leave them. Somehow she never got addicted. I wanted to be a sometimes smoker like she was! And I would decide I would be one, every time I had a substantial amount of time not smoking under my belt. I would tell myself I would only smoke "when"..........(fill in the blank. "when" I drink, "when" I'm with other smokers, "when" I'm stressed, etc. etc.)
It was not until I became educated at Freedom and Whyquit.com, that I understood that I can NEVER be a social smoker. For me and the other nicotine addicts here, it is impossible, because we can never have "just one" cigarette. Those "just one" cigarettes always became thousands. Those "just one" cigarettes are the reason I've always relapsed in past quit attempts.
The "Law of Addiction" is very simple. The law addiction states that administration of a drug to an addict will cause reestablishment of the dependence on that substance. I'm so happy to finally understand the truth of this, as it applies to me and my nicotine addiction! And this knowledge is reinforced in many different ways by reading the articles and posts. I wish I had this understanding long, long ago.
To anyone thinking of quitting, I urge you to quit now! I don't think you'll ever find anywhere, the quantity and quality of information that you have access to here at Freedom and Whyquit.com. You do not have to post, or even to join, as all of the information is freely accessable to everyone! Some of us think it is helpful to post, others choose not to. The important thing is to read a lot.
Make a committment to yourself to get educated about your addiction. Once you really start learning, I think it dramatically ups your chances of succeeding in your quit. You literally become too educated to smoke!
Bobbie
Three months, two weeks, 16 hours, 41 minutes and 39 seconds. 2113 cigarettes not smoked, saving $475.82. Life saved: 1 week, 8 hours, 5 minutes.
jas Jan 01, 2005 #31
Twenty six years ago I told myself that it was okay to smoke because I could quit anytime that I wanted to... I just didn't expect that I would want to smoke for twenty six years.
In fact I wanted to quit a long time ago. I just did not understand my addiction and how to deal with it. I learned all I needed to know by reading Joel's library at WhyQuit.com. I printed out Joel's booklet and read it cover to cover over and over again.
It worked for me. I knew what I would face during the most difficult days of withdrawl and that made the difference. Anyone who is successful at anything is prepared or very lucky. I did not want to take a chance on the rest of my life - I chose education over luck. I am an ex-smoker and you can be too. Why go it alone when you can have the collective wisdom of so many who have come before you to tell you what you will face and approximately how long it will last.
You don't need to sign any contracts, send any money or proclaim your belief in any God. You only need do one thing. Get your notebook ready... Never take another puff.
Joseph
I have chosen not to smoke one day at a time for the past 79 days.
janetd (GOLD) Jan 02, 2005 #32
Happy New Year, John and the rest of you wonderful Freedomites!
If you are thinking about quitting smoking, believe us when we tell you that you can do it! We understand that you are frightened by the prospect of quitting. We understand that you don't think that you can quit, that somehow you are different from the rest of us.
Lots of people who come to this site quit smoking forever. Lots of us were hard-core smokers. I for one never ever ran out of cigs.
If you are thinking of quitting, here is my challenge to you. Give it 72 hours and then give it a month, One Day at a Time! It takes a mere 72 hours to get the nicotine out of your system, that's three days. In the meantime, read as much as possible at this wonderful site and learn about our addiction. Learn how to take care of yourself to ease the impact of withdrawal. For me, withdrawal was uncomfortable but the physical discomfort only lasted several weeks.
Remember when you first started smoking? Didn't you feel a little like a rebel? How do you feel now? Probably more like a slave. Give it 72 hours and then give it a month, and see how you feel then. Rebel against your addiction. I am so glad that I did just that.
Janet -- Free for Three Years and One Month and I don't miss anything about Smoking at All!!!
screechwinter Jan 02, 2005 #33
If you are here, then you're considering quitting and that is part of the battle! I'm over eight months into my quit, and I decided to read what was going through my head when I was just starting this journey. I wrote this on day 7 of my quit:
i think the breaking of the rituals has been the hardest for me in this quit, but i have learned something about my own behaviors. like pavlov and his dogs, i "rewarded" (warped way of putting this) myself for living my life by smoking myself to death.
for waking up in the morning i "gotta smoke" 1for driving to work in the morning, i "gotta smoke " 2
for surviving work, i "gotta smoke" 3
for making it home to drink that coffee, i "gotta smoke" 1
for waiting a full hour before the next one, i "gotta smoke" 5 - 7
for getting ready for bed, i "gotta smoke" 1
that "gotta" is where i found my revelation: instead of rewarding myself by giving myself a cigarette, i "hadta" have it.
i thought that i was controlling my habit, but looking at my ritual behaviors, i realize that my addiction not only had me controlled, but was pulling me around by the hair.
something else that i need to point out: i don't miss those 112 cigarettes that i have not smoked, (the thought of all of those cigarettes is staggering,) and i might miss the "one" but with that "one" comes "all" so i choose none.
i made it through glory week, and i never want to repeat it. i'm baby stepping it to green.
ahnaka
One week, 12 hours, 27 minutes and 11 seconds. 112 cigarettes not smoked, saving $29.61. Life saved: 9 hours, 20 minutes.
