Again, in honor of all that I have learned here at the Q and of all the wise words from which my courage has been born, I post the following collage, snippets taken from posts and answers ranging in time from 1999 to the present. There are too many contributors to name, and many are only a fragment of what was said. That fragment was something that caught my eye, something that made me say, “into the library it one goes!” I enjoyed editing these and seeing what I’ve found inspirational along the way. This montage is dedicated to the whole community, the Q, who is here everyday, fighting the good fight, lending a hand, bending an ear, saving a life. The quitnet has given my courage a place to thrive, a home in which to grow into elderhood and finally to move forward with my life.

Enjoy!
your quit sis,
maggie
day 100

ps. posts can only be so long, so I’m going to post this in part in sections... sorry about the inconvenience, but that’s the only way it’ll work...
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How on earth did it happen that some fat guys want to kill me after taking
thousands of my hard earned dollars, and I cry and cuss because I can't give
it to them anymore?
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Two weeks ago today I made a promise to myself that I would respect my body, mind and soul.
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I really enjoy the benefits of being a non-smoker, and by showing myself this bit of respect now, I believe that this will grow and flourish. When you do something positive for yourself only good will happen.
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go take a hot shower and put some comfy clothes on -- treat yourself as if you had the flu for the rest of this evening. Plenty of fluids, quiet activities and get to bed early. this will give you strength to deal with tomorrow.
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don't fall for that garbage mr. nic is trying to feed you -- he's full of it.
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you have dealt the nicodemon a mortal blow & he is NOT indestructible. Prod that wretch & tell me, is he in fact, dead? It certainly appears so.
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I should also pick up some strength to give to my family to replenish theirs after putting up with me for the past 4 weeks. (~.~)
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I think you underestimate yourself and the strength you're capable of. Do it!! Just do it--you can. Take it one minute at a time, then an hour, then two, and so on. Maybe not smoking all day looks too hard, so focus on not smoking for one minute, for five minutes. Then do it again and again. Take lots of baby steps like this and they'll add up to a quit.
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Of course there is no peace in smoking either.
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Resetting meter. (s*it*) but i gotta do it. A dear friend told me once that it is too easy to keep slipping once I started to slip. I believe that. and I also know that i could not live with myself for not being totally honest.
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summon up your courage.
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you're doing well -- don't forget that and tell mr nic he can't have your success. it is yours to keep and to build upon.
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It is not easy to quit...it is the hardest thing I have ever done. You have to sincerely want to quit, and just not give up.
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Try and think of quitting as not denying yourself anything but as gaining a great deal.
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Your message sounds whinier than it probably is. Still -- stop whining. For the benefit of those who have gritted their teeth, taken their aspirin, gnawed their gums, and breathed deep, please don't make it sound like we have been gifted with something you haven't.

How do you go from whining to winning?

1. If you fail, plan another quit. Don't feel like it's the end of the world. Few people really care if you smoke or don't.

