First off, hello and thanks for the invite! Always happy to help some fellow quitters. It’s been over a year for me and I feel almost completely free now of the nicodemon!
Some great websites I’ve found to reduce the quitting combat fatigue:
http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/quit/quit.html – A really helpful and humorous article on smoking cessation. required reading for all quitters! Check out their other topics too (but later).
http://www.quitnet.com/ – this is where I found “the gadget,” which computes your quit stats, something like:
My Stats:
Your Quit Date is: 1/20/2006 2:00:00 PM
Time Smoke-Free: 398 days, 22 hours, 7 minutes and 28 seconds
Cigarettes NOT smoked: 7956
Lifetime Saved: 2 months, 18 hours
Money Saved: $1,591.60
Your stats will be sent to you every day for the first two weeks or so of your quit and every month on your quit anniversary after that. They also send a newsletter that details your progress and offers helpful anecdotes and advice. You can set your “quit date” ahead of time so that they can immediatly start sending you your motivational emails.
http://www.click2quit.co.uk/ – here you can create a personalized ” Quit Calendar”. I used to hang mine on the wall so I could always see it. Offers helpful daily reminders and inspiration.
They also provide a free downloadable “Bad Day Button” that sits on your desktop like a panic button you can push whenever you feel the urge to smoke (don’t worry, no electric shocks involved).
http://quitsmoking.about.com/c/ec/1.htm – Quit Smoking 101, a free ten day e-mail course that lends encouragement and support. also the base address,
http://quitsmoking.about.com, has a ton of helpful links, personal accounts, resources, and articles on quitting.
My advice: You can’t go overboard when it comes to quitting; the more reminders, motivators, and support you have at your disposal the better… with all of the triggers and associations we have with smoking it’s crucial to counter-balance that with as many positive distractions and substitutions as possible. Think of it as your arsenal of wellness. Make the recovery process as much a part of your life now as your smoking used to be and construct an environment that will promote your new, healthy, smoke-free lifestyle. Remember, don’t focus on quitting for forever, focus on just getting through for today. One day at a time is all we can ever do.
I attached a poster that I used to have hanging around. It was a great tool for setting my milestones.
Good luck to you all!
-Tim