I'm still here and I'm more than comfortable in this quit. You can do this! Don't take another puff.
Ahnaka
Eight months, three weeks, 14 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds. 3984 cigarettes not smoked, saving $1,085.90. Life saved: 1 week, 6 days, 20 hours, 0 minutes.
Maryanne Jan 03, 2005 #35
Hi Everybody!
I wanted to thank you, thank you for the first rate information, thoughtful posts and support that has helped me get to where I am right now. As some of you know this quitting thing for me seemed really difficult for me in the beginning and later even though the craves got to be so few, I stayed thinking how difficult it is. I am sometimes hard on things that are good--just to check for holes so to speak. Well--I am super happy that I am quit--almost 7 months now!!! I made it through the holidays--holiday travel---family stressful and happy times without a puff or real want of one. I feel happy and proud and I thank you so much for this invaluable service.
Lots of good wishes and happiness, love, good health and peace to all of you.
-Maryanne
Joanne Gold Jan 03, 2005 #36
New year's eve quits do happen
I Feel Golden!
QUITTERS OF 1-2-04 GOLD YES WE ARE DOUBLE GOLD FREEDOM DANCE
WOW 1 year already
Free and Gold!!
!bwrots Jan 05, 2005 #37
They say a picture is worth a 1000 words. This certainly hits home!
Alyson GOLD.ffn Jan 05, 2005 #38
Happy new year Freedom family and new quitters everywhere!
Celebrating the joys of life on this side of the nicotine bars.
Anyone can join us.
YOU CAN TOO
.Everything you need for your successful educated cold turkey quit is right here. Settle in and read your way out of the smoking chains.
Cheers,
Alyson
Living footloose and nicotine-free for 2 years 6 months +
smokefreeJD Gold Jan 19, 2005 #39
I don't know how many times I beat myself up around the new year over quitting. I desperately wanted someone to tell me their secret! Well, there really is a secret to a successful quit. Actually more than one, they can all be found here at Why Quit. The best part is that it's free! Knowledge is power after all!
I was a chainsmoker with an addiction closing in on 2 packs per day... and I was under 30 at the time! At that rate I couldn't imagine how many I'd be smoking per day now not to mention all the money I would've wasted. My life is completely my own now. I'm not super human, I am still an addict, but I'm free because I now understand how everything works.
A few months of discomfort is more than worth the years of freedom... and the years ahead of me. I know I'll never go back because I understand the law of addiction.
Jill
Kicking Butt for 2 years, 3 months +
BillW Gold.ffn Dec 13, 2005 #40
This can be done!
Why wait for the New Year's Eve Rush?????
download our free book here , start reading, and Do It Now!
BillW free and healing for Three years, ten months, three days, 6 hours, 38 minutes and 30 seconds. 42068 cigarettes not smoked, saving $8,203.32. Life saved: 20 weeks, 6 days, 1 hour, 40 minutes.
JoeJFree Gold Dec 13, 2005 #41
As one of many who read and was reached by the 2005 message & the great personal testimony shared by the members of Freedom I am honored and blessed to be able to contribute to this effort for 2006. WhyQuit and Freedom helped me to change my life in January of 2005.
I hope I can do the same for somone else in search of an answer to ridding themselves of their 'smoking problem'.
This message is written with the hope that somebody desperate to quit smoking is reading this New Year's Message - just like I was 1-year ago. If you happen to be researching or reading at this revolutionary resource - WhyQuit.com & Freedom just let me assure you - You need to look no further for the truth, you have found the answer to every question you ever had about why you smoke and why you THINK you can't quit.
I found WhyQuit and subsequently 'Freedom' when I literally had my coat on and a script for Wellbutrin from my doctor in my hand. I kid you not, script in hand I was on the way to the Pharmacy to get it filled cause I knew it was time for me to quit smoking. Matter of fact - I'd known it had been time for me to quit smoking every New Year's for about 20 years. Wellbutrin was the last 'magic bullet' I had not tried. A neighbor friend had quit smoking using the twin drug Zyban. She had also subsequently relapsed to cigarette smoking in less than three months. I must admit that fact , her failure to quit for good, did disturb me. Awful expensive way to test a seemingly better but not fool proof method. But I had to use SOMETHING I thought at the time! I'd tried everything else!!
So just after lunch on 1/9/2005 I sat down at the computer and typed in 'quitting smoking with wellbutrin' in a google seach bar. I was curious about side effects. I was curious about effectiveness. On that day (it no longer does) whyquit came up as a top choice with this article Quit smoking aids - do they work?. So I stopped to read what was said about the drug.
