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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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#626 | 21 May 2008 | JoeJFree Gold

Wanting vs. thinking, there is a difference

Read the testimony not of one but many who tell true.
Want a nicotine delivery device?
Not on my life!

How many seconds a day do I WANT some nicotine? ....... Still none.

JoeJ Freer than I ever dreamed I could be .....
by simply keeping one core promise made 1227 days ago -
Never Take Another Puff....and be free.

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#627 | 21 May 2008 | mewapiti2

I guess from what I read here, I am considered a "newbie" here... but honestly:
Want? never
Need? never
Crave? never

Thinking about not smoking? all the time! I am still learning what to do with myself!

Rose - Smoke free since 4/16/2008 5:00 PM
1M 4D 22h 7m (34 days)!!!
Saved $218.25 by not smoking 873 cigarettes
Life Saved - 3 days 45 minutes

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#628 | 21 May 2008 | Doc460704

When I'm having a "bad" day I think about having a smoke twice and it just last me for a second. Just as quickly I think how happy I am not to be in that slavery any more. I've had many days though where the thought never even happens once and I haven't been at this quit that long. So I guess I have maybe six or seven seconds of "thoughts" a week. I'm one very happy camper.

Pat (Free and healing four months, two weeks, six days, 13 hours, 15 minutes and 0 seconds. 4246 cigarettes not smoked, saving $849.06. Life saved: 2 weeks, 17 hours, 50 minutes)

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#629 | 21 May 2008 | Maisie Mai

After 18 days.. probably about 4 minutes thinking about it, although there's not a lot to think about, its quite boring that there's nothing interesting to ponder... maybe 30 seconds with a bit of an empty feeling, craving something that might be nicotine or might be something else. I'm not sure.
Maisie
I am proud to announce that I have been totally nicotine free for 2 Weeks, 4 Days, 22 hours and 51 minutes (18 days). I have saved £90.97 by not smoking 379 cigarettes. I have saved 1 Day, 7 hours and 35 minutes of my life. My Quit Date: 02/05/2008 22:00

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#630 | 22 May 2008 | Ilona

Happy to be able to check in here and say:

The thoughts have completely dropped off to random, fleeting, non-fixatious (sp?) thoughts that last a split second if I choose to notice them. Occasionally, there is a new trigger, but that is relatively easy to deal with now that I am no longer struggling... Ilona
(67 days)

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#631 | 23 May 2008 | Rochelle2422

I am still a newbiw, but I know I will never smoke again. I only think about cigarettes on the weekend at a nightclub (maybe after midnight); then someone stands next to me smoking and I have to move because it smells so bad, or I get smoke in my eye! Otherwise I enjoy running and skating with my doggy too much to have to stop to light up.

Rochelle - Free and Healing for Two Months, Twelve Days, 19 Hours and 6 Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 5 Days and 2 Hours, by avoiding the use of 1476 nicotine delivery devices that would have cost me $296.08.

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#632 | 24 May 2008 | Ginz820

Being mostly a newbie myself, as I am only barely Green behind the ears, I would like to tell newer newbies that I was very concerned about the amount of time I spent thinking about cigs. I work in the construction industry which is choked with smokers and dippers and being around people smoking unrestrainedly all day was what had made me lose quits before. Every time I saw someone smoking I would think Hmm.. time for a smoke and actually go for my pocket to get one out and then remember- I can't! This went on for the first two weeks and I was wondering if this was how it was going to be for me forever. I had smoked a pack plus a day for 30 years it was so much a part of my life that I figured I would always feel the urge to smoke when I saw someone else smoke.

After the 2nd week I was feeling much more confident and determined and when I thought about smoking it was that I was sooo.. glad that I didn't anymore. Now after four weeks plus I think about smoking maybe 20 seconds a day and its never an urge to smoke, its a sense of something missing but not missed. The law of addiction is the first thing I think of when I think about smoking and I know that as long as I remember that I will never take another puff.


Healing for 32 days and feeling liberated!

Ginz 820

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#633 | 19 Jun 2008 | hwc5

I had my first day without a single thought of smoking at just over the two month mark.

At the four month mark now, I really don't have any urge to smoke at all. I think about it because I stay active on quit smoking sites to help me stay focused on never take another puff and to give something back by encouraging others, but my only thoughts of smoking are how happy I am that I don't do it any more.

I will get an occasional "first-time trigger" -- something I associated with smoking that I'm encountering for the first time as an ex-smoker. I note the trigger for what it is, but that's it. It's not like the triggers are making me want to smoke.

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#634 | 20 Jun 2008 | ssp64

NEVER!

I laugh now because two years ago I was crying!

