Today started out so promising. I woke up feeling the best I’ve felt in a very long time.
I physically felt fantastic, my breathing was superb, there were no withdrawal symptoms, and I couldn’t wait to get my day going because I had so many things planned.
The biggest thing I had planned was going to the gym after a very long hiatus.
In all honesty, before today, I hadn’t gone to the gym all year long.
You see, when I was a smoker, all I wanted to do was smoke and be lazy, and watch TV all night, or sit in front of my computer.
There was no activity in my life.
There were no runs in the park, lifting weights, going to the gym, or anything of that nature.
As a smoker, I was too concentrated on scenarios in which I could smoke freely.
It’s partly a mindset issue.
When I was a smoker, I felt lazy. I didn’t have any mental energy to want to go do anything.
I felt I didn’t belong at the gym. I felt that if I did go, I would just leave right away (or soon after) because I wanted a cigarette. That’s how bad it was.
I told them I couldn’t, because I’ll convince myself not to go when the time was right.
And even if I did go, I’d leave right away, or be lazy and not do very much while I was there. It was rather pointless.
As soon as I started going again and stepped inside the doors, I knew I was at home.
The gym has always been my 2nd home (when I did go).
I missed that feeling, and it was so refreshing to feel that again.
I totally recommend the gym to anyone.
I ran for 15 minutes on the treadmill, which was nice because I LOVE running! I love just zoning out and thinking about life.
But here is where it gets tricky.
After the 15 minutes were over, I got a little wheezy. I went downstairs to stretch out, and do some other exercises, and the wheezing continued.
It became so bad, I left after 45 minutes, which isn’t bad for a first workout, but that’s beside the point.
By the time I got home, my stomach was distended again (just like last week), and I could barely breathe.
I’ve pretty much concluded that I have asthma, because I did some research, and the symptoms are the same.
It had gone away the last couple of days (but not entirely), but now it’s back 100%, and possibly worse than before.
I went and tried to go buy an asthma inhaler from the store, and the clerk said that they are no longer on the market, and that you need a prescription to get one.
That is so absurd!
How am I supposed to get better and breathe? It’s 11:30 at night, what am I supposed to do? Go to the emergency room?
It makes me very angry.
Here I am sitting here miserable, and I can’t do anything about it, and it’s all because of smoking. You know how much that upsets me?
I could kill cigarettes.
They have destroyed my life, and I will NEVER smoke a cigarette ever again.
All that coughing really hurts!
As far as withdrawal goes, there is none. I had some moments earlier in the day when I was feeling great, but ever since the gym, I’ve had none.
That’s because I can’t breathe, so I can’t crave cigarettes at the same time, as my body is too concentrated on coughing out my lungs right now.
I almost wish I DID feel withdrawal, because that means I wouldn’t be feeling this horrid asthma attack and not being able to breathe.
It’s the worst feeling in the world.
Hopefully I can get some sleep tonight, because I have a big work day tomorrow, and I need all the rest I can get.
Didn’t think about smoking much today other than how grateful I am not hanging out the back window every 20 minutes blowing smoke into my neighbors house♀️ Cilia still working overtime and expelling all kinds of junk from my lungs. Realized how deep of a breathe I could take today. My loud phlegmy smokers hack is completely gone. I was always so embarrassed of that cough, it was loud and bothered people. I’m so glad I quit. I feel powerful
Day 18!
One can direct attention to whatever we train our minds to..
Sure, it’s easy to place our attention to what we want and don’t have such as cigarettes; however, if one starts to train our minds to those areas that we are blessed with, things get much better.
Even though I’m struggling with sadness and lung pain, I choose to put my attention on the great workout I had today for the first time, my skin is glowing, and I’ve been sleeping better. It took 11 years of smoking to hurt my body, and it will take some time for it to heal. I’m going to be patient and love my healing process as challenging as it may feel at times.
You can do this, you will feel, look, and live much much better!
Think of your inner child or look at pictures of you as a little kid; you are still that child who deserves love and health.
