Setting A Quit Date-- How did you choose yours, and how far out was it?

[Blake'sTyger]

I'm trying to pick a date I'll really stick to, go through with the whole shebang. 9/11 feels too soon. But then, I've set dates way out in the future that *somehow* just get passed by.

What kind of planning has worked for y'all?

Help!

And, Thanks!

Dave

[SeekSobriety]

Originally Posted by Blake'sTyger

I'm trying to pick a date I'll really stick to, go through with the whole shebang. 9/11 feels too soon. But then, I've set dates way out in the future that *somehow* just get passed by.

What kind of planning has worked for y'all?

Help!

And, Thanks!

Dave

Hi Dave,
Congrats on making that decision to give up smoking. It will change your life for the better in many ways!
The mind and nicotine are very interesting and it will always want to put off any changes to routines "till tomorrow"

My advice is to just do it right now, when you next feel like having a smoke. Just tell yourself you are not going to smoke right now, give yourself 5 more minutes. Take a walk, do 5 pushups, take some deep breaths, give yourself something else to do. Pretty soon you will find that the "urge" to smoke, has come and gone. Craves last on average about 3 minutes, so if you find yourself craving, just keep yourself occupied for 3 minutes and pretty soon the "urge" will have passed.

A great resource is a local Nicotine Anonymous meeting, I found great support and inspiration from that group.

whyquit.com another incredible source of inspiration for cold turkey giving up of cigarettes.

We are not Quitters, we are just giving up something that is harming us with each puff.

You can begin right now, just breath deep and put off having a smoke. Keep putting it off and next thing you know you will not miss it anymore.

I have 364 days of freedom from nicotine and I did it one breath at a time. I do not miss it, I feel a million times better about myself, I do not smell like crap when I walk in a room and I have a relationship now with someone who would never have given me the time of day had I been smoking. Bottom line is it has really opened so many doors for me and I am healing with each and every breath. The thought is MUCH harder then the reality of the situation.

Again to sumarize what has worked for me.

Nicotine Anonymous,
WhyQuit.com
Breathing fresh air deeply
exercise (walking for 10 minutes, taking stairs instead of elevator, Jogging, pushups, really anything that gets the heart pumping and the breath moving) even just 2 minutes is helpful!
Limiting or decreasing caffeine intake (caffeine can trigger "craves") having switching to decaf or limiting the caffeine intake can help.
Throwing out smoking paraphernalia, cleaning carpets, drapes, car etc.

Good luck,YOU CAN TOTALLY DO THIS!!!!!!

I was a 16 year pack+ a day smoker who gave up smoking and drinking
cold turkey 364 days ago. I am truly blessed to have found this site and I can tell you it really does work.

G-D/Universe/spirit/higherPower/etc. Bless! ! ! !

[Saxony]

I didn't plan this quit. It was about 8pm at night and I only had a few cigarettes left, it was either walk to the shop or quit. I decided to quit cold turkey, that was over 5 months ago now.

Prior to that I had tried everything, planning to quit, not planning, quitting in the morning, quitting in the evening, you name it I probably tried it lol.

One website I also used alot in the beginning was quitnet.com, it helped reading other people thoughts when I was craving and knowing I wasn't the only one to go through it.

[Wartrace]

I planned it for the moment I was going to run out of cigarettes. I also made sure the last one was right before I went to bed for the evening so I would have eight hours behind me when I woke up.

Make sure you do not have access to cigarettes- Do NOT keep any in your house. Stay away from other smokers for at least the first three days.

To be honest with you, the withdrawal period wasn't painful at all. It was just a bit uncomfortable but in a good way. Just keep in mind you are breaking an addiction- the feelings you are experiencing are necessary to be set free from nicotine addiction.

I smoked for thirty years, towards the end of my "Career" I was smoking two packs a day. The only thing that kept me from quitting was my perception that it would be painful/difficult/unbearable to quit. If I knew how it would really be I would have quit years ago.

[Blake'sTyger]

Thank you three!

SeekSobriety, congratulations on your year!!

This has been a process-- a few things happened that made me decide that it was really time to quit. Once I truly made that decision, I wanted to quit sooner rather than later. I started really disliking smoking (yet, as an addict, kept doing it). I finally decided this coming Saturday was my day. But then...

I feel ridiculous saying this, but I downloaded a "quit smoking" application on my iphone, which includes hypnosis, quit-smoking fact cards, a calculator which will tell you how much $$ you've saved, etc.
Like a kid with a new toy, I wanted to try it out-- didn't want to wait. I just finished the "main" hypnotherapy session about twenty minutes ago. It certainly doesn't make quitting automatic, but I think it helped. Actually, I know it helped. After that session, I actually can't remember if I smoked that cigarette I was craving this morning or not...so I actually don't know when my last cigarette was. And I think I like it that way.

I've quit. I'm a non-smoker. I'm actually looking forward to the challenge of these next 72-or-so hours. I'll be using some of the resources y'all mentioned above. Thanks again!

A funny thing happened on the way to quit smoking....I stopped smoking!

Best to all. Wish me luck!

Dave

[baldjim]

i just thought today i'm not drinking and that was it ...not looked back

[KOOKS]

Well done Dave on your decision to quit.

I would recommend you become a regular in the Daily Check in Thread, it helped me enormously when I first quit and it still does nearly 6 months later.

Good Luck.