I can't not think about cigarettes, because there are so many people out there smoking, but I never wish to join them anymore. fact is, there are places I can't go now because there are too many people smoking it starts to make me sick to my stomach. In fact, last Christmas, I had to leave my sister-in-laws because they (2 people) were smoking inside. Sure, they had the door cracked, but please that didn't do anything. Then I noticed how nasty I smelled from their smoke... YUCK!

Sharon ~ free for 731 days

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#635 | 20 Jun 2008 | Abu Daud1

I turned "green" today. It's still early in the recovery process so I'm not going to say I don't think about them...because I do, but in all honesty it's not really that much. The thoughts come quickly from time to time, but they leave just as quickly. I have busied myself in getting on with my life without cigarettes so there are usually plenty of things going on to take my mind off the occasional thoughts. Once over the initial withdrawal and with nicotine out of the system, I have found that the educational material along with reminding myself to "never take another puff" is enough to get me through the occassional "thought". I have been nicotine free for 1M 1h 15m. I have saved $155.25 by not smoking 621 cigarettes. I have put to better use 2D 3h 45m of my life. My Journey to Freedom Started: 5/20/2008 7:00 PM

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#636 | 01 Sep 2008 | baSeeker

I've said outloud several times over the past month that "I want a smoke". Usually right after a stressfull moment or prolonged activity has concluded to one of those "smoke 'em if ya got'm" moments.

Before anyone could say something (whether anyone was there or not) my own inner voice ( the one only I hear but don't always follow ) would say; "no Barry this is a point in time when you used to "want" a smoke.

In the time it used to take me to pull one out and light it I am now able to check my wording of "want" to "used to want" and the urge has faded.

Between me, myself and I nicotine can barely get a word in edgewise and it never get's the last word.

NTAP

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#637 | 28 Sep 2008 | hwc5

At seven and a half months nicotine-free, I'd say that, on average, I think about smoking probably one second a day.

I only think about smoking at all maybe once every three days. We aren't talking about anything like a crave, just a passing thought that I used to smoke in this circumstance or maybe just the odd catching myself thinking "time for a smoke break....oh....wait....nevermind". Old habits die hard.

In any case, these thoughts seldom last more than three seconds once every three days for so, so my average is one second per day thinking about smoking. I spend more time thinking about whether I need to change the water filter in the coffee maker.

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#638 | 28 Sep 2008 | Theresa10458

0= none=ninguno

Zero

I HAVE ESTIMATED THAT OUT OF THE LAST 9,000,000 SECONDS (104 DAYS +) I HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT SMOKING ONLY A MEASLY 200 SECONDS.
NTAP
I FEEL GREAT AND CELEBRATE EACH DAY I DECIDED TO COME HOME.

Theresa - Free and Healing for Three Months, Twelve Days, 19 Hours and 2 Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 10 Days and 21 Hours, by avoiding the use of 3144 nicotine delivery devices that would have cost me $1,105.08.

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#639 | 29 Sep 2008 | butterflybeth82

None

Beth - Free and Healing for Seven Months, Fourteen Days, 20 Hours and 56 Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 15 Days and 19 Hours, by avoiding the use of 4557 cigarettes that would have cost me $1,161.60.

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#640 | 29 Sep 2008 | WavyDavy7

I take nothing for granted. The thought still occurs to me however. Sometimes it occurs to me that a cigarette could fill some empty space in my emotions, but it's a rather weak notion. When that idea occurs, I often see a picture in my mind of the sensations that I used to experience taking a drag on a cigarette and in retrospect, the satisfaction I got really didn't amount to much (and the smoke hurt).

And no, I don't often think about cigarettes even after only 5 months of complete abstinence. Thanks to WhyQuit.com, the junkie beliefs I used to maintain to support that addiction no longer hold water.

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#641 | 30 Sep 2008 | Jazzeruni

Joel and everyone here at my Freedom Family, I am proud to say that I am Nora, a nicotine addict - Free and Healing for Eight Days, 21 Hours and 15 Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 1 Day and 9 Hours.

The only way I can be here is by taking this journey one day at a time and never taking another puff - Thank you all for your amazing support and knowledge.

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#642 | 30 Sep 2008 | nomowrinkles

Hmmmm. How many seconds a day??? not one!
I sometimes think about cig's in a moment (like when the business of the day is winding down) BUT I never think that I want one- not one drag- not one puff- nothing!

I am an adult- If I had wanted one by now- I could have had 1. I chose not to smoke and I stand behind that choice 1 million percent!

Christine- Clean for 9 weeks 2 days - saving 544.00 chosing not to smoke 1633 menthol flavored death sticks.

