Turkey's Triumphs: Page 32

ONE YEAR TODAY!!!! BEST decision I have EVER made!!! I have made so much progress over this last year but it all started with this! My mom and dad are joining in on my success today by quitting cold turkey as well!!! They are prepared ready and anxious. I am just glad I have been able to inspire them and hope to inspire many more!

Some of my milestones:

• July 1st 2013 quit smoking
• Nov 2013 started running
• January 2014 became vegetarian
• 'March 2014 became Vegan
• Started a vegetable garden>
• Started going "green" "no Poo" organic

Kristin Carey

I've never said thank you. I quit 4 years ago and clung to your web page and videos for dear life!!! I did not really think it was possible. It certainly wasn't easy, but I'm so thankful it is done! Your article explaining how we are nothing but regulators for our nicotine level really opened my eyes. Your videos kept me armed and ready for the battles. Just thank you so much for being there!!!! (I'll admit I would get so mad at you and even yell sometimes! Haha. But, now I’m just grateful for you.)

Pamela Watts

Feeling very proud. I have achieved one year nicotine free today. Thank you all for keeping this motivating and supportive page active and updated. Although I don't post much, I am here often, drawing on the support and encouragement of each other. 😊 x

Georgina Wallace

Woohoo! Yay me! One year ago TODAY I became a non-smoker. No cigs since then and I am so happy. Thank you to all of you who encouraged and said "you got this"!

Joy Robinson Liebengood

Thank you for Turkeyville & WhyQuit. Because of these sites and all support from friends & family I have been smoke free for 1 year today! Woohoo! NTAP

Carol Blahnik

Today is 1 year for me after 45 years of addiction!

Annette Lancia

Tonight I will go to sleep, tomorrow I will wake up and will have accomplished a year without the use of tobacco or nicotine of any kind. This is most amazing. How did I do it? One day at a time. How do I feel breathing? Great, clear and free from the dependance. There was nothing special to accomplishing this only saying "no" and keeping the nicotine on the outside. If you don't use nicotine it has no power over you.

Paul V Williams

Gold for me! I have smoked for 30 some years and have been quit for one year today. I remember when I started this journey and how I found WhyQuit.com. I was feeling so miserable at the beginning of my quit and was searching the internet for a recovery timetable, anything really that would keep me going. I found it – and so much more; a wealth of knowledge and support - thank you WhyQuit, Freedom, and Turkeyville.

What made the biggest difference to me was (and is) the Nicotine Addiction 101 article. It makes so much sense once you know what nicotine does to your brain and you come to understand (and accept) the law of addiction. 1=All – it really is that simple.

To all the newbies out there, hang in there. It's doable and so, so worth it. Turkey on and NTAP!

Isabella Jansen

One year ago today, on 4 June 2013, I woke up determined to quit FOREVER. I'd smoked on and off for over thirty years and I felt terrible. I'd given up so many time before and now I was a so-called 'secret' smoker. (Ha! Who did I think I was fooling? All the extra-strong mints and perfume and hand cream in the world couldn't cover up the stink of tobacco that surely clung to me wherever I went.)

Talk about a desperado. I'd get up and leave for work extra early to give me time to chain-smoke a couple of cigarettes before I went into the office. Same thing after work. Sometimes I'd invent excuses to leave the house in the evening ('Oh, I'm sure we need more milk') just so I could stand behind my car and feed my addiction one more time before bed. I lied to my partner and my kids, swearing I no longer smoked. Yet I spent so much time plotting and planning the next cigarette! And then feeling disgusted with myself, that I'd failed again.

I'd discovered in the past that stopping smoking wasn't actually that hard for me in terms of terrible craves, for instance. Quitting never felt too bad initially. But staying quit, ah, that was the thing. Somehow, a few days, weeks or months in, I always ended up 'just having one' - and of course that would be the end of that quit. And I always seemed to end up smoking even more than I had been before once I started again too.

I have spent so much time lurking on WhyQuit.com this past year. Tonight, the gold anniversary of my quit, is such a wonderful opportunity to write and say thank you, thank you, thank you for the brilliant, literally life-saving resource that is this site. The education on WhyQuit is THE most important factor in making a successful quit. I love how the range of approaches here, from the heartbreaking stories and gruesome pictures that will galvanise some smokers into action through shock tactics, the Freedom forums for those who find comfort and support from sharing their journeys with others, to the impressive collection of knowledge around the physical and emotional effects of smoking - and quitting - and the mindset of nicotine addiction.

The thing that most struck a chord for me was the re-framing of the mental conversation around 'just having one', that is, acknowledging that there was no such thing. I came to understand, as I never had before, that having that one 'good' cigarette actually meant being prepared to embrace all the others that come with it - meant going back to smoking, in fact. That was something I was fiercely determined not to do. And thanks to WhyQuit.com I never, ever will.

Becoming a non-smoker is the best thing I've ever done and has given me the confidence to change other parts of my life that weren’t working for me. I am fitter, healthier, happier - and I sure smell a whole lot better too. I can't remember the last smoker I met who wasn't hoping to quit. Anyone who asks me how I did it, I send them straight to the site.

Sorry this has turned into a novel. I am truly, madly, deeply grateful to all the folks who give their time and expertise to helping smokers like me liberate themselves. It's a beautiful world on the other side of this addiction and I am so happy to be living smoke free by following the simple rule: never take another puff!

Belinda

I am one year smoke free as of last week, I am so happy and amazed I could do it.

Chelsea Espinoza