Today is day 18 for me as well. I’m using nicorette inhalators and have replaced coffee with iced water as coffee was my smoking trigger. It hasn’t been too bad at all and I’ve smoked for 45 years but the inhalators make it a lot easier than going cols turkey. I really didn’t want to give up smoking, I’d never had any health issues and I work in a call centre so relied on cigarettes to deal with the stress of the job. I actually gave up for three years previously using inhalators but then right at the start of the pandemic I developed a terrible cough and I couldn’t stay on the phone lines, had to keep coming off calls to cough at this point we weren’t testing for covid in the UK but my colleague and I were really ill. Cigarettes had always broken up coughs for me so I bought a pkt of 20. Instant relief and my lungs cleared like magic. Later that day we were evacuated from the centre due to a positive case. Couldn’t get thru to the helpline to book a test and over the next few days I smoked everytime my chest tightened up. It worked for me but I was terrified of the cough coming back so I continued to smoke. Then the cost of living in the UK shot up to unbelievably high levels. Something had to go and it had to be cigarettes. I did use 4 inhalators a day for the first two weeks but this week I’m down to 3. Today isn’t too bad but day 16 and 17 were horrible. I haven’t actually wanted a cigarette as I have the inhalators and the extra buzz from the iced water but I was unbelievably stressed for those two days owing to new roadworks outside my house and having to park my car a long way from my house where I couldn’t check it was safe. I haven’t had any appetite at all since giving up and have had to remind myself to eat but like Others I experienced the horrible bloating feeling in my stomach which I assume is down to fluid retention and I’m assuming will go. I didn’t get this last time I gave up but giving up was definitely harder last time I think maybe because I didn’t use enough inhalators so I had a lot of cravings for cigarettes. I’m in the UK not sure if most of you commenting are in the US and if you can get inhalators over there but if you can they’re definitely the best thing for those who don’t really want to quit but have to do so.
Thank you so much for posting this blog. It really is the most helpful thing I’ve come across online and I really appreciate you taking the time to help people like me
Today day 18 was bad for me… Had to go back to typical work situations and was triggered Ever 10 minutes. But it is so much better feeling my head is above my body. What I mean is day 1 to 4 or 5 was total crazy headfuck. After that it really is kind over matter. Does anyone agree?
Today has got to be the hardest freaking day so far!! I’m sitting at work craving and I mean strongest craving this entire 18 period!! I’m close to tears that’s how strong it is. What the heck? How does this nicotine “monster” creep up on me? I have been doing so well! Hardly craving and full of energy and such and today boom I feel like my old smoker self the cravings the no energy . Oh boy! This is hard!!! Pray I get through please
1 minute until Day 18 over! Not craving much anymore, just once or twice a day get a bit of an urge but totally ridable wave. Unsettled nights though, sleeping a fair bit but waking a few times and waking up too early and dreaming a lot and a bit about smoking which is really weird as I feel guilty about it when I wake up even though I haven’t had one. Had very bloated tummy from Day 12 to Day 17 but ate pretty much purely porridge and avocados and loads of probiotics and it decreased and now virtually gone. I gave up for 6 years when I was pregnant but when my son was 5 I started going out again a bit and having a smoke off a friend and after months/years of slippery slope I became a full time smoker again 2 years ago. I won’t let that happen again – I totally loved being a non-smoker for 6 years – gonna get back there and stay there this time. Smoked for 20 years first time round so really ready to leave it behind for good now. Keep going everyone the end is in sight!
Day 18 for me.
And this is the most fatigued I’ve ever felt before.
I just took a nap and woke up feeling super sleepy. Is this normal?
I’m pushing through knowing that God is with me, but oh boy this isn’t fun.
I’m forever done with this BS. I will stay free from all this.
Day 18 nicotine free…I was a light smoker for years and only smoke 1 or 2 cigarettes a night…..I do crave at night cause it calm me down…I can’t go back to smoking cause I told my family I quit….help
I’m with ya on day 18 today… The hardest part is over!! Here’s what helps me… “Any dubious relief that a cigarette would offer will begin to expire the second I put it out, leaving me with nothing to show except for a reawakened chemical addiction.”
It’s entries like this one that make me ask- how the F*CK are cigarettes even legal anymore? Dangerous, destructive and disgusting. But if you’re old enough, you can walk into a store, pay $15(yikes) and damage yourself. Insanity at it’s finest. This was also a sad entry for me to read. Being someone who has turned to working out instead of the “death stick”, I can imagine being psyched about the experience of a workout only to be hindered by my body’s recovery. But remember that- it’s a recovery and it can be a hell of a climb. But it’s beyond worth it. Literally recouping years of your life. If you’re going through this trench of the quit process, I want you to focus on the power you used to give nicotine. Think about how even after you’ve freed yourself of it’s grip, it can still pop it’s ugly ass head in and say “remember me”? Get angry, and respond “yes, and I want absolutely nothing to do with you ever again”. Regain control. There’s endless power in that.
I started smoking on April 7th 1991 on my way to Korea for duty. I have quit 2 times for a year, once in 2007, and 2017. This particular quit has been hard due to Nausea in the morning. I am not sure if it is because I chewed Nicotine gum off and on for 6 years but it passes by mid morning. I use a lot of hard candy and workout at the gym even after my physical job. I do not have any coughing, wheezing or shortness of breath. I ran for most of my smoking years due to the demands of being physically fit for the military. According to an App, it says it is inevitable that I will get COPD but I have no symptoms. Do these symptoms come later? I will not ever smoke again, I just don’t have a need for it anymore. All your days in your blog are very inspiring. I am proud to be free from the poisoning chemicals designed for slow death for maximizing profits for Tabacco companies and Tax revenues for State and Federal Governments.
