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A new quitter keeping cigarettes around just to provethey can, is akin to a person on suicide watch carrying a loaded gun. With a triggered crave being less than 3 minutes in duration (be sure and look at a clock as time distortion is a very real symptom during quitting and your mind may try to convince you that it's 3 hours instead) one of your best weapons against relapse is delay one minute, delay two minutes, delay for a third minute, if need be!
Why have a gun handy while waiting on the urge to use it? It makes no sense!
Each crave will end in a very short period of time whether you feed it or not. If you know where "it" or "they" are then you'd be well advised to flush or crush your hidden stash! Baby steps to glory! This is doable! John (Gold)
Ex-smokers should never keep stashes of cigarettes around--not from day one of a quit. One reason is for the real risk of smoking it, and the second reason is that as long as a person keeps cigarettes he or she is also keeping a mindset that he or she is a smoker trying not to smoke as opposed to being an ex-smoker. Ex-smokers and never smokers have no reasons to keep cigarettes around--why would they? It serves no purpose to them.
As long as a person feels like a smoker trying not to smoke, he or she is going to have the psychological problems and play the little mind games of a smoker trying not to smoke. When you cross over to the frame of mind that you are not a smoker trying not to smoke but rather you are now an ex-smoker--and that is what you want to be--the psychological benefit can be both powerful and profound.
If you work on proper frame of mind in the beginning, you can feel this difference a minute into your quit and you will prove yourself right as long as you always remember that you are committed to never take another puff!
Joel
From: Hillbilly(Gold) (Original Message) | Sent: 6/17/2002 4:17 PM |
"As long as a person feels like a smoker trying not to smoke, he or she is going to have the psychological problems and play the little mind games of a smoker trying not to smoke. When you cross over to the frame of mind that you are not a smoker trying not to smoke but rather you are now an ex-smoker--and that is what you want to be--the psychological benefit can be both powerful and profound." The above is an excerpt from Message No. 35 in the thread Carrying Cigarettes. I read it for the first time today, and have not seen that teaching concept anywhere else in Freedom. It really got my attention. For two months now, I have been successful in my quit by telling myself that "I am not going to smoke, just for today. I may smoke tomorrow, but today I'm not going to smoke." Lately I have not had to argue with myself each morning about this decision, and it has become much less important to me. What I am trying to say is my mindset is changing, and I begin to look more at the long range picture of not smoking for the rest of my life. That idea has been particularly scary to me, but I have to accept that my baby steps are getting bigger. This post that I quoted above really affected me. I have been thinking of myself as a smoker who is trying to quit. I now begin to realize that is time to begin thinking of myself as an ex-smoker. This is a major step for me and I wonder if anyone else has been through a similar experience. The one thing I don't need to forget is the fact that I will never be an ex-addict. Dave I have chosen not to smoke for 1 Month 4 Weeks 2 Days 18 Hours 12 Minutes 46 Seconds. Somewhere there are 2126 extra cigarettes. From Dave's Original Post in ...
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I normally try not to go on an offensive with any industry, as we have written in our Freedom's mission statement:The dreaded relapse
Any ex-smoker knows, quitting is so difficult that many have tried 7 or more times before succeeding. So if you relapse, you're not alone.
But you don't have to feel like a failure. In fact, you can learn from your current quit attempt and more likely stay a non-smoker in the future. And, by keeping a Quit Aids like Nicorette®, NicoDerm® CQ®, or CommitTM handy, you can help fight off the physical cravings
I feel that I would be being negligent now though if I did not point out a tactic that I have not seen so blatantly used before by the pharmaceutical industry. The idea that you should keep any source of nicotine on hand just in case is absolutely ludicrous. It gives the impression that people have to have some nicotine around in case they have an urge. The fact is ex-smokers don't have physical urges they have psychological . Taking a dose of nicotine to deal with a psychological trigger will basically start the physical process of withdrawal again. If a person does it he or she had better be prepared for three more days of withdrawal. He or she had better have a good supply of his or her quitting aid on hand again to get through the following days for he or she has started up an active need again.We are hostile to nobody. Not even to the tobacco industry or pharmaceutical companies who have different agendas than ours. They exist because they want you to use their products. We exist because you want to stop using their products. We are not here to try to make anyone stop using their products either. We are here to help people quit using nicotine because they have already decided to do so.
A new quitter who plays mind games with their life by keeping cigarettes around just to provethey can, is akin to a person on suicide watch carrying a loaded gun. With a triggered crave episode being less than 3 minutes in duration (be sure and look at a clock as time distortion is a very real recovery symptom and your mind may try to convince you that it's 3 hours instead) one of your best weapons against relapse is delay one minute, delay two minutes, delay for a third minute, if need be!
Why have a gun handy while waiting on the urge to use it? It makes no sense!
Every crave ends whether you feed it or not. Why not bring them to a permanent end! Baby steps to glory, the next few minutes are doable! John (Gold)
I normally try not to go on an offensive with any industry, as we have written in our Freedom's mission statement:The dreaded relapse
Any ex-smoker knows, quitting is so difficult that many have tried 7 or more times before succeeding. So if you relapse, you're not alone.
