GUS (Gave Up Smoking) is a community support diary for Kossacks in the midst of quitting smoking. Any supportive comments, suggestions or positive distractions are appreciated. If you are quitting or even just thinking of quitting, please join us! We kindly ask that politics be left outside.
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A message to ALL quitters (and would-be quitters): You don't have to avoid GUS if you have a failed quit. We won't give you a bad time or nag you. We consider the failed quits as "practice" for the real quit.
I spent the other night visiting with relatives at the lakeside camp they rent for their annual visit to Maine. As always, it was great to catch up with them, since most live far enough away that we don't see each other very often, sometimes as little as once a year. We gathered around the fire as it grew darker, sipped our beverages, and nibbled on leftover lobster and other less fancy-pants fare. We reminisced, joked, gently teased each other, and talked about all kinds of things. It was nice and familiar in the way that family gatherings can be, even after long times apart.
Somehow, we landed on the topic of smoking---or, more specifically, quitting smoking, since everyone there who had ever smoked had managed to quit. Yay for us! We laughed and commiserated with each other as we talked about the random ways we'd pulled it off, and the things we'd gone through to make it happen: crazy Chantix dreams and a Christmas Eve quit, the patch, a couple of scary health episodes that inspired a spur-of-the-moment quit, switching break rooms at work from smoking to nonsmoking, my own good old, bad old Cold Turkey...not one of us had used the same method as the others.
We also discovered that most of us had put our own personal spin on the process: my cousin's unfinished Chantix prescription; the patch supplemented with flavored Tootsie rolls eaten in such quantities that my Aunt can't even look at them anymore; another cousin taking up a jewelry making hobby to keep her hands busy while she faced quitting and cancer treatments at the same time; the weird little Altoid mint ritual I worked out so I wouldn't miss my old lighting up routine (not to mention going to Plans B, C, & D because none of the NRTs would work for me)...we'd all had to tweak the process a bit to make it work for us. Sometimes---okay, usually---more than once, in fact.
I wondered out loud if that's what it took to make a quit finally "stick": not being afraid to try something new and different in the method or approach isn't working for you "as is." The ability to think outside the box a bit, to not accept a stumble as a permanent failure of the quitting process. A willingness to consider alternatives, think of different approaches, try something completely unexpected to shake up old patterns of behavior or thinking.
That reasoning applies to other situations too, of course. If something else in your life is unsatisfying---your diet or fitness routines (or lack thereof), routines or ruts at home and work, the way you spend your time or interact with others---don't be afraid to consider changing them, or adding something unexpected (new hobby? new volunteer opportunity? new activities?) to the mix. They don't have to be big, scary alterations, either...even a small change of pace can pay off in big ways.
Routines are comforting, but they can also drag you down if you're not careful to examine them every so often and see if they're still working for you. If not---well, maybe it's time to think outside the box, and see if there isn't something different you might try. What have you got to lose?
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Who's Your Little Buddy?
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