I’ll probably invest my Tabacco money in retirement. I estimate around 4k dollars a year in smoking. That’s 60k dollars I can put into Roth IRA. With Growth, looking around 150k extra dollar to have in retirement of which I thought or maybe not see if I continued to smoke. I hope you all find peace and fight this addiction for all the right reasons, Family, Wealth, Health. God bless and good luck!
Kyle
Im on day 18. I quit cold turkey.
I didnt want to be that guy who smokes.
Out of shape. Out of breath
Swam 15 laps today and for the first time in 18 months got on my road bike
Im 54 and ive smoked enough. I can get a little scary, irritable wise, but no desire to smoke It feels really good
Still getting headaches though
Hi, also thru 18th day, 1st week hard, no cravings, can walk by the smoke shop without wanting to go in. Saw a whole unsmoked ciggerette on the ground while going to the bank and didn’t pick it up. I am bloated, swollen stomach, coughing struggling breathing, out of breath after grocery shopping, walking a few blocks, climbing a few flights of stairs. Concerned about all that 65 years old. 66 on may 30th not ready to give up yet.
I left smoking in 2017 and followed the discipline for 6 months and then I restarted it. Today is my 18th day of quitting it again. my advice to all remain on alert alert for next 3 years because according to my doctor there are lots of chances to restart smoking in first 3 years of quitting.i restarted smoking by convincing my self that what will a single puff do when i have left it 6 months back? this single puff forced me to revert to smoking.
wow today is also my day 18 quit but for me it has been an awful day as my withdrawals are pretty bad. I don’t necessarily feel like smoking I just feel awful … tense and not able to concentrate… bad day! But I get through cause smoking is not an option today.
Made it through day 18, quit cold turkey after smoking for 47 years- I am 63. Determined. Yes, sometimes the cravings are unbearable, but I really don’t want to spend my final days gasping for air like a fish out of water. Plus, I am active and want to keep hiking/ camping/ biking for many years. Good luck to all!
I am on day 18 today and it really has been unbearable… not sure why but it has been a very difficult day. I am 61 and I have been smoking for 36 years…I feel like you I don’t want to live gasping for air like a fish out of water… not funny haha… funny ludicrous. At any rate it was good to see your post… hope you are now celebrating many months with out smoking!
I am on day 18 and no longer crave the smokes. But I do think about smoking. When I have thoughts I just think now much money I have not had to scrounge together to buy them. I would spend $300.00 a.month on cigarettes, as much as my monthly payment on my new Equinox. Smoking is not an option for me either. I have come too far to go back.
My 18th day. I found I didn’t think about smoking as much today. Realising that smoking, or should I say my mind saying I want to smoke is a lie, has flicked a switch in my head. It’s as though the ‘I don’t want to smoke’ decision has synced with ‘I don’t need to smoke because it’s a lie. Does this make sense?
Today is day 18 nicotine free for me! I am SO PROUD of myself (and all of you!) to have come so far. I will never go back. I don’t miss it now anymore. I don’t feel that I will be missing out on something fun by not smoking. Instead, I feel sorry for others who still have that addiction and think they need it to have fun and live their life. I understand how they feel, but I don’t feel it, and I know it’s possible to be free of it and feel like you can fly. I wish that for others. It just feels empowering to not need it anymore. I wont let ANYone derail me now. No friends will tempt me or convince me that its better to smoke. I won’t let myself feel “other than,” around them so I feel like an outcast and I want to fit in and smoke like them. I will be my true authentic self and that self is no longer interested in slowly killing itself with smoke.
keep going everyone!
Day 18, woke up thinking about smoking, so I come to this forum and it makes me feel much better. I have been riding the exercise bike every morning when I think about cigarettes. I have gone to de-caf coffee because I get bad anxiety. I cannot lose weight, I have been snacking on Everything I can get my hands on. About to try this THRIVE stuff.
day 18 !!!!!!!!!!!! I feel AMAZING , I cant believe I made it this Far, but with Lord God ANYTHING is POSSIBLE !!!!!!!!!! #smokefreeLIFE #ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!
Day 18 of not smoking, 2 to 3 packs a day. Also on a fruit and veg 100 day fast. Feeling great!
that’s AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s great, I like the idea of being on the diet for 100 days
I recommend you do something revolutionary when you quite smoking like running everyday or fruit and vegetables diet for 100 days or 1000 push ups a day and so on and it works
I jogg and run between 10km to 20km each and every day and it’s working really well for me, very little craving little irritation and little restlessness
God bless
Today is my 18th day other than some negative energy I feel okay, which causes me to think about a smoke. I get sinus pain, not sure if it’s from not smoking or caffeine withdrawal, too. I am using decaf as I was too grumpy to quit both at the same time.
Today is day 18. I feel fantastic. I started to take the gym seriously. I feel just great. Smoking deprives you of life.
Today is day 18 free of nicotine! I’m starting to get back some energy, and cravings are getting easier each day to handle. One day at a time!