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#643 | 05 Dec 2008 | Joel

You will see that a few members seem to be giving the impression that it is normal to be constantly thinking of smoking weeks into quitting simply because they are recovering addicts. In reality this is not the case. Here is a string with seven years of examples of hundreds of members showing that the norm experienced by most of our members and likely most of our readers too is that thoughts for cigarettes become fewer and fewer over time. People who are constantly wanting to smoke weeks or months into their quits are not simply doing so because they are nicotine addicts. All of the people in the posts above are nicotine addicts and again, if you read their comments you will see that the vast majority of them think of cigarettes very rarely.

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#644 | 10 Dec 2008 | Doc460704

I might have had a thought about having a cigarette a few days ago but I'm not sure. It could be my old age kicking in. They pop into my head and out again so rarely and so quickly they don't even register anymore. For the first few months a smoking thought would pop into my head, then I'd think about what triggered it, smile, take a deep breath and say to myself "I don't do that any more". Now it takes someone to bring up the subject of smoking or I have to see (or smell) people smoking for me to even think about it. Though I might think about it I certanly don't do it with any sort of longing. If I have any feeling at all it's of remorse that I smoked for so long or feeling sorry for those people still enslaved by it. To answer the question posed by this post, MOST DAYS I'D HAVE TO SAY ZERO SECONDS on "thoughts" and never on "desires".

Keep with it newbies it does get easier and sooner than you can believe. It's so simple for us. We just NTAP.

YQB,
Pat
(FREE NOW Eleven months, one week, two days, 10 hours, 5 minutes.
10332 cigarettes not smoked, saving $2,066.52.
Life saved: 5 weeks, 21 hours, 0 minutes, absolutely PRICELESS)

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#645 | 10 Dec 2008 | JoeJFree Gold

Tell a newbie how how many seconds a day you still want a cigarette?

ZERO!

Out of the 86,400 seconds that make up today - how many will you spend actually wanting to ingest some nicotine by sucking hot tobacco smoke through a paper tube?

I bet it's actually less than 1% (that would be 14.4 minutes). WOW, You're already 99% free psychologically. We all get 100% free physically in abbout 3 days when we decide to ntap.

Even before I quit I didn't want to smoke any more and yet I still had to....to stave off constant withdrawal anxiety from falling nicotine levels in my blood serum. Once free of nicotine I no longer have to................. why would I want to do that again?

Dont' go through the rest of life thinking you're just getting by without nicotine ......instead Celebrate LIVING Free of nicotine. Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change as well.

Joe J free 47 months

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#646 | 10 Dec 2008 | hwc5

I'm coming up on ten months as an ex-smoker. I want a cigarette ZERO times a day. I don't want anything to do with them or nicotine addiction. I'm not around smokers much, but when I am, I feel sorry for them, being chained to that addiction like I was.

Now. In the interest of truth is advertising. There are occassional moments when I want "something". When I am sitting at the computer and feel just the slightest urge for a "break". Getting a fresh cup of coffee or lunch or scratching an itch takes care of it. I have learned that the same breaks I took as a smoker work without smoking. For example, on Thanksgiving day, I left the kitchen for half an hour and just went to lie die away from the family mob scene. Not smoking didn't change the value of recharging my batteries like that for a few minutes.


Comfort for me hit sometime between two and four months. The urges for cigarettes since then have been isolated first time triggers, pretty easy to identify and no problem at all to knock down.

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#647 | 11 Dec 2008 | Melrose18

ZERO!

Melrose, the ex-smoker
2 years, 2 months, 4 days

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#648 | 11 Dec 2008 | Doc2474

I think about smoking most days but spend NO time wanting to smoke now.

There is nothing I want back about nicotine and cigarettes.

For anyone starting out, you will think about the actual act of smoking plenty but the need and desire goes.

Doc

8 weeks 2 days.

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#649 | 12 Dec 2008 | WavyDavy7

Thanks to the understanding I got from Freedom I am better able to distinguish a generallized craving as just that. Maybe I want a cigarette; maybe I'm hungry; maybe I just need exercise. I certainly won't choose a cigarette anymore; there are better ways to satisfy a craving and like it's often said here; even if the craving is specifically a nicotine version; it'll be over quite soon. NTAP.

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#650 | 13 Dec 2008 | VICKIGOLD2006

This little sign says it all and with over 2 years and 4 months without nicotine, I can truthfully say that I just do not think of smoking. I never thought I would be able to say that, but it's true!! When I see a person or a group outside a building puffing away, I just feel very sad for them. When I first quit and saw people smoking I was jealous and the craves would start. But with each day without nicotine, you become empowered and it becomes more and more difficult to rationalize having a puff.

So to all the newbies, keep it in the present...just NTAP just for today. Before you know it freedom will just be there for you as it was always meant to be. Happy Holidays to all my fellow Freedomites!!

VICKI - Free and Healing for Two Years, Four Months, Ten Days, 20 Hours and 33 Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 59 Days and 23 Hours, by avoiding the use of 17277 nicotine delivery devices that would have cost me $4,028.68.

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