...I can’t keep finding excuses not to quit!

I hate smoking, I hate the smell, the taste, the stigma.

I’m ready, I just need a couple of drama free days! 1 week ago

...and then dramas struck again (to be updated under other goals). I really want to stop before I move house but the stress of various personal issues is just overwhelming me. I know logically that smoking doesn’t really help but the idea of stopping when I’m stressed and upset seems impossible. 2 months ago

I’ve been carrying patches in my bag for weeks but always buy cigarettes before sticking one on :-/

I always seem to find an excuse to put it off, even though I’m really not enjoying smoking and know that stopping will ultimately make me happier and healthier.

Not giving up on giving up though! 2 months ago

and counting. I’m excited to be nearly at 28 weeks so I can mark this goal complete but also I’m going to miss having this place to mark each milestone. 4 months ago

24 weeks completed.
At 28 weeks I will be marking this goal as DONE. 4 months ago

...of 2012 was smoke free. I know that I can do this.

I did give in and buy tobacco on New Years day but I haven’t smoked a ‘real’ cigarette this year.

My plan (goodness knows what number plan I am on now!) is to only have a roll up when I really need one and to keep them very thin so I’m gradually weaning myself. I have patches for when the tobacco is gone.

Ideally I want to be entirely smoke free from Monday (officially the end of the Christmas holidays)! 4 months ago

....with myself.

Stopped smoking completely between 10th November and 5th December.

Then stupidly went out with a group of people including an ex who smokes. I haven’t seen him in a long time and after a couple of glasses of wine I found myself with a cigarette in my hand.

I knew I didn’t want it and it tasted hideous and yet I did it in a stupid act of regression.

Over the past 2 weeks I have smoked sporadically. Mainly triggered by stress or perceived stress. Smoking has not aided in my stress management in the slightest and I haven’t enjoyed a single cigarette I have smoked.

Yet I am going to go outside and have one now. Even though I have a sore throat and I know I won’t enjoy it. Stupid addiction. 5 months ago

of not smoking has nearly covered my return ticket to India. :D 5 months ago

but I’m still smoke free. Fortunately a heap of friends let me know how far I’d come and I was honest in the fact that I said I knew eve if I had one it would probably taste foul.
I also recognised that I was in a slump, I wasn’t feeling happy or good about myself or my life a that moment and it’s like I have an automatic self destruct switch whenever I get like that.
Fortunately I’m also a stubborn madam. 6 months ago

..... But am nearly 5 days smoke free!

Scared to speak to soon but feeling quite proud of myself! 6 months ago

how much money I have saved since giving up. I concluded that it was around the £560 mark :o
That’s crazy….in 16 weeks! No wonder there is now less month than money for a change instead of the old more month than money. 6 months ago

:o 6 months ago

....especially as I’ve agreed to sign up for a half marathon! I can drop onto the floor in a pile of wheezes because of this damned addiction.

I need to buy some bloody patches. Monday. 6 months ago

I’ve been tested too much giving up the smokes but I am still smoke free. As bloody awful as this weekend has been, I didn’t make it worse. 7 months ago

will mark 12 weeks since I quit. 12 weeks! That’s 3 months. :o
Smoking is something I now refer to as a thing I used to do, I don’t catch myself thinking…I’d have usually had a cigarette now, after that, before this, in a minute.
I don’t have to plan when or where I’m going to manage to fit a smoke into my day – before that meeting or could I nip out on a bathroom break and grab one.
Not smoking means my hair smells of shampoo and nice things for much longer, I can now smell the fabric softener on my clothes. My teeth are definitely whiter.
I never smoked in the house but it’s nice now that at my back door there isn’t a wee pot that is full of cigarette ends and the ground doesn’t have a layer of ash.
My purse is definitely heavier.
My small people are proud of me and the fact that I don’t smoke now hopefully means that they are less likely to start. 7 months ago

I’m ashamed that I’ve let a list of seemingly minor issues disrail me today:

1. Woke up late to my ex texting he was on his way over with Jimmers’ football kit. None of us were up, showered or dressed.

2. Scales were 2lb up on yesterday. Decided my so called plan was an epic fail.

3. No overnight text from TMTIL. I text around 17.30 yesterday.

4. It was cold, rainy and miserable.

5. I couldn’t decide what to wear.

6. I knew I has a potentially stressful media meeting at work this afternoon, including my Chief Exec and several journalists.

7. I had the horrible realisation that today marks the 10th anniversary of joining my current employer. I always said I’d never stay more than ten years. I felt a sickening feeling of failure and resignation.

8. I also realised that with an exception of a waitress, I had not spoken to anyone other than my children since I left work on Friday afternoon. I felt lonely, abandoned and isolated.

9. I couldn’t stop myself crying all the way to work.

The outcome of this unremarkable Monday morning? I drove through the grey, rainy, miserable morning to the nearest garage, dragged my tear stained face through the doors and bought 10 Marlborough lights.

I am a big, fat, stinking, skint failure of a woman :( 7 months ago

of being a non-smoker.

At times it’s been no bother at all, at others smoking’s all I can think about…

Sticking with it :-)
x 7 months ago

...is coming!

I’ve signed up!

http://smokefree.nhs.uk/stoptober/ 7 months ago

but I haven’t caved.

Today is 27 days smoke free. Go me.
x 8 months ago

How the hell have I managed to do this with everything that has been going on and is still ongoing in my life just now?
Sheer bloody mindedness, stubbornness, amazing friends and a Wee one who keeps telling me how proud she is of me. 8 months ago

I’m seriously craving a smoke, I could cry. *&&$£^*$£’s!!!! 8 months ago

I need to be true to myself and not let pissed offness with any person or situation lead me to tobacco :( 8 months ago

The all knowing They say it takes 21 days to change a habit; I suspect it takes a little longer to overthrow an addiction but I’m clearly well on the way and totally on the right track.

Interesting side effect of quitting…confidence levels are climbing.

A song for myself:
Joan Armatrading – Love & Affection
x 8 months ago

wanted a fag or 50 today.
Shit day, so of course first response would be to do something to bad to myself.
I didn’t smoke though. Stuffed my face with rubbish instead so I’ll probably always be a great big fat cow but hey my lungs will be clean. 8 months ago

without smoking I’ve pretty much cracked this. 8 months ago

Yes, that’s right, approximately 280 unsmoked cancer sticks, a whole fortnight fag free…go me, go me, GO ME!!

_{Please note, I’m English so don’t anyone go getting pissy about my use of the word fag, ok?!}
x 8 months ago

Yes indeedy; 12 days have gone by and smoke neither gets in my eyes nor in my lungs.
x 8 months ago

I’ve come down with a cold. I’ve been waiting and waiting for some sort of cold/cough/or general lurgy to happen as is often the case when you give up smoking.
Such fun! 8 months ago