Thanks Nurse! - I love to write myself, and live by the mantra 'show don't tell' so glad to see it actually works :) Helps me to see where I'm going as well, that beach sure is looking good. I flagged down the supply ship and stocked up on the red towels...will be waiting for your arrival! Hey bring some sunblock wouldja? I burn pretty easily :gasp: [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/1/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 53 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,233 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �291.5 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 4 [B]Hrs:[/B] 12 [B]Mins:[/B] 16 [B]Seconds:[/B] 38

Inhale.......... Exhale.......... Inhale.......... Exhale.......... Patch free, two days down, one to go... And a big wahoo to the New Year's quitters! I'm about a day away from 1000 not smoked too, couldn't believe that one when I saw it! Feeling a bit like a bubblehead today, and one cranky piece of work but hanging in there. Thing is, I have NO desire whatsoever to smoke, I'm just irritable. Looking forward to waking up Wednesday morning free and clear. What a great Valentine's Day pressie - show myself I love me by being nicotine free! (How seriously cool is THAT?!?) :p x T [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/1/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 42 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 982 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �231 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 3 [B]Hrs:[/B] 14 [B]Mins:[/B] 16 [B]Seconds:[/B] 12

Ditto on the thanks. I honestly hope this can do others some good. Took that final patch off at 5 am (after waking up from a snooze in the recliner!) and am now nearly 1/3 of the way to being completely nicotine free. Enter more emotions, heavy duty this time...edgy, agitated, excited, anxious to get this final withdrawal over with. I must admit, though, the 'excessive gas' thread(s) are getting me through this with a smile on my face! :) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/1/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 41 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 960 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �225.5 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 3 [B]Hrs:[/B] 12 [B]Mins:[/B] 21 [B]Seconds:[/B] 49

My goodness, you're a kind lot! Thank you all for the good wishes. It's such a blessing to be in such a fantastically strange place in your life and have such a large group of people out there who understand precisely what you're going through. Epiphany only begins to describe it. My burning thought today is really how very sad it is that so many of us have faced the same sense of 'hiding away' in our lives - that discordant, odd lack of purpose, the big 'Why' that never really finds its 'Because'. And all at 15 years old. Or 13 or 12, hell, at 25, 35. So we pick up that first pack of cigarettes and continue to smoke ourselves senseless, never breaking out of the saccharine bubble of false happiness until we have a nagging cough, or see a loved one die, or watch another advertisement showing a smoker get dragged around by a fishing hook in the lip (in the UK this exists, really staggering, awful, TRUTHFUL stuff). Why were we so lost then? Why are we found now? It's bigger than this, it's a philosophical meditation. Fortunately, I'm really comfortable with introspective 'me time' and I hope every one of you either is already the same or gets to that point. Not sure if I'm talking in circles, but the thoughts are CLEAR and they're MINE, and they're SMOKE FREE. Today is a good day indeed. X [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/1/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 39 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 907 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �214.5 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 3 [B]Hrs:[/B] 7 [B]Mins:[/B] 39 [B]Seconds:[/B] 24

Ah jeez, what a whirlwind. Most days I stay away from this board b/c most days it's been easy as pie to be a big fat quitter. Go figure. 20 years gone, 39 days recovered. I'm just learning to be an adult who doesn't smoke. I don't know what that's like - the last time I was a non smoker I was barely a teenager, barely pubescent. And what did I do with that portion of my life? Sold my soul to the Nic patrol. A walloping eye opener. Mark me with the sign of the 'L', thank you very much. When I smoked, NO ONE out on the street smoked. Now, EVERY bloody person smokes. I look at them in pity. I look at them and think 'I'm so freaking glad I've quit already, it's not something I HAVE to do anymore. I've DONE it. Guilt, get the hell out of my head please and thank you.' So now I'm a quitter there's plenty of time to think. (And how TOTALLY bizarre that I actually notice my surroundings more now, since I'm not perenially busy lighting up and crushing out.) And here be emotions. Leaving the fog of 20 years of pacification, two decades of distraction, er..you don't exactly learn how to handle emotions well being a smoker. When I was about 10 years old I was fervently anti-smoking. I was convinced I'd never smoke, that I was allergic to smoke, it was disgusting, foul, you name it, I didn't want any of it. Mom and Dad smoked, older brother was about to begin. But me? Don't kid yourself. When I was 15, everything sucked. My parents were on the edge of divorce after years of a mad, chaotic home life. I spoke to no one, locked myself in my room and played solitaire. I had no friends from school because I had been bullied forever. But lucky me, I started finding friends from elsewhere, new ideas, new influences. Their contribution? An escape from dealing with the crap emotions and whaddayaknow? Cigarettes. The rush, the hit, the kick, the slap in the face. The high, the blast, the addiction that made me not give a toss about everyone else. Divorce? Who cares, light er up. Bullying? Ya right, I'm cool now, where's the matches? The ability to deal with a single lousy emotion? Gone. So here am I, approaching a 4_ in my stats (holy crap!) No one I know believes I've done it, they're all stunned, shocked, proud. And t

Todash You are my hero...I am so impressed with your resolve...I know that you are fighting a very personal battle with this thing and it can be lonely...I am continuing right along with you and shedding my own demons as I go...Exercise is a great part of this for me...This morning I had trouble getting myself out of bed before dawn and putting on my running clothes (several layers it mighty cold here), but I got it done 1 more time... I hope that you are adapting a new life style in some way or other that is the opposite of that which you have done in the past...I am finding that works well for me... Keep going and let us know how it is each step of the way... nonic

Todash Wow...I feel your sense of emotional awareness. Be kind to yourself...You are busy being born and that is going to hurt a bit. I know because I am feeling the whirlwind myself...I am having to look at each emotion and my reactions with great care...Its going to take some practice...We are truly strangers in a strange land...I have decided that I am going to go to a psychologist very shortly as I want this quit more than anything and if it means talking through some things so be it... If you are interested in my perspective on the subject you are discussing, take a look at the topic entitled Learning Learning Learning... Stay well you are beautiful for traveling this road... nonic

Wanted to bump this for NIKNAK and our newbies here!! auntdeb [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/1/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 40 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,031 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $190 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 5 [B]Hrs:[/B] 14 [B]Mins:[/B] 9 [B]Seconds:[/B] 40

Todash... Warning...warning...warning... you are going to go through some withdrawal here...so don't give in and don't get discouraged. What you have accomplished using the patch is to change the habit of lighting up..and smoking... 72 hours of withdrawal...and hopefully a short time to deal with the connection of emotion/trigger and learning how to deal with them. When you get what seems like a craving... Think first... what is this emotion? Take a deep breath and don't put another patch on... auntdeb keep the quit :) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/1/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 41 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,090 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $194.75 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 5 [B]Hrs:[/B] 18 [B]Mins:[/B] 0 [B]Seconds:[/B] 43

WAY TO GO TODASH....!!! That's telling it like it is... auntdeb [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/1/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 39 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,973 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $185.25 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 5 [B]Hrs:[/B] 10 [B]Mins:[/B] 24 [B]Seconds:[/B] 9