I keep seeing folks asking WHEN will thus and such symptom of quitting be over. WHEN will I feel better? WHEN will I stop craving a smoke? WHEN will I stop relapsing and get quit for good? When, when, when.....

OK, OK.... I'll let you in on the big secret.... (Gawd! I hope I don't get drummed out of the Lodge for telling!) Get over here! You don't expect me to say this out LOUD do you? Gimme your ear.... this has to be whispered... and don't you DARE tell another soul!!

Tuesday!!!!!!!!! It will ALL happen on Tuesday!

There!

Feel better?

What? You wanna know WHICH Tuesday? (Sheesh do I have to tell you EVERYTHING???)

It will happen the Tuesday AFTER you stop feeling sorry for yourself about stopping smoking!

The minute that you really and truly believe that you have given yourself a GIFT by stopping smoking, AND that you deserve that gift, your quitlife gets better.

NO, the cravings don't go away, but you suddenly can see them as a temporary thing, kind of like gas, that will pass... sometimes with a bit of a stink just to remind you that it really is a process of elimination of the toxic thoughts of an addict. You may experience a twinge of a craving for decades.. so what? It is a FEELING... you don't have to ACT on it! (You don't act on every feeling that you'd like to strangle that so-and-so who cut you off in traffic do you?)

MUCH of how we experience our individual quit is a matter of our ATTITUDE!

How are you approaching your new day? Yes, it is YOUR day! Are you looking at it in a hopeful, positive light? Or are you grumbling and bemoaning the fact that it is another day of fighting the punishment of quitting? If your day is one of a negative attitude, a day of grumbling and grousing about what is happening as if you are a victim of your life, you can stop the negativity and begin your day over.. go ahead... do it. You can as easily choose to see the light as the dark. You can choose to see the small discomforts as growing pains or death throes. You can whine and moan about your martyrdom, or celebrate your freedom.