2. Stop thinking other people have a secret that you don't. You know how to do it. When everything is psychologically aligned so that you're willing to endure the horrible, horrible discomfort of withdrawal, then you'll be a quitter.
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... Accept the fact that you will never be able to be a smoker like you used to. It will never be the same now that you have been on the other side...
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i've been trying to associate smoking with getting sick and sometimes when i think of a cigarette i almost gag...
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After quitting smoking for 8 years, I had a couple of puffs one night and within a week, I was back up to a pack a day! Now I've been off the cigs for a month, and am a little wiser.
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You are always going to run into tempting situations, and you should develop a plan for how you are going to deal with them after you quit.
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Reality is not relevant when you think like a junkie. A junkie wants to believe the B.S..
I post this warning.....
DO NOT BELIEVE THE LIES OF THE DEMON.
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Once, a nonsmoker commented to me about seeing people packed in a small glass-walled smoking area in an airport and wondering how they could be enjoying themselves. I pointed out that they weren't "enjoying" themselves. They HAVE to smoke. They have no choice in the matter.
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Smoking and Nicotine mask emotions. When you quit and if you start to bitch, whine, laugh uncontrollable, whatever. It is your body and mind adjusting to a drug free way of looking at things. In time, it sorts itself out. You're not crazy, believe me. So keep on laughing till it hurts, it kills the cravings and believe me, no one has ever died from a craving.
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Your quit is probably the best thing that you have ever done for yourself.... believe in you and you will do it.
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Quitting and staying quit are life giving acts. You will discover things about yourself that will make you smile. If you discover things about yourself that make you frown, you can change those too. You can do anything cause you've already quit smoking.
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Keep your eyes on the prize. You can do this. You are worth it.
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These days, I choose "don't smoke" every morning, and I pat myself on the back every night for not smoking. I do look forward to the day when these aren't my first and last thoughts of the day, but I know it takes time. I also know the cravings have gotten much better. The benefits are starting to kick in, too. The bottom line is: There IS life without cigarettes!!
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If you're considering quitting, but don't think you can, think again. It is NOT easy, but it can be done. Hope you'll join us (there are some GREAT people here!)
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I have quit more times then I care to admit. For me, and I emphasize for ME, the times where I forgave myself a smoke or two, then a pack and so forth just never worked for me. It was like I was being held together by elastic, and once that busted I just couldn't keep it together, my attitude relaxed. I admire those who can get right up and stay focused never to slip again. But having only poor track record of my own to go on, I know I can't do it that way anymore.
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There is no roadmap to a quit, it’s different for everyone. You have to be ready for and accept anything. Just don't smoke, you'll get beyond this, just don't smoke!
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This is why we all need each other.... We understand what is happening to each other to a certain degree.... and you are feeling the nic-o-demon close...... So take a Deeeeeeep Sloooow Breath... stay calm and just get through these rough spots, that is all they are. I can promise you that they do lessen and you will get more comfortable as your quit progresses.
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You are fighting for your life.... it is hard work and you will tire at times, and this is when we will hold you and carry you.... Please go and read some profiles..... and stay in chat ..... the people in there are great to get people though the rough moments.......
We do understand and we do care. :-)
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try to look at this as a gift you are giving yourself...rather than a struggle over something that is being taken away. When a craving hits...don't panic...don't let it get carried away and thus become bigger than it is. Take a moment to sit and "be" with it...pay attention to it... you might be feeling a slight tingling, or a tightness in the chest, or an uncomfortable "hunger", but think about it... If you decide it's a great positive thing and welcome each craving as further proof the nicodemon is dying and celebrate the death of that addiction, it will go easier.
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You're proof of success, once you were always bitchin about the quit, now you are so thankful...you've ran the course and now you're riding the jet stream...
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can anyone out there say EMOTIONAL?!? It's like I'm looking for an argument. My poor husband. But I know this game, I've played it so many times b4. He refuses to be my gatekeeper. He tries to discourage me from smoking, but says it's ultimately MY decision. such healthy thinking.
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I guess this would be a good time to explain to us how you picked your sign-on, happycamper. It occurred to me reading this post that you need to think more highly of yourself. You deserve this opportunity to break free from smoking, you deserve to be content, you deserve to be a happy camper. You have dispensed a lot of kindness and caring on this site, how about turning some of it inward on yourself?
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I've figured out that it is possible to pee and drink water at the same time. I never knew there could be a use for this skill. Also, my local water company called and wanted to know if I had recently purchased a swimming pool and was filling it.
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Day 3. I'm like an ornery hillbilly shooting at rats. Them rats bug the hell out of me. But they keep coming back. Keep making me angry. I just keep loading and That's what I call what remains of withdrawal pains. Little irritating nuisances. So each time I get a withdrawal pang, I tighten my eyes and imagine myself slapping that bony, ugly little starving bastard nicotine, batting it down so it dies. It ain't me suffering. It's that demon that I let get inside me.
Remember, my dears, your addiction to nicotine -- if you can separate it -- is NOT you. It's not how you were born. It's a pain in the ass, yapping, pointy clawed chihuhua.
Please kick its annoying little ass, and give it an extra little boot for me.
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I was missing two of my senses--almost completely. Taste and Smell.
I have gained them back, and a world I neglected is blooming before me.
People are more beautiful in many cases, more hideous in others.
Earth has taken up a new aura of beauty for me.
Nature abounds with gifts at every turn. Awesome. Erotic. Stimulating. Delicious. Intoxicating. Life!
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YOU do not WANT a cigarette. You do not NEED a cigarette. No-one needs a cigarette! We need food, we do not need POISON! It is the nicotine monster that NEEDS a fix. Don't give in to him, because he will not be satisfied with one, he'll want MORE, MORE, MORE until he has you chainsmoking...Addictions only get worse NOT better. Feel glad that you hear him CRYING inside...YOU'RE BEATING HIM! He dies if YOU DON"T FEED HIM!
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you're winning, you've got him on the run, he's getting desperate, he's feaking out, but you're not, you know the truth and he hates that. I'm at almost the same stage as you, we'll run the creep out of town together
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If that cigarette were a piece of bread, and you were starving, and were in danger of perishing without it, who dust blame you for eating it?
But none of us are giving up bread.

Your body isn't craving nicotine. It is your mind.

