Eleven days ago I quit smoking.
I had been smoking almost a pack a day for 15 years.
And I quit cold turkey.
Surprisingly, I'm doing quite well. Praying daily for God's assistance in keeping me strong and "staying quit" is helping.
Other than a few "hmm, I'd sure enjoy a cigarette right now" moments, I really haven't had horrible withdrawals or cravings. It's been a lot easier than I thought. It's been a little bit of a challenge, I'm not going to lie, but I really feel the physical part of the addiction is past. As with any habit, I believe the majority of my smoking addiction was psychological. It was routine. It was pattern. It was comfort. Breaking those patterns and recognizing the triggers has been key. I believe I used smoking to avoid a lot. When I was bored, I went outside and smoked. When I was irritated or frustrated, I went outside and smoked. When I wanted a few minutes alone, I went outside and smoked. Now the key is confronting those times when I am bored, irritated, frustrated or avoiding something and working THROUGH it rather than stepping AROUND it in a cloud of smoke.
I'll have more to say about all this later, along with a few other topics, I just wanted to drop in and give a quick update on me since it's been a while.
I hope you are all well!
I had been smoking almost a pack a day for 15 years.
And I quit cold turkey.
Surprisingly, I'm doing quite well. Praying daily for God's assistance in keeping me strong and "staying quit" is helping.
Other than a few "hmm, I'd sure enjoy a cigarette right now" moments, I really haven't had horrible withdrawals or cravings. It's been a lot easier than I thought. It's been a little bit of a challenge, I'm not going to lie, but I really feel the physical part of the addiction is past. As with any habit, I believe the majority of my smoking addiction was psychological. It was routine. It was pattern. It was comfort. Breaking those patterns and recognizing the triggers has been key. I believe I used smoking to avoid a lot. When I was bored, I went outside and smoked. When I was irritated or frustrated, I went outside and smoked. When I wanted a few minutes alone, I went outside and smoked. Now the key is confronting those times when I am bored, irritated, frustrated or avoiding something and working THROUGH it rather than stepping AROUND it in a cloud of smoke.
I'll have more to say about all this later, along with a few other topics, I just wanted to drop in and give a quick update on me since it's been a while.
I hope you are all well!
Good luck to you! My husband decided to quit smoking when he was in Afghanistan (this was right after 9/11) - the most stressful place ever to start, lol. He cut down from 2 packs a day to 1/2 pack. When we lived overseas, he'd have the occasional one when we had drinks with friends (alcohol was a huge trigger), but finally quit for good in fall 2006 when we moved back to the States - and he's so happy (and me too!). One thing I noticed immediately with him was he used to wake me up with his crazy coughing all night long, and as soon as he quit it was like overnight that the coughing went away.
ReplyDeleteYou're doing a good thing for yourself, and I wish you the best of luck!
So proud of you! I know you can do it!!!
ReplyDeleteGood for you!!
ReplyDeleteRebecca, that is awesome! I can see by your ticker that you are still going strong. Way to go!!
ReplyDelete