I Quit

[Pat McCotter]

No cigarettes since January 10, 2000!

Thumbs up Pat.  In 000 did you try, or did you just finally let it go?
I tried and tried again, for years --- then I stopped trying in 007 . . . now I just don't smoke anymore.

The night of Jan 10 I sat my 3 sons down and promised them I would never smoke again. The next day I went into the hospital to have a cerebral aneurysm clipped and spent the next 10 days in the hospital and 11 days after that in a rehab center learning how to walk again. The surgery had been planned in advance.

[Lloyd Danforth]

No cigarettes since January 10, 2000!

November 18, 1971

Coincidentally, Nov. 18 became National Smokeout Day some years later

[John]

. . . didn't use to get headaches hardly at all, I suddenly seem to be having them much more frequently now that I drink more coke.

Call me nuts - but one idea occurs to me.
Maybe cut back to the point where you are not getting the headaches, and AS YOU ARE CUTTING BACK think about how much harm/poison your body/mind is fighting every day just to keep headaches (and who knows what else) away.

[John]

Good luck John, sorry about the tease.   

Not a problem, dude.  I'm a big boy and can take it.
Fact is a little tease probably does me well . . . 
Good luck with those headaches David.  Maybe they are just a blessing in disguise for you, my friend.

[John]

I was thinking of posting a poem about pain (Pain's Soliloquy), which I recently found and read.
I'll make a point of posting it sooner rather than later.

[John]

October 9th was my third year anniversary of my quitting  . . .

Congratulations!  Big thumbs up.

[John]

... of course i do believe we're talking about different 'coke'

Oh yes there sure are different kinds of coke.  I'm thinking that most coke is no good for most people.
Coke is a bit addictive, but I think most people can put it down and walk away from it.  (If they don't try too hard.  )
Some times urges arise, but they don't last long.  Taken with calm & patient resolve those urges can actually be a source of (self deprecating) amusement.  No?

[John]

You can do it if you don't try!  Just let it go.

best advise I've ever heard.... just let it go.  an addiction is something you're holding on to for some reason... whether you want to or like to - or not.  just let it go...

It is ENORMOUSLY powerful to let go.  While it might take an investment of bit of confidence & some courage, those investments have many great returns.
Sometimes we must learn (actually, re-learn) to just relax and be ourselves.

[firecracker joe]

i quit smoking tobacco when the price went to $1.25 a pack i used a rubbing stone and still have it to this day
I can remember 2 weeks after i quit i drove to fl. and in jersey i stopped fro gas ( i never said a quit smoking) so i asked the fuel attendant for a pack of matches and he gave me one then asked if he could bum a smoke i said sorry! I quit lol

keep up the good work who wants to smell like an ashtray

[dysurian]

You can do it if you don't try!  Just let it go.

best advise I've ever heard.... just let it go.  an addiction is something you're holding on to for some reason... whether you want to or like to - or not.  just let it go...

It is ENORMOUSLY powerful to let go.  While it might take an investment of bit of confidence & some courage, those investments have many great returns.
Sometimes we must learn (actually, re-learn) to just relax and be ourselves.

Just letting go is what got me to quit 2 1/2 years ago. I only really smoked for about 2 solid years, and had formed more of an ingrained habit than a full-blown addiction. I made the decision that this person, ME, who I control completely would not smoke any more cigarettes. There's no excuse to relapse when you admit to yourself that you are completely in control of your own decisions. I did tell a few other people, but I find the advice of "telling other people so that you're accountable to someone," isn't as helpful as being completely honest with and accountable to yourself. Internal locus of control and all that psychology stuff...

Within a week my sleeping and headache problems (from the chronic nicotine withdrawal that comes with cigarettes) were gone, and I have had no desire what-so-ever to have a cigarette ever since about a week after I quit. I credit completely my method of letting go of the addiction/habit and fully knowing in my head (and reminding myself) that "I am not a smoker." Worked for me! We should all make a DVD or something to help people stop smoking. 

[Kat Kanning]

Wow, that's cool Dysurian.  Now if you'd just come clean about the Barry Manilow thing. 

[John]

No BIG thing but, I seem to have taken one (and a part) step(s) back, so I'm thinking maybe it's time to take two or three more steps forward.
So I'll just get my act together with these items AND give up/let go of something else.  HMMM?
ONE good thing about having so many bad habits is that there is ALWAYS more room for improvement.

[David]

You can do it if you don't try!  Just let it go.

best advise I've ever heard.... just let it go.  an addiction is something you're holding on to for some reason... whether you want to or like to - or not.  just let it go...

It is ENORMOUSLY powerful to let go.  While it might take an investment of bit of confidence & some courage, those investments have many great returns.
Sometimes we must learn (actually, re-learn) to just relax and be ourselves.

Both of my parents smoked quite heavily, and quit due to us kids.  But I remember my dad talking to the tv a year or so ago, telling the guy on it that to quit smoking you have to just quit.  Cold turkey.   

[John]

Whatever works?  If it only works for a little while, try again - - - or try something else.
Or, stop trying - just stop.  Do something else . . .
The time, effort, and (sometimes) money spent maintaining old habits is JUST a choice.  One can stop choosing bad habits just as easily as one can choose new FUN & HEATHY habits . . .

One can usually feel the effects of their choices for some time after their action is taken.
I have found that bad habits lead toward other bad habits.

The road out of the trap is (sometimes) easy to see.
If one goes off the trail, they can ALWAYS just STOP & RELAX.
Breath & Relax & just look.  We each can see the way.
No amount of instruction really matters, once you have chosen.
One can ALWAYS make a new choice tomorrow.

[Kat Kanning]

When my dad quit, he basically went cold turkey, except he gave himself permission to have ONE if it ever got unbearable.  I guess he did that twice, had just one, and then never went back again.  Don't know if that helps anyone trying to quit.  It doesn't help me trying to quit my addiction.