Turkey's Triumphs: Page 35

Oh boy... It's been a year already!!! How time flies when you feel good. My husband did it (Stoney Radschweit) along with our friend Scott Baley and my sister Mary Parish Covey. We are all in a better place because of it. NTAP!!!!!!

Pam Parish Radschweit

1 year yesterday. I didn't even notice. The last 11 months have been a breeze.

Richard Chance

Wow! My first gold!!! Today, one year ago, I took the step towards freedom. I eventually back then, after reading from Joel’s library for a few weeks, educating myself, reading posts of encouragement from turkeyville members, after many "uneducated attempts," decided the time was perfect, perfect enough to break free from the shackles of self imposed slavery!! And what a journey it has been.

Personally, a year of many happenings in my life, up's and down's, the loss of a beloved son, not even that could make me go back to old ways. The fact that Joel's teachings bring to all quitters, including myself, the reality that "knowledge is power" and "education is key" is FACT!

Never before did NTAP and ODAAT have so much meaning, and it proved to be the key to success. I know there are so many newbie's this time of the year, So, if I could give any newbie a bit of advice, the same advice I was given one year ago, it is to never doubt your decision to take back your life ... to use the tools available, namely the teachings in Joel's library, and to know that quitting is so very doable!!!

Hang in there, it just gets better!!! And yes, it feels great to be free! And now for the next goal? To stay free! Chasing more gold! Let the healing continue ODAAT!

Hermanus Manie Groenewald
Sandton, South Africa

I tried a number of times to quit with various aids and patches. They didn't help much and in fact I found myself smoking while wearing the patch. I'm 74 and have smoked for 60 years, quitting for more than a year twice, doing so cold turkey. Use of smoking aids were of no use.

I've found that:

You must be determined to quit which will help defeat the urge to smoke. You can't let cigarettes win. It's a battle every day and every minute of every day.

Even after 1 year of being smoke free, 1 cigarette is all that it will take to turn you back into a smoker.

I've quit twice for more than a year and all it took for me to become a smoker is 1 cigarette. I was sure I could buy a pack and just smoke one delightful cigarette each evening (chuckling at my ridiculous assumptions). The pack was gone within 24 hours.

Considering this, never give in and take that one puff even years after quitting. It may give you a great buzz for one or two seconds but then it'll continue destroying your body. Strange huh? That so many of us are willing to pay to destroy our health. Death wish?

It's been two years now and that one puff simply will not happen this time. I've quit for good going cold turkey, determined to WIN!!!!!!

Nick Millner

One hour ago I hit my ONE YEAR mark. I quit cold turkey after smoking for forty-five years. Among the hardest things I've ever done. Good luck to all the newbies this year.

Corbin C Carlton

Today I am a golden turkey ! Have not taken one single puff for a whole year! I made it!!!!

Marie Silva

I have believed in myself for "One year" today and I'm feeling so proud and free! This has been a very empowering journey and I know that I can do anything I want if I seriously put my mind to it. I've met so many wonderful friends along the way and for that I am truly grateful for all your support. If you're just starting out I hope you'll believe in yourself too and remember knowledge is power! Whyquit.com ... Check it out - NTAP Happy New Year!

Joann Campanaro Rudzinski

In 5 hours I will be 1 year smoke free. In that year I've also lost weight and started running. I love being able to live without smoking! I never thought I would be able to quit. After 23 years of smoking I'm finally free!

Erin Casper

367 days ago I smoked my last cigarette. I had tried to stop so many times; dug trash out of the bin to light it up so many times; felt the desperation of the addict and the pain of all the negatives of cigarettes (cost, smell, health, short breath, cold winter, etc.)

Reading WhyQuit.com led me to have many epiphanies, awakening me to what was really going on in my life and that I must stop, that smoking like this was not an option any longer. Smokers and ex-smokers don't believe me when I tell them that knowledge really can be all you need to get you going, but we here at WhyQuit know better. After 13 years, a year ago I stopped smoking, one of the best things I did in my life. Anyone still smoking absolutely can do it too.

Patricia

Today, December 9th, I have successfully concluded 10 years without smoking. I wouldn't have bet a nickel against a million dollars that I could last 10 hours then, let alone 10 years. But here I am and it's largely because of your website. Thank you. Here's the story:

Threatened with heart surgery at age 52 after smoking almost 40 years, it finally got my attention. I knew from past attempts that replacement therapy was a hoax and the only way I was going to make it was cold-turkey. In those days, chat rooms existed on the internet and I found one for smoking cessation and it was there that I was directed to WhyQuit.com. It was the best advice I could have gotten.

For some reason, I couldn't register properly (probably a sudden rush of oxygen to the brain!) and was never a sharing member of the website. Rather, I was a lurker and there was a participant at the time whose name was Gitte who evidently had quit just days before I did and she was posting my thoughts exactly every time I visited the website, which was several times each day. So unbeknownst to her, I hooked my wagon to hers and off we went on this amazing voyage.

The first few days were very difficult, but it wasn't long before I knew I could make it rationally through the nicotine withdrawal process. The best advice I got on WhyQuit.com was that life is going to come at you good or bad whether you smoke or not, so what does smoking do for you? Obviously, nothing, so there's no logical reason to do it. It just takes time for the emotional part to catch up. Well I put one foot in front of the other scared to death without my drug and days became weeks, became months, became years, and here I am at 10 years in as much disbelief that I (1.) was able to quit (2.) ever smoked in the first place and (3.) it's been so long since I stopped. Life without nicotine is amazingly wonderful. It's a bit amusing that even now there is the rare brief urge to smoke that flits by for no apparent reason and I can honestly answer inwardly "not in this lifetime." That's not a bad reminder that the receptors are very much alive even now and to be on guard.

If you can use this to encourage others, please do. The stories and experiences of others on Whyquit.com certainly helped me in the beginning and for several years afterward. By the way, I calculated how much I have not spent on cigarettes each year and thus far it's been $12,775 at 2004 prices. I'm not sure what it is at today's prices because blessedly I don't have to buy them anymore.

Thank you.

Walton Griffin,
Memphis, Tennessee