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bro go on, I was a very strong smoker and when I decide to stop I lived an entire year of hell, the only thing I was thinking was cigarettes.

After 1 year away from nicotine, the desire of it just vanished, my body was better, I was happier in every single moment of the day and I finally felt free. Today is like 5 years away I had only positive outcome from my decision.

Also, you really stop smoking when you dont remember the last time you smoked. If you know exactly when it was, you need to be aware because being hooked back is still so easy

Sedj 1y ago

I don't know if I will ever feel like it wouldn't be easy to go back. I've quit for years at a time before. This new mindset of seeing the continuous pattern of withdrawal is the closest I think I've ever been to having a strong enough reason to stay quit.

"For my health" wasn't good enough. "For my family", "because my daughter told me she wanted me to be around longer", because I want to be the best example to my kids, because I want to live longer, because I don't want to live through lung sicknesses, or other illnesses - none of these reasonings have been strong enough.

For some reason, because I don't want to live in a perpetual state of withdrawal - that has had power. Maybe it is the novelty of it. Maybe it is the present-ness. Maybe the absolute certainty of immediate pain/damage, rather than just future possibilities.

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Discussion

ponymontana💜⚡ 1y ago

You will not regret it.

Withdrawals can happen, this doesnt mean that you are not making progress. Keep the withdrawal recurrency less frequent, less long and less intense to dont loose the right pattern.

Sedj 1y ago

See, that was my old thinking, that withdrawals were something that happened when I was trying to quit. They would happen when I didn't have a plan for that next smoke.

What I realized was that withdrawal was practically continuous while I was a smoker. 10-15 minutes after a cigarette, the addiction is already wanting to be fed. We just tolerate (as addicts) the symptoms for the next hour or two, because we have a plan for the next dose of nicotine.

So now, withdrawals are something that happened as a smoker. After a few days quit, the withdrawals are gone. What isn't gone are the same social cues that made me start to begin with, and the power of advertising and brainwashing (over my lifetime) that make smoking seem like an attractive option in certain situations. The lies we tell ourselves, like smoking relieves boredom, or stress, or anxiety. None of those are true, just like "breakfast cereal" isn't part of a "healthy breakfast".

ponymontana💜⚡ 1y ago

agree, smoke causes everything that it says to cure. Every cigarette is 15 min of pausing from withdrawals, then its worse then before. You will never be satisfacted, its never enough.