CONGRATULATIONS on your ¼ trip around the sun!   You're doing great, but be sure and keep your guard up. Those triggers are EVERYWHERE as you know. 

Stay strong you quitter. 

Tim

6 more days until the big 3 month mark.  I'm very, very jazzed about that.  I am trying to put my all into the belief that I can be done with smoking with forever.  Evidence is stacking up that IT IS POSSIBLE. Even or me :)

 If my count is right, six more days and you'll hit your THREE MONTH milestone. Awesome journey....

Tim

I tried to get my quit metre thing up but was foiled by technology. Last week I also stopped being able to access this site through my laptop, the link just brings up a bunch of jibberish. Now my only access is through my cell phone, which I am the most useless at using unfortunately. I don't know what my problem is with it, all I can say is that I tried and failed several times with it. I can download it but then can't do anything else with it. Haha.

 Those triggers just seem to pop up out of nowhere don't they?  Good to hear that you can deal with them too. Why don't you have your quit meter running so everyone can keep track of your journey? Just wondering. Another season is fast approaching you June Quitter, three more seasons and you're an official quitter you know!!!! 

Tim

So I was walking my pup yesterday morning, having a groovy little morning to ourselves, and all of a sudden the thought, "I miss smoking" popped into my mind. Instead of dismissing it like I normally do, I entertained this one for some reason. What a misstep! I ended up having occasional smoke-encouraging thoughts all dang day (in particular, being way more aware of butts on the ground lol). Served as a good reminder for me - DO NOT ENTERTAIN *ANY* THOUGHTS ABOUT SMOKING, STELLA!. Observe it and MOVE THE F ON. I've got some living to do. And according to the quit meter thing, maybe another week of life tacked on to the end now that I don't smoke ;) (Day 82 😎)

Sparrow - yeah, I was hesitant to use it for just that reason, and sure enough, I suffered really terrible mental side effects after the first two weeks. I ended up not taking it as directed (but in a way that worked for me). I can't recommend that since I'm not a doc or pharmacist, but I just did what worked for me. I also found the NRT lozenges to be really helpful when I was trying the NRT route. I wanted to do it "clean" and not use anything, but after umpteen failures I conceded that using a quit aid to reach my goal was better than never reaching my goal. I used the champix for I think 3 weeks? Again, not as directed.... I just used it to get over that initial hump and shock of not smoking. I'd have to go back and read the beginning pages of my thread here to get me details about time lines.

Day 80 :) I am so excited to be closing in on the 90 day mark. And even more excited about the fact that I don't doubt I will reach 90 days. I remember not being sure if I'd hit two weeks. Then not being really sure I'd hit 30 days. But I am 100% sure I will hit 90 days, and that confidence and ability to trust myself is even better than the actual day count. I am SO SO SO SO happy that today I can say thay I haven't smoked in over two months, instead of saying, "Damn it Stella, if you'd just stuck to it two+ months ago, it would be over by now" (which was my refrain for the entire year before I finally stuck to this quit). Sparrow, my ongoing braces journey is my reward to me :) My bite plate feels more like a punishment lol, but it's so distracting that the thought of smoking on top of it just seems tiresome. My brain is full, haha, no room for smoking thoughts, so just go away. That's how I've been feeling the past few days - thoughts of smoking feel tiresome. On the same level as thinking of an overflowing laundry hamper. I like to think of it as the addiction itself growing tired of fighting. It can see who's in charge now, and its efforts to thwart me are growing increasingly pathetic and meek. Sparrow, freedom from ALL addictions feels SO GOOD. Indescribable. I mentioned in an earlier post that as a side effect of quitting smoking, some of my other not-helpful behaviours have fallen away as well. Prior to this quit, I was free of my "primary" addictions, but addiction lived on through smoking, the way I treated food, avoidant behaviour at times, watching too much Netflix, etc. Throughout the past 80 days it's like I totally leveled up in my recovery. I have so much time and brain space that was previously unavailable to me. Do not stop trying. I hope no one minds if I continue to use this space for one entire "trip around the sun". My posts will naturally grow fewer and farther in between I'm sure, but I want to document the full year and stay accountable. Complacency is my < enemy now. This thread helps me stay grateful, and that gratitude keeps me smoke-free.

Wow stella youre nearly at 3 months. WTG!!!! I hope youve got a well deserved reward planned. I read your post about having overcome drug addiction in the past...pleased to meet you. I can totally relate to the mindset you had that smoking was nothing in comparison. Thats a lie l told myself because until youre clean of everything youre still a prisoner of the addiction monster. It must feel soooo liberating for you to finally be free of all addiction. Thankyou for sharing your journey as its very inspiring for me to see how you did the hard yards and how wonderful youre feeling now. Celebrate your freedom from all addictions every day and NEVER give up your liberty to anything negative ever again. Congrats girl! I think you found the rainbow 

Day 78. Guys, I did not think of smoking even once yesterday. Even when my partner paused our movie THREE times to get up for a smoke, it wasn't even on my radar. As if him doing that had absolutely nothing to do with me, beyond the fact that I got to read a page out of my book while he was up. I've had a small handful of these days by now, when there is not only no struggle, but no thoughts or identification with smoking. Now all of my thinking is taken up with my new braces and the awful bite plate I just got, lol.

Day 76. I'm back to real, regular life after my vacation. And in my regular life, I rarely think of smoking now. It doesn't feel like it takes much effort to maintain my quit at this point, which is awesome. I can't believe I'm closing in on three months now, it honestly does not feel like it's been that long. It's funny how hindsight works - what seemed so huge and never-ending in the beginning now seems like a mere blip of time and how silly of me to blow it up into giant proportions. A little grim determination early on got me so many rewards in return. Cravings now really only pop up when I encounter the less routine, once-in-a-while smoking triggers - the day to day stuff is firmly divorced from smoking. I wrote several weeks ago that I only "actively don't smoke" 3-5 times a day (as in I had to work 3-5 times per day to dismiss an urge to smoke). By now, I'd say that time has been reduced to maybe 2 times per week. And the effort it takes to do the "work" has been reduced as well. So, in less than three months I went from hopeless failed quitter sucking a butt down out in the park where I wouldn't be seen, to someone who only thinks of cigarettes a couple times a week. And those thoughts aren't necessarily desires to smoke, but merely thoughts of smoking. It really doesn't have to take a long time to retrain a brain.

 Glad to hear you're still with us. And it sounds like you're getting stronger too. Be sure and keep your guard up though, that NicoDemon is tricky. 

So far I have tried to quit one more time than I've failed to quit. That's all it takes. Great words of wisdom! 

Tim

I'm alive! And Timbo was right, I was out in the woods since last Saturday. Killer hike - and I was surprised by a few very intense urges to smoke out there, namely whenever I completed a particularly hard climb. My instinct is still to feel upset whenever a strong crave comes up, but I am getting better and quicker at detaching from it as time goes on. Milder cravings don't phase me at all, they make me chuckle. Intense craves are now super rare but they take effort to not get upset about. And I should also note here that even the so-called "intense" craving are over within a matter of 20 seconds? As long as I keep moving on with my day. No dwEllington allowed in this quit, I will not let that take me down again. It's so nice to see all these messages here waiting for me - especially the ones saying my quit is inspiring them!!! What a lovely byproduct of something I'm doing 100% for myself. My smoke-free days now number in the 70s, and I'm totally tickled that my thread title is "June quitter" and my quit is now ongoing into September as of tomorrow. Quitting is totally possible!!!! Don't give up trying. This time for me is just one more kick at the can - who knew it was going to actually stick? I just kept trying. So far I have tried to quit one more time than I've failed to quit. That's all it takes.