directions
Monday, October 22, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
previous quits, miscellaneous thoughts on quitting
Well, its been 81 days since I smoked my last cigarette. November 1st will be 3 months. This is my longest quit ever! Evan hasn't smoked in... 95 days.... over three months! We rock!
I'd be lying if I said I never thought about it... but the cravings to smoke do get further apart. They are about 10 days apart now.... or happen sometimes during stressful situations more frequently... as a sidenote I really think knitting made it easier to quit. Having something to do with my hands has been a really important part of being able to not smoke!
I saw this neat little survey on quitnet, the website that i have gotten so much support and resources from. I think that filling out my previous quits will help me understand how this is a process and that it doesn't matter if I want to smoke as long as I don't give in this time or ever!
WHEN DID YOU START SMOKING 14
WHY i actually remember wanting to smoke and wanting to enjoy it, even though i didn't like the taste, i thought it was cool/arty/adult
WHEN DID YOU QUIT 15
WHY DID YOU QUIT no/limited access to smokes
WHEN DID YOU START 15
WHY i wanted to be rebellious, yes seriously, arty and grown up seeming, i also had more access to cigarettes, then at 16 i had my first job and could buy them myself from a gas station where the cashier "understood" because they were young too...ha!...at 16 i started smoking a pack a day and continued until i was 23
WHEN DID YOU QUIT 23
WHY DID YOU QUIT my first serious attempt was when i was 23 and lived in eastern washington. i wanted to quit because by then i realized smoking was stupid and would kill me eventually. This first quit was cold turkey and I went 36 days.
WHEN DID YOU START 23
WHY i made up some stupid reason i can't remember anymore. i rationalized blowing my quit. i told myself that i wanted to live my life how i wanted and i wanted to smoke so i was going to smoke. this is/was so stupid. now i feel stupid i wasnt smart enough to see this as just more "junkie thinking"
WHEN DID YOU QUIT 24.. just over a whole year later
WHY DID YOU QUIT i wanted to be healthy... i had fallen in love with Evan by then and he wanted to quit more than i did, but i wanted to try for him. I went ten days this quit.... this was when i was really active in my old peace and justice circles and ALL MY FRIENDS along with pretty much everyone i knew smoked and smoked. It was so hard to try and quit...then.......
WHEN DID YOU START 24 ...
WHY...on my 10th day of not smoking the US military started shipping Stryker vehicles to Iraq through our port and I was at a protest with my friends and EVERYONE was smoking. I couldn't stand it and bummed one from a friend. I was up to a pack a day again within three days. Really though, I COULD HAVE NOT SMOKED but I MADE A CHOICE TO START AGAIN
WHEN DID YOU QUIT age 25... About 8 months later I quit again with Evan, for the New Year. We both lasted a week.
WHY DID YOU QUIT... in the fall of 06 i had gotten pneumonia and ended up in the ER having lung treatments and antibiotics. I asked the doctor outright if he could tell that I smoked. He told me that he couldn't and that I should stop smoking while I still might be able to get away with my health.
WHEN DID YOU START 25...
WHY I was weak and just didn't want to fight. It was really miserable. I was stressed out, this was before we graduated college. We both wanted to smoke really badly and talked each other into it. In addition our friends had bets on how long we would go. Even though this mockery pissed us off, we still smoked!
WHEN DID YOU QUIT 25... I quit in May 2007 for one week.
WHY DID YOU QUIT.... I wanted to quit for my health, but still wasn't really ready to give up the cigarettes. I just couldn't stand not having them. The thought of not smoking made me panic.
WHEN DID YOU START...25
WHY... like i said I just wasnt ready to quit, lacked the resolve...I was weak, stressed, and used my stress as an excuse to smoke.
WHEN DID YOU QUIT....at 25 again, I quit August 1st, 2007, just less than a month before my 26th birthday.
WHY DID YOU QUIT.... When I started this quit, it was for Evan. He was already two weeks ahead of me and I didn't want to make him start again. But I was also starting to resent smoking as a personal weakness. I wanted to beat the habit, but I also wanted and want to live to be relatively old! This is a new development I guess. I never really thought about the fact that I will get OLD someday until the last year or so, and I would like to be healthy and to be around for as long as possible if possible!
WHY IS THIS TIME DIFFERENT: I have a lot more knowledge about how nicotine addiction works... I understand that if I smoked "just one" I would be back up to a pack a day within days. I understand that SMOKING causes the craving for more smoking. It is a never ending cycle. If I were to smoke it wouldn't make me feel better, or give me peace, or even that imaginary "ahhh" feeling. I understand that if I smoked I would just feel stupid, weak and like a failure. I am never going to smoke again! Smoking will not make me more creative, a better writer or artist, a deeper thinker, will not make me look more creative or unique! It would just make me look like I don't want to live very long! I also have to say that this quit was different.... it was easier in a lot of ways. The first few weeks flew by. I really didn't have the urge to smoke as strongly as I had in previous quits.
Evan says he will fill this out too, so I will post his responses later.
I'd be lying if I said I never thought about it... but the cravings to smoke do get further apart. They are about 10 days apart now.... or happen sometimes during stressful situations more frequently... as a sidenote I really think knitting made it easier to quit. Having something to do with my hands has been a really important part of being able to not smoke!
I saw this neat little survey on quitnet, the website that i have gotten so much support and resources from. I think that filling out my previous quits will help me understand how this is a process and that it doesn't matter if I want to smoke as long as I don't give in this time or ever!
