BFS [quote] It takes only a second to light that cigarette� but it could take a lifetime to get back the desire to quit again. Think about that. [/quote] Very powerful! I love your segment about rewards! They are very important! Let them put the fun back into your quit. Use them to help you find new passions. Another great post BFS! I'm off to number 4. Danielle _______________________ The SSC Support Team

Just hooking all five parts together for future reference! :) Well done Pam! [color=Purple]~lbugg~[/color] [url=http://www.stopsmokingcenter.net/support/viewmessages.aspx?Forum=1&Topic=33751]One year ramble - Part 1[/url] [url=http://www.stopsmokingcenter.net/support/viewmessages.aspx?Forum=1&Topic=33752]One year ramble Part 2 � Courage[/url][url=http://www.stopsmokingcenter.net/support/viewmessages.aspx?Forum=1&Topic=33753]One year ramble Part 3 � Commitment[/url] [url=http://www.stopsmokingcenter.net/support/viewmessages.aspx?Forum=1&Topic=33754]One year ramble Part 4 � Strength[/url] [url=http://www.stopsmokingcenter.net/support/viewmessages.aspx?Forum=1&Topic=33755]One year ramble Part 5 - Positive Attitude (last one... I promise!)[/url]

Thanks, Pam, for sharing! Great insight! :) For me, in my 35 years of smoking, I have had 4 major quits (few weeks to few months) and many minor tries (few hours to few days) in between. This is my fifth major quit, and I'm determined to succeed this time! "No more cig(arette)" ! :) Cheers, nmc [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 8/25/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 64 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 640 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $320 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 11 [B]Hrs:[/B] 21 [B]Mins:[/B] 38 [B]Seconds:[/B] 44

Desire and courage to quit are the first two steps to quitting smoking. Afterall, if you don�t have the true desire to quit, then you won�t really want to find the courage to try. The third requirement to quit smoking is commitment. I think the majority of people who try to quit smoking but fail have problems with the commitment. This was definitely the one I had the most problems with personally, and so this is going to be the longest of the segments because it�s the one that�s closest to my own heart. I could quit for a while, but then all of a sudden, my brain would turn to mush and a cigarette would mysteriously end up in my mouth and I found myself inhaling it. OK, so maybe it wasn�t mysterious. I had many excuses� I lost my job, I was drunk, I wanted to make friends, etc� but the fact is that they are just that� excuses. Life is going to happen whether you smoke or not. Bad things will happen whether you smoke or not. So you had a bad day? Why make it worse by blowing your quit?!?! I was finally able to quit when I stopped accepting excuses from my inner junkie. There are many excuses to smoke, but can you come up with one good reason? I can�t. Each one of us had many reasons for quitting in the first place� medical, financial, sick of smelling, sick of being a social pariah� perhaps it was a combination of things. Well guess what?!?! Those reasons are still valid today and they will still be valid when you�re at that point where you want to give up! In order to stay committed to the quit, you must adopt some strategies to help you when you�re about to cave. Figure out what will work for you to keep you from smoking. Time can make us forget the bad and only remember the good. So make it possible for you to remember why you quit when you start thinking that keeping the quit isn�t that important. Promise yourself that if you smoke, you must read your reasons for quitting 10 times before giving in. Or, if you have children, you must look at their faces and think about what you�re doing to them if you smoke. One thing I did was I promised myself that if I was going to smoke, I first had to come to the site and post and wait for 10 responses. Never failed � after posting, I didn�t want to smoke anymore. You could also get a quit buddy

Pam, Good post. In my opinion, the commitment to quit comes from desire to quit outweighing the desire to smoke. On Feb 13th this year, my desire to quit outweighed my desire to smoke - just! Now it's no contest as I have NO desire to smoke! Do I ever think about smoking? Of course I do! To borrow another quitters analogy, I think about my ex-wife sometimes. What do I think? I think that I'm grateful that chapter of my life is history! Mr Ed :) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 2/13/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 257 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 7,718 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �1927.5 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 42 [B]Hrs:[/B] 21 [B]Mins:[/B] 20 [B]Seconds:[/B] 49