Hello, I am on day 7 and feeling very strong and confident!! We will all be here for you so best wishes and welcome!! Cindi

(Bump)
How do you feel about a friend who has to go everywhere with you? Not only does he tag along all the time, but since he is so offensive and vulgar, you become unwelcome when with him. He has a peculiar odour that sticks to you wherever you go. Others think both of you stink.

He controls you totally. When he says jump, you jump. Sometimes in the middle of a blizzard or storm, he wants you to come to the store and pick him up. You would give your spouse hell if he or she did that to you all the time, but you can't argue with your friend. Sometimes, when you are out at a movie or play he says he wants you to go stand in the lobby with him and miss important scenes. Since he calls all the shots in your life, you go. Your friend doesn't like your choice of clothing either. Instead of politely telling you that you have lousy taste, he burns little holes in these items so you will want to throw them out. Sometimes, he tires of the furniture and gets rid of it too. Occasionally, he gets really nasty and decides the whole house must go.

He gets pretty expensive to support. Not only is his knack of property destruction costly, but you must pay to keep him with you. In fact, he will cost you thousands of dollars over your lifetime. And you can count on one thing; he will never pay you a penny in return.

Often at picnics you watch others playing vigorous activities and having lots of fun doing them. But your friend won't let you. He doesn't believe in physical activity. In his opinion, you are too old to have that kind of fun. So he kind of sits on your chest and makes it difficult for you to breathe. Now you don't want to go off and play with other people when you can't breathe, do you?

Your friend does not believe in being healthy. He is really repulsed by the thought of you living a long and productive life. So every chance he gets he makes you sick. He helps you catch colds and flu. Not just by running out in the middle of the lousy weather to pick him up at the store. He is more creative than that. He carries thousands of poisons with him which he constantly blows in your face. When you inhale some of them, they wipe out cilia in your lungs which would have helped you prevent these diseases.

But colds and flu are just his form of child's play. He especially likes diseases that slowly cripple you, like emphysema. He considers this disease great. Once he gets you to have this, you will give up all your other friends, family, career goals, activities, everything. You will just sit home and caress him, telling him what a great friend he is while you desperately gasp for air.

But eventually your friend tires of you. He decides he no longer wishes to have your company. Instead of letting you go your separate ways, he decides to kill you. He has a wonderful arsenal of weapons behind him. In fact, he has been plotting your death since the day you met him. He picked all the top killers in society and did everything in his power to ensure you would get one of them. He overworked your heart and lungs. He clogged up the arteries to your heart, brain, and every other part of your body. In case you were too strong to succumb to this, he constantly exposed you to cancer causing agents. He knew he would get you sooner or later.

Well, this is the story of your "friend," your cigarette. No real friend would do all this to you. Cigarettes are the worst possible enemies you ever had. They are expensive, addictive, socially unacceptable, and deadly. Consider all this and NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF!

I feel after doing this the resolve I felt on day 1 of stopping smoking has returned and I know its important to keep reminding myself why I stopped smoking.

I am going to try and quit on monday as well. I have tried so many times and seem to cave in on my 4th day. I really want to quit this time. Be strong and I think reading others progress is the best thing to keep a positive mind. Good Luck.

With Chantix, a positive attitude, and support, you should have no problem, there will be some tough days, but you will live throught them, promise.

I kept telling myself (especially the first week) that don matter what I felt like I would not smoking. Not an option. Do wahtever you need to do, sleep, shop, watch movies, eat, order out, exercise, paint, draw, cry, bitch, sing, scream in your pillow(don't knock it til you try it ;)) just don't smoke and when the week if over you will find it a)so much easier and b) realize that YOU CAN DO IT. COme here often, we'll help you through. :) ox Tikka

Sunni and Imau, congratulations on your decisions to quit smoking. You will not regret this.

I will not lie to you and pretend it is easy but what I do promise you that it is doable. I smoked 40 a day for over 40 years and must have been one of the most 'committed' smokers ever. On Sunday I will be 9 months quit. If I can do it so can you.