WHEN DID YOU START SMOKING 14
WHY i actually remember wanting to smoke and wanting to enjoy it, even though i didn't like the taste, i thought it was cool/arty/adult
WHEN DID YOU QUIT 15
WHY DID YOU QUIT no/limited access to smokes
WHEN DID YOU START 15
WHY i wanted to be rebellious, yes seriously, arty and grown up seeming, i also had more access to cigarettes, then at 16 i had my first job and could buy them myself from a gas station where the cashier "understood" because they were young too...ha!...at 16 i started smoking a pack a day and continued until i was 23
WHEN DID YOU QUIT 23
WHY DID YOU QUIT my first serious attempt was when i was 23 and lived in eastern washington. i wanted to quit because by then i realized smoking was stupid and would kill me eventually. This first quit was cold turkey and I went 36 days.
WHEN DID YOU START 23
WHY i made up some stupid reason i can't remember anymore. i rationalized blowing my quit. i told myself that i wanted to live my life how i wanted and i wanted to smoke so i was going to smoke. this is/was so stupid. now i feel stupid i wasnt smart enough to see this as just more "junkie thinking"
WHEN DID YOU QUIT 24.. just over a whole year later
WHY DID YOU QUIT i wanted to be healthy... i had fallen in love with Evan by then and he wanted to quit more than i did, but i wanted to try for him. I went ten days this quit.... this was when i was really active in my old peace and justice circles and ALL MY FRIENDS along with pretty much everyone i knew smoked and smoked. It was so hard to try and quit...then.......
WHEN DID YOU START 24 ...
WHY...on my 10th day of not smoking the US military started shipping Stryker vehicles to Iraq through our port and I was at a protest with my friends and EVERYONE was smoking. I couldn't stand it and bummed one from a friend. I was up to a pack a day again within three days. Really though, I COULD HAVE NOT SMOKED but I MADE A CHOICE TO START AGAIN
WHEN DID YOU QUIT age 25... About 8 months later I quit again with Evan, for the New Year. We both lasted a week.
WHY DID YOU QUIT... in the fall of 06 i had gotten pneumonia and ended up in the ER having lung treatments and antibiotics. I asked the doctor outright if he could tell that I smoked. He told me that he couldn't and that I should stop smoking while I still might be able to get away with my health.
WHEN DID YOU START 25...
WHY I was weak and just didn't want to fight. It was really miserable. I was stressed out, this was before we graduated college. We both wanted to smoke really badly and talked each other into it. In addition our friends had bets on how long we would go. Even though this mockery pissed us off, we still smoked!
WHEN DID YOU QUIT 25... I quit in May 2007 for one week.
WHY DID YOU QUIT.... I wanted to quit for my health, but still wasn't really ready to give up the cigarettes. I just couldn't stand not having them. The thought of not smoking made me panic.
WHEN DID YOU START...25
WHY... like i said I just wasnt ready to quit, lacked the resolve...I was weak, stressed, and used my stress as an excuse to smoke.
WHEN DID YOU QUIT....at 25 again, I quit August 1st, 2007, just less than a month before my 26th birthday.
WHY DID YOU QUIT.... When I started this quit, it was for Evan. He was already two weeks ahead of me and I didn't want to make him start again. But I was also starting to resent smoking as a personal weakness. I wanted to beat the habit, but I also wanted and want to live to be relatively old! This is a new development I guess. I never really thought about the fact that I will get OLD someday until the last year or so, and I would like to be healthy and to be around for as long as possible if possible!
WHY IS THIS TIME DIFFERENT: I have a lot more knowledge about how nicotine addiction works... I understand that if I smoked "just one" I would be back up to a pack a day within days. I understand that SMOKING causes the craving for more smoking. It is a never ending cycle. If I were to smoke it wouldn't make me feel better, or give me peace, or even that imaginary "ahhh" feeling. I understand that if I smoked I would just feel stupid, weak and like a failure. I am never going to smoke again! Smoking will not make me more creative, a better writer or artist, a deeper thinker, will not make me look more creative or unique! It would just make me look like I don't want to live very long! I also have to say that this quit was different.... it was easier in a lot of ways. The first few weeks flew by. I really didn't have the urge to smoke as strongly as I had in previous quits.
Evan says he will fill this out too, so I will post his responses later.
10-13-07.....Copper Creek Trail #876 Staircase area, Olympia Natl Forest
The last hike Evan and I went on was Copper Creek Trail #876. We went last weekend. There aren't any pictures because we loaned the camera to my brother, who had gone to Upper Lena with a friend for the weekend. His hike trumped ours, so we gave him the camera! Copper Creek is a very difficult trail. To get there, drive North on 101 from Olympia, make a left at the turn off to Staircase (I think the road is 119). Drive all the way over to Staircase and park. When you hike in go toward the Shady Lane Trail. Cross out of the National park into national forest. Follow the trail out to a service road (maybe a mile in) and go left down that road for maybe 1000 feet. On the right you will see the sign.
The hike is about 3.0 to the ridge loop. Half way up the trail it turns into a pretty much vertical climb. If you are going to try this, I'd take LOTS of water and have really good shoes. I might even recommend some of those hiking sticks for the way down.
Bonuses: the first 1/4 of the trail is next to a stream that cascades into a waterfall at certain points. Very, very beautiful!
The hike is about 3.0 to the ridge loop. Half way up the trail it turns into a pretty much vertical climb. If you are going to try this, I'd take LOTS of water and have really good shoes. I might even recommend some of those hiking sticks for the way down.
Bonuses: the first 1/4 of the trail is next to a stream that cascades into a waterfall at certain points. Very, very beautiful!
Saturday, October 6, 2007
10/6/07 Port Angeles, Hurricane Ridge
we went & saw tyler, and then played around a bit.
they hiked, i took pictures and knit. it was foggywonderful.
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