And you are in control of that.
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I like that phrase...the effects of your determination...i just call it stubbornness, but your phrase is much more poetic.
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remember nic is ick
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Perseverance is the key...This addiction is about as subtle as a chainsaw. Just when you think you got it licked and become complacent, OUCH! You've been bit.
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You’re far from crazy, the urges do come on strong at times. Focus on the things that have helped you in the past, even if it means chanting them out loud. I have been telling others that one thing that helped me was to breathe deeply. We forget to breathe when we are smokers, because we rely on that inhaling of that smoke. I used to use straws, swizel sticks, any thing that resembled a cigarette. I would take drags off of the straw just as I would a cigarette. It does get us through the rough times and helps us learn to take deep breaths, only your not inhaling poison, just pure clean air.
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You really don't want to go through the early parts of a quit again. If you give in to these passing urges, you'll just be right back where you were before you quit. Remember what got you to where you are today... The urges will pass.
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My theory is that, like children, periods of the most intense emotional growth are accompanied by the most severe emotional feelings. You are growing through something very difficult, my friend. And once you come out the other side (and believe me, you will) you will experience a self-satisfaction I can only describe as Nirvana. Hang tough. This too shall pass.
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I was having a hard time today, but I just had a new client come in for an appointment and he has emphysema. He had to climb one flight of steps and he could not breathe. He said he had smoked for 45 years. It scared me to watch him trying to breathe and suddenly I thought that quitting may not be as hard as I thought. Coincidence or what?
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I think I have finally accepted that no matter how much I want it, I can't have it. No negotiating, no rationalizing, no rewarding, no relaxing, no escaping, NO CIGARETTES.
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If I had just not lit up again, I would not have to be going through this all over again.
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It gets easier,... just focus on that......
and remember the hardest thing you have already done, now you have to learn how to handle it.
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I am back on track with my quit as of yesterday, and probably my biggest motivator in quitting again was the terrible, terrible desire to get enough strength to quit again. that is an horrific place to be. I pray I don't have to go back to learn those lessons again!
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Last week, stopped at a traffic light, I looked at the driver next to me taking a huge drag--just sucking it way down deep--right to the bottom of her lungs. And I almost jumped out of my car and grabbed it. I saw a movie in my mind of me doing exactly that.

But I didn't do it. And the time before that I didn't give in. And next time I won't give in, either. I won't grab a smoke out of someone's hand in traffic, or on the sidewalk in front of a building, or in a bar, or anywhere. I won't bum one from a friend or a stranger. I won't buy any. I won't sneak a long butt. I will keep on quitting. (I like that phrase--little irony there.)

That's all it takes, I guess.
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Feeling sad or hopeless or worthless or stupid or clumsy or anxious or worried or devastated or bitchy or whatever won't cause me permanent harm. I don't need a smoke to accompany the feeling.
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Welcome the cravings--they are living proof of your decision to turn your life around --let the monster try to do its worse. Every craving passed means that you are much closer to a lifetime of freedom. It's worth it. It's really worth it.
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every time you counter a craving with a choice not to smoke, you retrain your brain to think differently. I remember early in the quitting process when I'd have a couple of days where it seemed like I was fighting urges all day long, they'd be followed by relative periods of calm. It was like my brain had learned a new trick.
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We are indeed in charge of our destiny.
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Once you slip it makes it even harder to get back with the program again that's why it's so important to go to any length not to smoke.
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Take it back. Take back your life. Take back your choice not to smoke. Take back your choice to live.
Find a way to accept those cravings, to recognize them as symbols of recovery.
Take care of yourself. Be good to you and damn the rest of the world.
don't smoke anymore. Not one.
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So you wanna cig...... well I think your addiction wants the cig and as the nic-o-demon calls, beware that HE wants to win.
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Lets think for a moment if you really want that disgusting taste that you will have in your mouth 10min after stubbing out the smoke.... and do you really want to "cook a lung"?.. yuck, I think not...... though it is hard today, maybe tomorrow will be easy, but you need to just make it through each hump, each moment, each tear filled moment that the demon calls......because I am telling you that he wants you.. and he wants you bad.
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How pretty can you look when you put on that sexy dress and drag the "tank" around with you? How many people do you want to offend, no not by the smoke that is in the air, but by that rattling cough that you can't control when you are in a place of quiet... Imagine your chest swollen and your breathing shallow, your lungs black and your heart working so hard that the only energy you will have is enough to go to the bathroom..
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You can do it and you honestly want to do it, so Congratulations on not only wanting to give this beautiful gift to yourself.....but congratulations for being humble enough to ask for help..... that is a HUGE step.
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It's not SO difficult if you go into it realizing that you're not giving up a single positive thing. If you feel like you're missing something good, you've been taking one or more illusions as the truth. Try to figure out what's making you feel deprived, then blast a whole through it with the truth. Every truth you can figure out about the nicotine trap will make it easier to break free.
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WHY is this so difficult?
Cuz it's straight from the Pits of Hell.
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my friend morice says quitting is not for sissys
she is right
first it gets better
then it gets worse
then it gets different
then it gets real
then it gets real different
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(again, why is this so difficult?)
Because those things worthwhile seldom come easy.
Because you wouldn't then get to go around with the smug satisfaction that you've done something more difficult than most non-smokers will ever do. (This is especially satisfying when around those non-smokers who were so self-righteous when you used to be a smoker. You can look 'em dead in the eye and think/say, "I've kicked the butt of a deadly addiction and freed myself from a life of tyranny in the last 23 days; what have you done?")

Because otherwise you wouldn't have a perfectly good excuse to whine for 23 days straight.

Because it's so bad for us and yet we (believed) we liked it so much.

Because you've always harbored a secret desire to kill someone and needed a creative legal defense.

Because with the strength and confidence we acquire in the process of quitting, we realize that we can tackle anything else in our life that needs changing. (Just ask ObLaDi about this one!)

Because that's just the way it is. At the beginning.