But you don't have to feel like a failure. In fact, you can learn from your current quit attempt and more likely stay a non-smoker in the future. And, by keeping a Quit Aids like Nicorette®, NicoDerm® CQ®, or CommitTM handy, you can help fight off the physical cravings
I feel that I would be being negligent now though if I did not point out a tactic that I have not seen so blatantly used before by the pharmaceutical industry. The idea that you should keep any source of nicotine on hand just in case is absolutely ludicrous. It gives the impression that people have to have some nicotine around in case they have an urge. The fact is ex-smokers don't have physical urges they have psychological . Taking a dose of nicotine to deal with a psychological trigger will basically start the physical process of withdrawal again. If a person does it he or she had better be prepared for three more days of withdrawal. He or she had better have a good supply of his or her quitting aid on hand again to get through the following days for he or she has started up an active need again.We are hostile to nobody. Not even to the tobacco industry or pharmaceutical companies who have different agendas than ours. They exist because they want you to use their products. We exist because you want to stop using their products. We are not here to try to make anyone stop using their products either. We are here to help people quit using nicotine because they have already decided to do so.
I normally try not to go on an offensive with any industry, as we have written in our Freedom's mission statement:The dreaded relapse
Any ex-smoker knows, quitting is so difficult that many have tried 7 or more times before succeeding. So if you relapse, you're not alone.
But you don't have to feel like a failure. In fact, you can learn from your current quit attempt and more likely stay a non-smoker in the future. And, by keeping a Quit Aids like Nicorette®, NicoDerm® CQ®, or CommitTM handy, you can help fight off the physical cravings
I feel that I would be being negligent now though if I did not point out a tactic that I have not seen so blatantly used before by the pharmaceutical industry. The idea that you should keep any source of nicotine on hand just in case is absolutely ludicrous. It gives the impression that people have to have some nicotine around in case they have an urge. The fact is ex-smokers don't have physical urges they have psychological . Taking a dose of nicotine to deal with a psychological trigger will basically start the physical process of withdrawal again. If a person does it he or she had better be prepared for three more days of withdrawal. He or she had better have a good supply of his or her quitting aid on hand again to get through the following days for he or she has started up an active need again.We are hostile to nobody. Not even to the tobacco industry or pharmaceutical companies who have different agendas than ours. They exist because they want you to use their products. We exist because you want to stop using their products. We are not here to try to make anyone stop using their products either. We are here to help people quit using nicotine because they have already decided to do so.
From: Joel | Sent: 9/28/2004 8:53 AM |
I saw where I think a member said that she still had some old Nicorette in her purse. I thought I had better bring this string up with the additional commentary below: This post applies to all forms of tobacco delivery systems, whether it be cigarettes, cigars, pipes, chews, nicotine patches, nicotine gums, nicotine inhalers, nicotine lozenges, nicotine water, and any other creative means mankind comes up with of delivering nicotine to your brain. Their mere presence of your own supplies pose two risks. The obvious one is that you may deliver a hit and throw away your quit. The less obvious risk but just as real as that the stash is going to make you think more like a user trying to quit rather than a person who has quit and has no intention of trying to quit. Here is a section from above that while talking about NRT's specifically, the concept applies to all form of nicotine delivery systems: I am lifting a section out of the thread Be prepared to hear some confusing info (see post 36 in that string for the full text) that was addressing a recent press release from the makers of numerous NRT products. It is important that the information about this issue be attached in this string too. Comment 4: (From the pharmaceutical company's press release) The dreaded relapse Any ex-smoker knows, quitting is so difficult that many have tried 7 or more times before succeeding. So if you relapse, you're not alone. But you don't have to feel like a failure. In fact, you can learn from your current quit attempt and more likely stay a non-smoker in the future. And, by keeping a Quit Aids like Nicorette®, NicoDerm® CQ®, or CommitTM handy, you can help fight off the physical cravings I normally try not to go on an offensive with any industry, as we have written in our Freedom's mission statement:
I feel that I would be being negligent now though if I did not point out a tactic that I have not seen so blatantly used before by the pharmaceutical industry. The idea that you should keep any source of nicotine on hand just in case is absolutely ludicrous. It gives the impression that people have to have some nicotine around in case they have an urge. The fact is ex-smokers don't have physical urges they have psychological . Taking a dose of nicotine to deal with a psychological trigger will basically start the physical process of withdrawal again. If a person does it he or she had better be prepared for three more days of withdrawal. He or she had better have a good supply of his or her quitting aid on hand again to get through the following days for he or she has started up an active need again. I think the other way that this comment needs to be looked at is the idea that an ex-smoker has to have something on hand "just in case" the ex-smoker finds himself or herself wanting a cigarette. What might happen if a person gets a thought and has no aid? Will he or she stop breathing? Will his or her heart stop? Will he or she burst a blood vessel unless he or she takes nicotine product? None of these things will happen. For the record, most ex-smokers are going to get an occasional thought and if they have a nicotine product in hand and have a feeling that it is better than smoking, or that it is an either they are either going to take this NRT product or they are going to smoke, they are going to take the product. The bottom line is there was and always will be a third option, which is not to take the product and not smoke. The person will get through the event with their quit totally intact. We are seeing a new level of nonsense now. Every one of our members are living proof that all you need to have with you to keep your quit strong and secure in times of major crisis, minor emergencies, or just plain random thoughts is a personal commitment to never take another puff! Joel |
If recovery time distortion is an almost universial recovery symptom andwhat can feel like a three hour crave episode is never longer than three minutes then why not build in as much delay as your situation will allow? We understand that many members have family and loved ones who smoke and who'll at times be less than supportive of this wonderful opportunity to substantially improve your health while likely substantially lengthening your life.
But for a recovering nicotine addict to intentionally keep nicotine handy is like someone on suicide-watch intentionally carrying a fully loaded gun, just to prove they can. This isn't time for more head-games but for reason, logic and to replace junkie thinking with the common sense that once filled your mind.