Ciggyfree Blog & Gov Alert

You would think after this long, staying quit would be a lot easier than it really is. I mean, after all, it is almost nine months, and I should have smooth sailing. I probably need to revise that idea a bit, because the reality is somewhat different than the expectation.

When I first started out on this (and every other quit) I would have told you that to reach the nine month mark, would be like climbing Mt Shasta to me. But, I also would have said that, having reached that goal, I would be pretty much on easy street, and no threat to resume smoking.

Well, the reality of it is, I could still get right back to my twenty-five plus cigarettes a day habit with just one puff . I think now that there will never be a time when I am really free of the danger of relapse. There is no peak to reach, no calendar date to get to , and then be done with it. Quitting is forever. Well, as forever as I will be alive anyway.

Quitting is a process and not an objective. The only measure of success at quitting smoking is that I am not smoking right now. It is not good enough to stop smoking for a while. Even stopping for a long while is only a pause. It is not quitting.

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Allen Carr who founded Easyway in 1983, died of lung cancer today. Mr. Carr’s main objective in life was to “Cure the World of Smoking.”

Allen’s final book ‘SCANDAL’ free, in PDF form.
˜SCANDAL”™ is the book that the pharmaceuticals, the Department of Health, the NHS, ASH and QUIT will not want you to read!

Excerpt: THE TRUTH IS THAT WE’VE FAILED EVEN TO PREVENT OUR CHILDREN AND
GRAND-CHILDREN FROM FALLING INTO THE TRAP. THOSE SAME
YOUNGSTERS WHO WERE DESPERATELY TRYING TO PERSUADE THEIR
PARENTS TO QUIT ARE NOW PUFFING AWAY AS IF IT NEVER WENT OUT OF
FASHION!

Smoking killed my father in his mid-fifties and my sister in her midforties.
Once the brainwashing, illusions and cobwebs have been removed, I
believe the word DEVASTATION is an apt description of the drug nicotine.

PLEASE HELP ME TO REMOVE THIS EVIL

–End of Excerpt

Ruairi O’Connor, of the British Heart Foundation, said: “Estimates of the huge numbers of people helped by Allen Carr programmes show his methods provided a valuable service to help people quit.

“We hope that his memory will continue to inspire people in their efforts to give up smoking.”

Allen Carr, thanks for all you have done to get the message out to the world. Your presence will be sadly missed in the war against Big Tobacco

~Ciggyfree

Now that the holiday season has started, I find myself assaulted by some pretty strong urges to smoke a cigarette. They started getting more insistent on Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and have been bothering me since then.

I have ended more than one quit at this time of year. The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a difficult time for me because of all those smoking memories. I have such strong associations with smoking during the holidays because of the previous quits that ended during the season.

The idea of stopping at a convenience store, buying a pack of smokes, and lighting up as soon as I get outside the door, is about like Ulysses and the Sirens. Somebody better tie me to the mast before I run over there. At times, the very idea of that first puff is as alluring and luscious as anything the imagination can visualize.

This is not your normal craving or urges to smoke. It is a result of the many times in the past that I reached my limit at this time of year. So it seems I have reached my limit now. But, oh, that is so not true. I have used the tools I leaned about in the prvious eight months of this quit to keep from smoking.

I have to deliberately move the thoughts out of the forefront of my mind, and replace them with other things to get by. But I can do that because I know why I can’t smoke again. I have learned to be patient, because the urge will evaporate. I have learned to think appropriate thoughts. I have learned to use the power I have to stay quit. I have learned it is up to me to NOT surrender.

The addiction is still alive, although it is weaker now. I am stronger than it is now. And I have the hope that soon it will be as dead as if I had driven a stake through it’s heart. There is a promised land in quitting smoking, and I aim to get there.

Zzyzx

Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the good old USA. This will be the first Thanksgiving in about thirty-nine years that I don’t smoke. That’s something to be thankful for. I hope you all have a great holiday, enjoy the turkey and especially the football. It’s great to have a long weekend – even if I have to work on Friday when most everyone else is relaxing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Zzyzx

After about eight and a half months of quitting, I find that I still have some cravings for a cigarette, but I am able to get through them much easier. There is one major reason I have not succumbed to the temptation to light one up, which would lead to ten thousand or more lit up. That one reason is I have not been fantasizing about smoking even when the cravings were real bad.

Early on, I read some posts in a support group, and talked to a friend of mine, about not letting myself dwell on thoughts of smoking. I used to fantasize about smoking on all my other quits. I could see in my mind all those smoking memories from any place I ever smoked. I would daydream of smoking, and how it would make me feel to get a hit of nicotine again. This time, I did away with all that crap.

