Late to the grats, but well done mate, massive acheivment!
I have now been free from tobacco for a few years and it is absolutely well and truly the best thing ever! Familiar with all those moments you posted about in your experience! Found that doing some exercise was the best thing for my wife and I when we quit! Dog walks turned into do runs and got some boxing equipment and got a sweat going all the while being able beat up on a bag.
The fact that our lungs were improving both from no smoking and also from exercise was a pretty bloody amazing feeling, the improvements we felt meant that there was NO WAY we would want to go back to the low lung capacity of our former selves!
You have done well dude, tobacco is one of the tough ones to beat so you gotta be able to see yourself in a i can do anything catagory now!
Congrats Tray!
Tralyan said:Today is 15 days. 2 Weeks and 1 day.
When can I officially say I'm a non-smoker? Is there a cutoff? Am I like, a "quitter" right now, but a "non-smoker" if I haven't had a cigarette for 6 months? A year?
from early on in my quit i called myself a non smoker, but I also made sure whenever i said it to myself i did it with a big ass smile on my face and even just laughed to myself about it. It was kind of a "you've bloody done it" laugh! I still look at smokers to this day and think to myself with a smile how glad i am to be free of that addiction, then i feel a bit sad for them too :/
Tralyan said:Today is 15 days. 2 Weeks and 1 day.
When can I officially say I'm a non-smoker? Is there a cutoff? Am I like, a "quitter" right now, but a "non-smoker" if I haven't had a cigarette for 6 months? A year?
Fantastic! Very glad to hear you're still going strong.
I think about three months is solid - if you can make it that long, I think you've got a very good shot of making it stick.
Sorte said:Getting close to one month, Tralyan!
Cheering you on! :D
-sorte.
Today marks 1 month and 1 day. :)
Luckily (un-luckily?) I was dealing with a bad case of Strep Throat all last week, so not only did I miss some work, but it helped curb the cigarette appetite. Nothing like feeling razor blades in your throat to turn you off of cigarettes.
Finally starting to chew a little less nicorette gum. From about a pack of 100 a week, to a pack of 100 every week and a half-ish. That's my next hurdle.
Thank you everyone for the support!
Retsof said:Did you treat yourself yet? I'm curious what you picked if you did.
Honestly? I haven't really had a chance to do so. I have an impending move to Georgia coming up in less than a month, and have been scrambling to find employment over there as well as make sure I have a nice financial cushion for a worst case scenario.
If there has been any treating of myself, it's been in always seeing a nice positive account balance at the tail end of every month.
On that note, this past friday was also my last truck payment. I purposefully financed it in such a way that it would get paid quickly, with high payments. 3 years of $600.00 a month. After the completion of that plus what I'm saving with not smoking, I'm in the friggin' clouds right about now.
Retsof said:Damn. Moving/employment too? lol ... damn.
Aye, in retrospect it may not have been the best time to quit smoking - but I said that way too many times before.
"I'll quit after that vacation I have planned two months from now."
"I'll quit after my mom comes to visit."
"I'll quit after this/when that happens/only if..."
Figured I should probably stop doing that.
Yesterday was a month and a half.
Chewing a lot less gum AND I was able to go to the pool hall, drink a lot, and still not smoke. That was a big milestone and something that had me worried.
I'll still feel the desire pretty consistently, but the cravings last a little less and it's easier to distract myself than it was a few weeks ago.
Still hate everybody.
Tralyan said:Still hate everybody.
And that too shall pass!
Congratulations! Seriously keep up the good work. I'm a 15 year non-smoker now, and I can tell you, it DOES get easier I really didn't notice the cravings much past the 3rd month. That's when I started going back to pubs and night outs with alcohol. Now, I don't even think about it except when theres another smoker becoming a non-smoker.
My boss told me, "I'll give you a $1000 if you quit for a year." Of course I did and he gave me the $1000. Moving on, year after year, until 7 years after I quit smoking, my mother in law came and stayed over for 3 months (she lived overseas). Well, no one should have to suffer so suffice it to say my nerves were frayed. Surprised I lasted three months without them. So I started smoking again but rarely at home (primarily cause I didn't want my wife to know) and then only 3 months here, quit for 6, smoked again for 3 etc. did that for 7 more years. Then quit permanently before I became a teacher and haven't smoked for 12 years and am not even thinking about it or being around others who smoke doesn't bother me.
So I guess the reason for quitting needs to come for a valid reason because you want to, not what others want you to do nor whatever incentive they may give you. It's like a salary increase in a bad job, it only makes you happy for a short time. So if you get another job that makes you happy, salary rarely is an issue.