I was in excellent shape when I was in the Army, but quickly got out of shape. A year later I’m just getting back in shape and I feel GREAT!

You’d be surprised how much happier you are in general when you actually feel good!

Thanks for stopping by.

Surgery ended up going well, but I had a stern lecture from the doctor and nurses to improve my diet, get daily exercise (when I’m able to walk again) and to improve my overall health. They told me for a 36-year-old man who doesn’t smoke, my bp could end up killing me, so I need to take ACTION sooner rather than later.

If you smoke, it’s only that much worse, so I commend you for going “cold turkey.”

Seriously though, great job! I was only around 1 pack and doing the same thing (didn’t really smoke them all) so it must have been that much hard for you.

You’re spot on about the “substance substitutes.” For a while there I was eating them mints like crazy. I just switched from one form of nicotine to another.

After realizing it I’ve cut way down and I’m more or less done with them. I’m eating one of two a day and I don’t even really fiend for them. Now that I’m thinking about it I’ll quit now lol

I have to admit, I do still have the urges from time to time, but they are fairly weak and I don’t even consider having a smoke, so I’m pretty happy with myself.

Thanks for the extremely helpful advice and for stopping by!

Congrats on quitting cigarettes. That is great that you and Claudia have been smoke free for 6 months. I have never smoked but I have heard how difficult it is to quit. I think it is great that you have added in exercise to help with stress. After a long day, I look forward to a nice run or weight training. I feel a lot better afterwards.

Looking forward to reading more posts here!

I don’t think I actually smoked 3 packs every day, since often I would light a cigarette, take a puff, put it in the ashtray as I was working on my graphics (or whatever) and when I reached for it again it would be 3/4s gone. But I did light up 3 packs a day.

I had quit twice before - once with a boyfriend (and went back after being angry with him), and once for 3 months (but went back due to the stress of staying up all night for finals). The last time, however, was for ME.

In 1981 I was doing a special outward-bound type physical program and the night before I started it I threw my cigarettes in the trash and never touched them again.

I did not use drugs, gum, coffee or anything else as a substance substitute. They didn’t have many substitutes at that time…and I’m glad. A substitute can be as hard to quit as the cigs themselves.

What I found that worked for me was to NOT fight the urge! Rather, I would fully acknowledge it. “Yes, I notice I want a cigarette, isn’t that interesting. I COULD have a cigarette if I really wanted, but I think I’ll wait a little while and just not have one at this moment.”

I think most people run into problems of giving in to the urge because they fight it. I took the “Yeah, so what” approach. I didn’t hold on to the thought, I let it pass through me, so to speak. This is a great example of what you focus on you get more of. I chose to acknowledge the urge and not focus on the desire.

The other thing I did is I rather naturally substituted physical activity for the cigarette. If the urge became strong, I would go take a run (or a walk), or engage in some physical activity. Later I realized that these things caused me to breathe deeply, which is the ‘relaxation’ part of why people smoke. That’s probably what you are doing with your curls.

A friend who took a different route to stop was told to eliminate or alter any habitual activity where he used to smoke. For instance, since he would sit and smoke while on the phone, he changed it to standing up while he was talking on the phone, and only staying on the phone for 3 minutes at a time, max. You might try talking while taking a walk through the neighborhood or around your yard as your substitute for sitting and talking.

The other thing that was amazing is that I continued to have dreams for about 8 years. In my dream I would be smoking. I would wake up in a panic, concerned that I had really had a cigarette, almost smelling smoke in the air. I later realized it was my mind’s way of dealing with the urge in a harmless way. Thank you mind!

I’m now a hypnotherapist and I can tell you the habituation is the worst part of the smoking - you must change the habits and rituals (as well as your reactions to the triggers that used to prompt you to want one) that surround smoking.

But the most profound shift you must make is to know that you are now a non-smoker. Until you make that shift, you’re simply a smoker trying to quit. Once you’ve made the identity shift into being a non-smoker, your ego and your subconscious will both help you maintain your new identity. Then it doesn’t take will power - it’s a natural extension of who you are.

It was 5 years before the thoughts about having a cigarette stopped. If I had tried to use will power I don’t know if I’d still be smokefree 27 years later. Once I was clear that I was a nonsmoker, however, I knew that I would never put a cigarette to my lips - it would be out of character, and so was never considered seriously.

Congratulations to you and Claudia on getting control of your life back. It’s a major accomplishment however you do it!

P.S. The hardest part for me was that for about 3-4 months at about 2pm every day - without a cigarette I wanted to take a nap!! AND, it took me a couple years before I could sit and read for more than about 20 minutes without falling asleep!

Fortunately in the past few weeks I’ve been cutting way down on the Commit mints. For a while there I thought I just switched from cigarettes to these mints. But now I’m pretty much done.

Thanks for the support… see you around