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Having a blog is a real cool thing. Seeing it grow day by day, or post by post is a very rewarding experience. And writing all that stuff about how quitting smoking affects me and all is kind of therapeutic.

There are a couple of drawbacks to it though. No matter how much you want to make it really cool and interesting, there are a couple of things that get in the way. One of them is under your control, and another one isn’t.

First of all, you need to make the time for writing. That’s a management issue. There is only one way to get the writing done, and that is to sit down and type. Nothing else works nearly as well. We all have time issues. Some have too much on their hands, others have too little. Lately, I have had too little. Or I should say, I have not managed my time better. I need to get more organized.

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My best friend Beth (who looks like Bette Midler) originally from Oregon, sent me a hand made Gobble card today! The front of the card was 3-D and featured a turkey eating tuna. The inside of the card was succinct as only Beth can be when using the English language! The back of the Gobble card featured her sweet Beth Hancock.

It was indeed a real treat to drop by the post office today and open a genuine Beth Kytola card! Best friend’s rock as only best friends can do. This afternoon I drove to Deering, NH to take pictures of an antique stove that I am trying to sell on E-bay and thought about how much Beth would have loved to adopt this particular stove. If I didn’t have to sell it I would have found a way to transport it to Washington State!

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Last night I had an intense smoking dream. It was like having a dream within a dream. In this dream, I inadvertently reached for a cigarette while having a beer at a party. I took one puff, realized that I did not smoke anymore, and quickly tossed it on the floor. This peanut strewn floor was at least six inches in height, littered with peanut shells, and cigarette butts. I also saw an old oversized exit door standing on broken hinges that creaked and obviously needed oiling. Outside this door was a moat filled with water that surrounded the house. In this dream, I could smell and see cigarette smoke wafting throughout the room.

Two years and nine months ago, I quit smoking. During the early days, I had quite a few smoking dreams and at times would wake up crying because I thought I broke my quit!

Today smoking dreams are very rare and I generally am able to think while inside the smoking dream that I am only dreaming. This is something that I was not able to do during the infant stage of my quit. The first year was indeed a rough time with dreams that appeared so real I believed that I was actually smoking! I always told myself that I was only dreaming and that my quit was still safe but at the same time, I was worried that I had truly compromised my quit.

During year two, I had a few volatile smoking dreams but knew during the dream that they probably were not realistic. Now that I have passed the terrible *twos* I am pleased to report that smoking dreams are manageable and no longer upset me. I am also able to discern within the dream that I am actually dreaming and not really participating in the activity of smoking. I am able to disconnect from the activity performed in the dream and acknowledge that the activity is not real.

Smoking dreams happen but this does not mean that you will begin smoking again. I believe these dreams are part of the healing process. It is through such dreams that you begin to realize that cigarettes do not have power over you. The next time you have a smoking dream realize that this is all part of the healing process and these dreams shall evolve into less unpleasant subconscious experiences in the near future.

~robb

Occasionally I hear a smoker say that they cannot possibly give up smoking because a cigarette is their best friend.  Some friends can be highly toxic to your well-being, and a cigarette is one such friend to beware of!

There comes a time in life when we should take inventory of how we choose to spend our time. Each step of the way life gets a bit closer to target death. We all know that we cannot live forever! There is always one certainty in life and that is the knowledge that the ultimate end to every human being who lives is cessation of life. Death is our final frontier and we hold zero knowledge of what really happens when we arrive and cross over to this state titled death.

So why do people choose to entertain cigarettes as their best friend?

~robb

Today, I got a little overconfident, and decided I didn’t need my Wellbutrin anymore. So I didn’t take it this morning, and wanted to see how I would do without it.

About three hours after I would have taken it, I had major cravings like I had in the first week. Not nearly as strong, but stubborn. They would just not go away, and I could not ignore them. My cravings lately have been short and sharp. These were different.

Since I have been quit so long, I didn’t fantasize about smoking while going through the cravings. It didn’t take me very long to analyze the situation, and determine it was stopping the medication that caused it. Since I was busy with some customers this morning, I could not get away until lunch. Every time I thought of a cigarette, I kicked the thought out of my head right away.

After I came home and took the pill at lunch, the cravings died out pretty fast, and did not come back. So i have learned I am not yet ready to stop the medication.

In the past, I would have started smoking again instead of taking the medicine. I have really become a non-smoker now. I really didn’t want to smoke. I just craved.

No matter what – you do not have to give in to cravings. Stay strong and don’t smoke. It will always get better.

Zzyzx

Today is the last day of the eighth month of this quit. I am still amazed that I have made it this far. I wonder how I made it through the last couple of months without resorting to old habits. I am at a point now where I still get cravings for cigarettes. They are short but sometimes real strong. How is it I can continue to resist?

