Jaws,
Congrats on quitting and welcome to the SSC! The best place to come to quit smoking!
First, make sure you have a reward plan. Rewards are EXTREMELY important when quitting. They are NOT optional like I thought they were when I started this thing. I thought, maybe when I hit a year, I'll do a little something special, but not really anything until then. BAD IDEA! Rewards need to be used throughout every stage of quitting. Make a plan for what you will do for 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, etc... and then throw in one or two here and there whenever you feel like you really want to smoke.
When we quit smoking, we often feel like we are denying ourselves something. Smoking has been a part of your life everyday for the last 10 years. It's normal to think that you're "missing" something. But rewards can sort of fill that void and make your brain realize that quitting is a positive thing... that it's a good thing and it's rewarding. Rewards also help with dopamine in the brain... a chemical that gets deprived when quitting and a deficit of it often causes depression.
Anyway, I'm going into a lot of detail that's not necessary, but the point is that rewards are extremely important and are often overlooked when quitting. Make a plan now and when you're frustrated and feel like giving up, pull out your rewards plan and think about how nice it will be to get "such and such" when you hit that special day (whatever milestone it may be). Another thing, rewards don't have to be expensive. But they do have to be things that you want and will enjoy and will look forward to.
I'm sure you'll do just fine with quitting. Just keep that positive attitude and keep posting here. That really does help. Again, welcome to the site.
Crave the Quit!
Pam
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B] 10/28/2005
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 484
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 12,111
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1998.92
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 34 [B]Hrs:[/B] 11 [B]Mins:[/B] 40 [B]Seconds:[/B] 45