The Law of Addiction was linked in that article. Then I read some more about the drug nicotine. Then I read about getting rid of nicotine and getting back control of me. And then a little later on I saw John's graphic of 'The Cycle of Addiction' and a LIGHT went on. The light of understanding. The light of truth. I had found what proved to be the KEY for me - disconnect the cycle by ceasing ingestion of nicotine and I would never NEED to smoke again. NTAP!
An hour or so had passed. My coat was now off, the script was in the garbage can under the desk in the study. After about 40 years of constant nicotine use I quit that day and after a session with Just one little puff I inhaled my last nicotine hit at 10:15 the next morning and QUIT.(that story is in my quit journey journal -@ Message 30 )
You don't need anything to 'help' you quit smoking. You need No 'Program', No Pills, No Patches, No Pieces of Gum, No Potions, No Powders in capsules.
To quit smoking you just need to - QUIT SMOKING!
All you need is Motivation, Determination and Education to Never take another puff, No Matter What. The relatively short period of adjustment to Dealing With Life Without Nicotine that is the quitting part can be challenging. Challenging but oh so Do-Able. The rewards on the other end of that period of adjustment are immeasurable.
Don't believe it? Spend an hour or two reading the TRUTH from THOUSANDS of Successful Quitters whose stories are shared in the archives of the FreedomFromTobacco forum who have quit for good, quit for Life - by simply sticking to an unbroken committment to NTAP!
JoeJ - NicotineFree and Living as I was meant to be for Eleven Months, Two Days, 4 Hours and 47 Minutes, while reclaiming 29 Days and 4 Hours, by choosing not to use 8405 nicotine delivery devices that would have cost me $1,683.13.
osabrava Dec 14, 2005 #42
Thanks for the opportunity to post to this thread! At this time last year I was just double green and so proud...I'm still proud, but now I'm gold! My message:
I'm very happy to be posting this message to the New Year's 2006 page, and very glad that you clicked on this link. I have a very important message for you. YOU CAN QUIT SMOKING!
It doesn't cost anything, you don't have to go to any meetings and you don't have to take anything.
Unfortunately, it took me 27 years of a-pack-a-day smoking and the death of both my parents from smoking-related diseases to discover this fact.
Whether you have been smoking (or taking nicotine in any other form) for less or more time than I have doesn't matter at all. Just like every other goal, quitting smoking is reached one day at a time. If you can quit for an hour, you can quit for the rest of your life. The trick is to take it little by little. One day at a time, or one hour, even one minute at a time. Your healing begins as soon as you stop nicotine. My healing is a beautiful gift I give myself every day I stay smoke free.
Don't let your addiction (yes, addiction!) convince you to spend another year abusing your health and risking your life. That next cigarette (or dip, or pipe, or chew) could be the start of a process that ends in your sickness and death, as it has for millions of Americans in just the past year.
You DONT have to be one of them. Use the amazing resource that is this site to get educated about nicotine addiction. Use this information to fuel a quit that you'll be able to maintain for the rest of your life, by following one simple (maybe not easy! but simple) rule, Never Take Another Puff!*
(*Or dip, or pipe, or chew!)
Bernadette, 44, quit 15 months by the time you read this!
Joannetta Dec 14, 2005 #43
A year and almost a half ago I chose the whyquit way to put nicotine and cigarettes out of my life. Like you I came to whyquit.com with a hope to be free from smoking. What I found here was a method - a powerful method that, thank God, works. Read, read, read, read everything here - the articles, the advice, the postings, the stories and the rules. In this knowledge and experience is the way to freedom from nicotine forever.
Cheers, Joanne
Joanne Dec 14, 2005 #44
"Each second you can be reborn.
Each second there can be a new beginning.
It is a choice. It is your choice".
Author - Clearwater
Welcome! Freedom and Whyquit have all the tools/resources you need to support your quit. You can do it now, just a step at a time. Take responsibility and make a choice to improve you health and life. Please don't be afraid... it gets better, I promise.
Joanne
Australia
Quit as a 'lurker' (non participating forum member). Thank you to everyone at freedom for unknowingly helping me for 16 weeks, 2days, 17 hours 41 sec. Not smoked 1720 saved $774 yay!!
Rickgoldx5 Dec 14, 2005 #45
Happy New Year Freedom!!
This year I will be celibrating 4yrs of Non-smoking Freedom. I quit with the help of this site and knowing its just never taking another puff one day at a time. I thought of other people in my life trying to quit using nicotine replacement theropy. There were almost 5 different people that tried it and failed. I didn't want that for me so I found Freedom. It has been a raving success! It cost me nothing but alittle time and reading. Please if you want to stop this addiction once and for all this is the only real way that works. My daughter just quit after 10ys of smoking and owes it all to freedom and the teaching of its founders to "Never Take Another Puff."