I have said before that I have the power to quit, and I do. I possess that power. But where does it come from? If it was left up to me, I would not quit for more than about two hours. I have no intrinsic ability to change my habits. I have only been able to stay quit, on my own, for a little while. So I am sure that the power cannot come from within me. It has to come from outside.

This is not the forum for any discussion of supernatural subjects, nor am I going to lecture anyone to make them believe what I believe. I will just say that I believe the power comes from God, and not from me. That is my belief, and I am sticking to it. I don’t have the power to do anything on my own. I need the help.

So as I close out my eighth month today, I will reflect on all the changes that have taken place in my life since I quit. And be glad I got the help I needed when I needed it.

Zzyxx

To big tobacco’s house we go?

Quitting smoking involves a major life change and does strange things to the human psyche. We can convince ourselves of almost anything if we truly grasp onto a belief in our minds. Thinking that you cannot quit smoking is one such belief that will literally kill you!

As a very young child, I thought that I would never be able to tie my shoes. Mother always tied them for me without taking the time to teach me how. I vaguely remember sitting in my room practicing how to tie with tears streaming down my cheeks. Having little or no instruction with a new process often makes it difficult to accomplish the process at one sitting.

Throughout our lives, we try on new learning experiences. When we graduate high school, we enter either college or the work force. When we get married, we learn how to work an intimate relationship or how to dump our partner in a divorce. Before we start a business, we learn how to write a business plan.

The process of quitting smoking is a learning experience too! You cannot simply quit smoking after twenty years and not take into consideration that there may be some physical, mental, and emotional discomforts (quit smoking baggage.) If you anticipate that quitting is a painful process, this idea will ignite a desire to flee (smoke) or stay and fight (remain quit.)

Ideas first spark in the mind. Once an idea ignites, you can toss it in the trunk or become a driver and steer the vehicle. The ideas in your mind can also be like passengers or the driver in a car. You have a driver who is in charge of getting the car and passengers to a destination. You have passengers who anticipate that the driver and the car will get them to a destination. The passengers are always dependent upon the driver and the vehicle. The driver is always dependent upon the vehicle.

Once you realize that you are the only one who can make the choice to steer your thoughts away from the destination of big tobacco, you will learn to embrace a new sense of freedom and power over crave thoughts. Remember that big tobacco wants you to think that you need their product in order to live life to the fullest.

Have you ever wondered why Philip Morris USA supports a single, consistent public health message on the role of cigarette smoking in the development of disease in smoker’s yet they continue to peddle death and disease?

Cigarette companies spend millions of dollars each year on marketing and research alone. Big tobacco wants lifetime consumers and they know that in order to train a child in the way they should go, that they have to begin this process of subtle advertising by consistently innovating new ways to market their product to our youth.

In the United States, smoking-related illnesses account for more than 440,000 deaths each year. Please do not allow big tobacco to manipulate and control how long you live. Life in itself is precious. Take back your lives from big tobacco and do it now, before it is too late.

~Robbster

 A couple of months ago, when I reached a certain milestone in my quit, I posted a message in a public forum, and got some surprising results.  In my message, I made sure to mention a friend who had helped me a lot, and to offer thanks for that help.  My friend replied that I should not thank anyone, that the only person who can make me quit is me.  I felt a little deflated by that reply, and I just stopped posting to that forum.

Now, I do think that it is true that no one can quit for us – we have to do the work for ourselves.  However, I also know that when you have a friend who knows what you are going through, and cares if you succeed, it makes things so much better.  Who else really understands what quitting means, or how hard you work, or what it takes to stay quit?  Who else is always on your side, and remembers your milestones before you tell them?  With most other people, they soon forget you are still in a fight for your life.  Your quit-buddy never forgets.

Shortly after that milestone, I had some real significant changes happen, and have not been following my usual habits.  I have not maintained the relationship I had with the friend who really helped me save my quit.  That is my fault.  I have more to work on besides not smoking.  In addition, I hope to get back in touch and stay there with my friend.  I will see if that bridge is burned or not.  I hope not.  I do not have so many friends that I would not notice the loss; I have felt that loss very much.

The same reasons I have not been blogging very much lately apply to staying in touch with my friend.  I want to change both situations because both the blog and my friend are good for me.  I regret that I have not made more of an effort to stay connected; it is not as if it is too hard.  So I refocus and work harder now.  That’s the plan.

Many things have changed for me, and this is one area where the change was for the worst.  I can do better, and I will.  I know it is me that needs to be a better friend, and not shut people out.  I will work on that.

Zzyxx