Nicotine free!

hogweed

Having smoked since a teenager, I am now at day 13 nicotine free. And I have just had a day from hell - not only have I been let down by tradesmen, I have also had to pay to get work redone. And had to fork out loads more cash for new items etc etc. Needless to say my nerves are shot. And I have no chocolate in the house! 
Any words of wisdom, hints, tips, group hugs available from fellow gardeners and/or ex-smokers? 

LauraRoslin

I gave up four years ago and I remember days like that!   Well done on getting to 13 days.  

The best encouragement I can give is that you are nearly through the worst of the physical cravings.  And if you have a cigarette now you will have to go through it all again.  Don't waste what you've just been through.

Have a big hug from me, a fellow sufferer, and believe me when I say that from now on it gets better.  The craving will go away, I promise.

Lantana

13 days is great and you can do it! You want to reach for a ciggie to make you feel better after a rotten day and if you go ahead and do it, you’ll then have something else to feel bad about - your day from hell AND the fact you gave in. Believe me, I know. Go and viciously dispose of slugs and snails if it helps!

Lily Pilly

Well done, Hardest thing I ever did, 14 years ago. Good words spoken here

tell yourself over and over it’s your brain trying to trick you, and do you really want to go back to day 1,2,3, etc etc
good luck

josusa47

Congratulations, give yourself a hug from me for getting to day 13, and think how proud you'll be tomorrow to have completed a second week.  Calculate how much you would have spent on cigs, and think about what plants you'll buy with the savings.  Or work out how many fag-free weeks are equal to a new mower, or some really handsome planters.

 I used to run for fitness, and whenever I started to flag, I'd set my sights on something up ahead, a tree or a parked car, and tell myself, just get that far and then you can take a rest.  Then when I reached that goal, I'd set myself another and keep on going.  Do you think the same approach might work when cravings strike ...  "I won't have a cigarette now, I'll have one in 10 minutes time,". By which time you'll have forgotten you wanted one.

Watching my father die of lung cancer at 57 stopped me smoking.  He and my mum loved each other to bits, and were so looking forward to their retirement.  She has now been a widow longer than she was a wife.

Fire

Try working out roughly how many fags you have smoked in your life. (How many a day on average x how many days a year x number of years). Get a large piece of paper (A3 or larger) and write the number on it.

Work out how much tar that represents (roughly 12 mg per fag). Get something solid that is the same weight as the tar (and/or the fags). Put that thing where you can see it. This article suggests that 20 a day works out at a mugful of tar you take in a year.

This kind of approach worked quickly for me. I worked out that I had smoked around 40,000 fags over ten years. 

Mary370

Well done, it's not easy but I bet you can already feel the benefits of not having smoked for 13 days.  Can I ask what was it that made you decide to give up?

fidgetbones

20 a day costs around £10 a packet.  Thats £3640 a year going up in smoke.

Put each days money in a jar or separate savings account. Book a nice holiday with the proceeds. 

Or you could buy a top of the range greenhouse and lots of plants to go in the garden.

hogweed

@Mary370. Had been trying in my head for the past year to stop but never actually tried until now. This warm weather has affected my breathing so thought I would give it a go. Has been both easier and harder than I thought!
in the heatwave of 76 I cut off my waist length hair ......

Dovefromabove

Well done!!! 23 years ago I did the same thing and I've not had one since ... I have been tempted from time to time but I know that just one is all it would take for me to be a smoker again 
I found that changing little routines helped ... even sitting in a different chair when I stopped for a coffee, things like that all helped to break the habit. 
I'm so very glad I gave up ... my doctor says I've totally changed my health forecast. I'm fitter and healthier and my old age will be better; I don't smell foul, my home doesn't smell foul and I'm much richer 

My late Pa used to smoke, not heavily but the house was always smokey. He gave up when he developed COPD ... after they both died doctors told us that it was living in a smokey atmosphere that had contributed significantly to the severe macular degeneration that severely affected Ma's sight. Pa would never have forgiven himself if he'd known that. 

So stick to your resolve and plan what you're going to spend all that money on ... have you drawn up a list yet?

Buttercupdays

Then you can breathe more easily now than before you gave up. It will get even better when it cools down. But it's still hot now, do you really want to go back to struggling to breathe? It's forecast to last for another week, if you can make it that far then you won't be far off a month!

Distract yourself with something else nice, a cool bath or shower,  a nice breakfast, a little treat that you didn't buy because it was a bit expensive,  but now you've 'saved' up for it... what could that be?

Go for it, you've done the worst part!