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A MESSAGE of Hope and GO POWER for all you Newbies!! From supershe on 11/6/2000 9:33:19 PM I've been kinda scarce in these here parts lately... had a little eye problem. But, I've got some words of wisdom to pass down regarding this quitting business. So listen up. First of all, we are all here doing the same thing, just some of us have been doing it longer. And one of the things that makes the Quitnet work is, that "older" members come back and take the hands of the younger ones and help them along some. So.. thats what I'm here for. But you all need to understand some things. This place is the best place in the world to help you quit this nasty addiction (Get the word addiction down.. because thats what we all are.. We are ADDICTS.. We cannot play around with this. This is serious business.) We even say its magic... because for many years, people who tried to quit, had nowhere to go for the kind of support a person quitting smoking needs. Your friends and family will soon get tired of hearing about "your quit".. They think you just.. put the cigarettes down, don't buy another pack, and thats it.. you are done. Well, no one wishes it were that simple more than we do, eh guys? But.. it isn't so. An addiction is a very difficult thing to beat. But its doable. AND HERE, we are doing it in leaps and bounds, because of the support thats here. But.. you all have got to do your parts. First, you gotta want this quit... and you've got to want it real bad. You have to be able to prioritize the quit,and make it more important than "your Friday night out with the girls or the guys for a few drinks..." for a little while. Not forever. The reason for this is, when you consume alcohol, your resistance goes way down. Problems become magnified, and GUESS WHAT comes up! Lotsa smokin' goes on in bars. And friends don't realize they aren't helping you when they give you that cigarette that you ask for! They are trying to be friends! Best thing they could DO would be to say, "HELL NO.. You quit, remember?" but.. they are smokers.. if they knew how to quit, they'd be doing it themselves. How many smokers do YOU know that don't want to quit. They may not walk around talking about it all the time.. but everyone would LIKE to do it. They are afraid to try. I know. I was one of those for many years. But anyway, back to the matter at hand. Spend as much time as you can here at the Q. Read posts, and for petes sakes, read peoples profiles. Honestly, that is the singlemost thing that helped me I believe. Reading about other people. It was inspirational, and it motivated me to keep on. There are some other "DO"s... Drink lots of water. Flushes the nicotine from your system much more quickly. Drink GALLONS of water, and fluids.Munchies.. Pick your poison, and get a selection of them. Drinking straws, cut to cigarette size, for sucking on, chewing on, are great. And Deep Breathing is good. When you smoke, you automatically take deep breaths to deliver that nicotine to your system! But when you QUIT smoking, almost everyone is breathing much more shallow. Well.. draw in deep... fill your abdomen first and THEN your chest.. count seconds... hold for the same amount of seconds as you inhale, and then exhale for twice the count.. When you have a bad craving, if you will do this DEEP BREATHING TEN TIMES.. without stopping... that should take care of it.. so the process is.. Come to the quit if you aren't already here.. Post "HELP" in the message bag, and then start your deep breaths... when you get done with 10, run to frig and grab a bag of baby carrots, and a sports bottle of water, Come back and check your MESSAGE for posts.. you should have at LEAST TWO by now... See... it works. And then... remember while you are prioritizing, to put yourself way up there at the top of the list, and pamper yourself for this first week or two of HELL week. Treat yourself to as many little treaty things as you can afford, and as you can think of. You are a really GREAT person. You are, for one thing, doing the best damn thing for your health that you will ever do in your LIFE. Now lastly... when you came to the Q, you really got lucky. Here, you just got a whole bunch of new best friends. We are all here to help each other. We're like a GIANT WALL of bricks, together... we hold each other up.. a single brick.. well.. its a brick.. its not a wall. So.. Get yourself one of the mantras.. paste it ALL over everywhere you "live".. read it, believe it, live it.. and no matter what.. remember.. theres only one rule here.. and its simple... if you do this, you have got this addiction beat.... I didn't say it was easy, I said "simple".... just...... don't smoke. No matter what, ... dont smoke. The cigarettes are not gonna attack you and knock you down, jump in your mouth, and light themselves.. and.. you don't HAVE any, so you gotta go out and buy them or bum them... so.. you got this hammered if you just keep your head. Follow the above steps.. the POST, Deep Breaths, Get your Munchies, Check for messages... will keep you quit if you will follow it... You help us to help you, and we are gonna get you through this. I promise you that together we can do this, and I never lie. Trust the Q, and trust your friends here. This is a doable thing, and you are gonna be SO PROUD of yourself when you get there... its just dynamite for your self esteem. Kisses, supershe DAY 130, 5200 not smoked, $714 saved and you can be where I am... and when you get here... it is just SO wonderful... because.. I don't smoke anymore.