so, I quit smoking recently. And, there's this commercial on NPR. It's this lady talking, and she says "my biggest weakness is when I'm driving. That's when I really want a cigarette. So, I keep a picture of my daughter up on the sun visor, to remind me that I lost my mom to lung cancer, and I don't want my daughter to grow up without a mother. It helps me to not smoke".
Me, I'm thinking, if I put a picture of my kid on my sunvisor, not only would I chain smoke 2 packs of cigarettes, but, I'd prolly wind up drinking a whole bottle of whiskey, too.
i guess my point is, is that people use different things to motivate them. What works for some, might not work for others. Feel free to respond with whatever you use for motivation, or, whatever you don't use.
1st of all, I very proud you found the motivation to actually stop smoking ... I need to do the same ... one would think the occasional coughing fits would be motivation enough ... not for me, I need something more, I guess ...
As far as alcohol goes, I was near death ... I could feel my body giving up ... and somehow, some way, my mind would have this overwhelming desire to find another drink ... I was so tired of do'n the same freak'n thing day after day, I finally found the motivation to get help ... my motivation was I didn't want to be sick anymore, I wanted to live ... so for a while after get'n sober, I did a 'playback' of all the dumb things I did while drunk ... that helped me keep in mind where I wanted to be ... sober ...
it's get'n late here so that's all I got for now ...
__________________
'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
First few months will will be very critical for ex-smokers. They should keep themselves away from smoking environment at all cost. Drink Tahitian Noni Juice and thank yourself for taking the big step to quit smoking.
-- Edited by mantishugo on Saturday 14th of November 2015 04:54:10 AM
I think it's just really hard, for people like myself, (and, I'm sure there are others here that feel the same way), people that have been putting their bodies and minds on a chemical/alcohol roller coaster all their life, to just stop every kind of mood- altering substance altogether. I'm not used to being so "level", and, I think my mind interprets it as boredom. My brain just isn't used to not having ups and downs. And, I think that is what makes it hard, no ups and downs. See, even the downs, (like when you haven't had a cigarette in an hour, or a drink in a few hours, and you're going through withdrawl,) are what makes the "up" (when you take the drug), feel so good.
Right now, even though the physical withdraw is over, there is a part of my brain that is trying to convince me to smoke. It's telling me that I'm bored.
Im not gonna fall for it. I'll go find something to do with my hands, to alleviate the boredom.
I had quite a bad time of it after I gave up smoking. About three years of what the doc called clinical depression, I called the spritual malady, manifesting itself as anger. I didn't even relate it to smoking until about four years later when i met another AA who went through the same thing. Ciggies were my way of dealing with anger. When I stopped, the anger came out. It really was like going back to the first step again. In fact I am not sure I was entirely sober while I was still smoking. It may be a coincidence (tongue in cheek!) But the whole thing seemed to fix itself at about the time I became fully involved in AA again, having been away fo a while. When I recommenced working with others my spiritual and emotional balance was restored. That would be my advice, to find another alcoholic to work with and show them how to recover. Life is never boring when I am doing that.