You can get quite a lot of advice and encouragement by reading old posts here...
http://dailystrength.org/groups/good-posts

Don't forget to come here to DS every day. We have all been through it so know how you are feeling

Good luck. You can do this. You will do this.

Congrats to both Sunni and Imau for making the decision to quit! Have plenty of distractions ready for when you quit. Take a walk, work on some crossword puzzles, do a deep cleaning of your house, or take a nap. Just distract yourself whenever the cravings hit. I loaded up on sugarfree gum, and chewed it all the time. Stock up on some healthy snacks as well. Log onto DS every day and attend pledge and rollcall. It helps. And stay close and keep us posted--we will help you through this! Remember--SMOKING IS NO LONGER AN OPTION! You can do this!

Just supporting everything that has been said and don't forget to get some things to get you through your craves and keep them with you. Water, suckers, veggie sticks, whatever you think may work for you! You can do it!

Do whatever you need to do to stay away from cigarettes. Buy trashy magazines, have a friends list to call if you need, crossword puzzles, chocolate, whatever it takes!!! Great decision to quit!!!

hi there. i'm on day 18 and am doing the patch. stay close to ds, do the pledge and roll call. i do this every morning and it sets the tone for the whole day.

drink lots of water as this will help greatly. chew gum, licorice also helps, exercise, deep breathing.

most importantly, you want to quit which is the first step in giving the nicodemon the boot. write down positive things about your upcoming quit, why you're quitting, and keep it handy the first few days. you can do this. staying positive and believing in yourself is a big part of the battle won. we are all here for you. Best of luck to you both.

chantix has worked well for many on here..i never used it though so i cant offer my experience with it. check in for daily roll call and pledge when you pick your quit date. im glad to hear you are loosing your desire to smoke! check out this link:
http://dailystrength.org/groups/good-posts
you will find some very helpful info here! keep us posted!

hello people my name is rika an im 28 years old i have been trying to quit smoking for a while know with no success iv started smoking when i was 16 years old im know expecting my 6th child an desperately want to quit any advise feel free to leave i need help.

Throw ALL your ciggies out and to the curb. Don't save any of them when you finally stop for good. A lot of people will "save some just in case" and that is a huge mistake. Buy some sunflower seeds in the shell and some twizzlers. Trust me..they work. Stay strong and stay focused. Don't let the nicotine fits talk you into smoking again.

You can do it!

Good job picking your quit day. I quit on a Monday too and it has stuck. If you are focused and use the ideas on here you will be ok. It is not easy but it is not that hard either...totally doable. Come here every day and be a part of this wonderful group. It makes a huge difference being with others who care and know how you feel. Good luck and see you on here. You are almost smoke free and healthier in every way! (((Hugs))) kate

To me - the best incentive to quit is to tell ourselves that we are slowly, one puff at a time, killing ourselves with tobacco. We are addicted to a substance which puts us at enormous risk to die. Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death! It kills more than all other major disease combined.

If you are able to stomach watching a video of a horrible smoke related death - then watch Youtube:
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_8BerrJg0M

I came here to DS with just a notion that I might want to quit, and when reading through some posts, I saw one where someone recommended that youtube video. I got scared straight. That was the harsh kick in the heart that I needed to finally put down the smokes for good. I am now smoke free for 44 days.

In a miserable irony - a close member of my immediate family was just told this week that they need lung surgery. Without getting into details, this is a most unexpected and horrible twist of fate. I don't understand God's plan but I know that I am doing the next right thing every moment that I don't pick up a cigarette.

JUST pray for the willingness to be willing to stop. Pray for God's help every minute of every day if you have to.
Get support from those of us here on DS who are walking and have walked in your shoes. Each and every one of us here knows exactly how you feel. Let the loving people on DS show you first-hand that quitting and staying quit is possible. Listen and learn from their experience, strength and hope. Come here every day to pledge your commitment to not smoke for just 24 hours and attend the daily roll call as we all check in with one another for support and fellowship. Believe or not, we actually have fun here while we save our lives! What a wonderful gift. We can do together what we cannot do alone.
QUIT NOW, PLEASE.
~RW