Rick
Spokane Wa
Three years, seven months, one week, three days, 1 hour, 10 minutes and 55 seconds. 105603 cigarettes not smoked, saving $26,349.00. Life saved: 1 year, 2 days, 16 hours, 15 minutes.
Rickgoldx5 Dec 14, 2005 #46
Rick Smoked 38yrs quit 3yrs Spokane waforza d animo Dec 15, 2005 #47
What brings you here?
Are you are looking for the answer to the question that plagues every smoker who has come to the realization that they need to quit - "I want to quit but I how do I do it?" The problem seems insurmountable and just the thought of quitting is enough to bring on the urge for a cigarette and foil this day's attempt. Although you steal a few minutes of your life with each cigarette that you smoke, you find ways to justify each one or you smoke them absent mindedly because you have surrendered control of your life to nicotine, the most addictive substance known to man.
WhyQuit.com is a online nicotine cessation support site that does not discriminate based on how you use nicotine. Because it does not matter how you prefer to get it, by smoking or chewing tobacco, by chewing gum, using the inhaler, sucking a losenge or by applying the patch, we are all addicted just the same. Quitting won't cost you anything except the time it takes you to read and learn about your addiction. Knowledge of your addiction to nicotine is the only tool you need to insure that you never take another puff, dip, chew, patch, spray or losenge.
Your internet search for help with quitting landed you here - by chance? You went looking. You took the first step. Do you know what it takes to quit? We do. You don't need to pay a fee, sign a contract or join a group. Your nicotine free life begins here. Never Take Another Puff.
Joseph
Nicotine free for 14 months
ocean gold Dec 15, 2005 #48
How nice not to have to deal with the thought of having to quit ever again. New Years brings back many memories of "uh-oh" feelings of anticipation as I stonily marched towards uneducated cold-turkey quits. Stonily because the anxiety and fear of failure loomed next to me like a shadow.
The answer to all fears - Whyquit.com.
I've been quit now for over 10 months and have many whyquit pearls of wisdom in my "napsack" to defeat the odd urges and occassional delusions that smoking would be a good idea.
Please, please, listen to everyone here and believe that we were no different than yourselves before our quit. And now, we enjoy freedom, taste buds, a far clearer conscience and pockets lines with $'s. Freedom is the biggest benefit of quitting for me. Not carrying around that ball and chain any longer.
Welcome aboard those of you who wish to join .. we're here for ya ...
And thank you to those of you here who have helped keep my quit on the straight and narrow.
Julia
Susan Dec 15, 2005 #49
My husband and I have been smokers for 39 years. We would buy 2 cartons of cigarettes each week. Soon the carton didn't last, so I estimate we smoked 14 pack a week each. I remember thinking how weak people were when I heard they were abusing drugs or prescription pain medications or alcohol. Then one day I had to look at myself and think how am I different from the people with these other addictions.
I think for the last 5 years my husband and I have really wanted to quit, but convinced ourselves that we really enjoyed smoking or we would have stopped. We would feel like lepers when we had a cigarette in our mouths yet got defensive because this was a legal act, wasn't it?
To make a long story short somehow I bumped into the WhyQuit site and started reading, and reading some more. I tried to sign on but did something wrong and was denied so I have been a lurker since 1/31/05 when my husband and I beat the odds and quit smoking together. He didn't read at WhyQuit but I did and I am sure without the support to keep my convictions strong and never take another puff we would not have lasted, because although his quit was his, and mine was mine, the support was imperative to keeping my willpower strong.
I would implore anyone wanting to quit to lurk at this site if for no other reason to see that everything you are feeling has been felt before, to know that any excuse you think up to have another smoke was thought before and most importantly you are not alone in this battle and it is not IMPOSSIBLE to break this addiction. It great to be free one day at a time.
Susan Muskego, WI
Click to expand...ZZRSteve GOLD Dec 17, 2005 #50
Man! If a knotheaded old addict like myself can quit, then so can you.
I quit cold turkey after 36 years of addiction.
I discovered Freedom From Tobacco - Quit Smoking Now and WhyQuit.Com shortly thereafter. Education made a key difference in keeping this quit. If you educate yourself by reading at these wonderful sites, you'll soon learn that all it takes to quit is to resolve to Never Take Another Puff (NTAP).
Quitting smoking has been the best thing I've ever done for myself. It's been an interesting journey of self discovery on many levels. It's not always easy but it's very simple. Just NTAP. Read, read, read. Take it one day, hour, minute at a time. It can be done. I did it. YOU can do it too!
Steve. 1 Year, 7 Months free. 23,000 plus cigarettes not smoked. The fantasy...
Knowledge is a Quitting Method
