Quit Meter
$45,825.00
Amount Saved
Quit Meter
Days: 1096 Hours: 17
Minutes: 11 Seconds: 27
Life Gained
Quit Meter
6110
Smoke Free Days
Quit Meter
183,300
Cigarettes Not Smoked
Quit Meter
$9,165.00
Amount Saved
Quit Meter
Days: 810 Hours: 20
Minutes: 13 Seconds: 1
Life Gained
Quit Meter
6110
Smoke Free Days
Quit Meter
36,660
Cigarettes Not Smoked
I've hung around, warts and all. I've been contentious here. I've ruffled a few feathers in my time and I make no apology for that. This quitting lark is tough; it affects the psyche and it takes effort to succeed. Yes, it is a matter of life or death. My quit always came first. After that, there was room for others. Some others more than other others! When I was in the lifeboat I always tried to help pull on board those who were actively trying to climb in for themselves not those who seemed hell-bent on making their transition to safety as hard as possible for everyone concerned. Time is precious and saving six while losing one in the process was always acceptable to me. Still is. I've quit and I've helped plenty to quit and that makes me happy. In more recent times, I have vacated the lifeboat in favour of a whole new set of admirable crusaders; I commend them and hope that you can forgive my absence.
Advice to the new quitters Rock asks.
a) You will only succeed if your desire to quit smoking is greater than your desire to smoke. I've seen quitters here with many days under their belt who still want to smoke and let everyone here know that. With that mindset I believe that they will eventually return to smoking; with that mindset, so will you.
b) Keep trying. If you fall, get up and get going again. The sooner the better. This is not my first quit. I fell many times but every failed attempt prepared me for my final quit. I didn't know at the start that this was my final quit and neither will you.
c) Set simple target dates and reward yourself when you reach them. An hour, a day, 48 hours, 3 days, a week, 10 days, 20 days, a month, 50 days etcetera. Simple rewards or more elaborate ones as important checkpoints are reached. To this day my biggest milestone was ONE YEAR! 6 years on, I still run my excel spreadsheet which shows me the smokeless hours that I have amassed since quitting. Today I tick off days worth of hours at a time; in May 2004 each slavish hour earned was rejoiced and ticked as it was completed. What a feeling! Waking each day I could tick off 8 hours in one go! That felt brilliant too! As I type, that total now stands at 52,573 hours without a cigarette. I've got to be happy with that!
d) Getting time in. I've been there. I remember thinking back in May 2004 "Wow! Lizzie's been quit over a year?" That was immense and completely unimaginable for me. It was way over the horizon and far away; I was still kicking and screaming on a daily basis and I am convinced that while seeing off those horrendous early craves in five minute cycles the clock actually stopped on occasions or even went backwards. 12 months? 12 minutes seemed like a lifetime to me. Stick with it, it will get easier. (SerenityNow note!)
e) Find a buddy and share. Preferably someone who quits at the same time as you so that your experiences are similar and you can bounce off each other. It helps not to be alone. It really helps! I was very lucky; I got the best buddy out there!
f) SSC – all the answers are here, both factual and emotional. Trawl the history and there is an answer here to every question that may come to the mind of a new quitter. If you can't find it, just ask and it will be answered.
And so, I set out into year seven with warm and fuzzy memories of my early days here. What fun it was and what fun we had beating an addiction that I thought I would take with me to an early grave. That grave may still be early but at least I have given myself a chance; at this stage of my quit, that's reward enough.
To Luna, Rock, Tresa, steelroots, Todash, nonic, Tabbyh, Kaiser, duffis, Samantha, SerenityNow, Lolly, Karren and Brenda; thank you for your kind words and thank you for sharing this occasion with me.
Best to All,
Penitent
PS Special thanks to The Connecticut Kid!! Dance? x
Quit Meter
$59,070.00
Amount Saved
Quit Meter
Days: 1169 Hours: 22
Minutes: 15 Seconds: 50
Life Gained
Quit Meter
5370
Smoke Free Days
Quit Meter
118,140
Cigarettes Not Smoked
Quit Meter
$11,496.00
Amount Saved
Quit Meter
Days: 719 Hours: 7
Minutes: 0 Seconds: 3
Life Gained
Quit Meter
5748
Smoke Free Days
Quit Meter
114,960
Cigarettes Not Smoked