Like a newborn baby, or a 12-step practicioner, we celebrate the months which precede the anticipated one-year anniversary.
So to GUS, a happy 11 months!
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 thinking of quitting, please -- join us! We kindly ask that politics be set aside.
You can also click the GUS tag to view all diary posts, or access the GUS Library at dKosopedia for a great list of stop-smoking links. Check it out!
Along with GUS, another certain flumptytail'd individual and I are celebrating 11 months off the smog today.
I am 44 years old, and had been a regular smoker for nearly 30 of those years. The last 15 of those years, I have tried to quit about a dozen times (1 quit attempt=at least 3 days), by using a few different methods. This last one seems to have taken hold. Crazed as it was from the onset... about eight or so Kossacks on a thread who said "let's throw a party! start a quit smoking support group!", and gave ourselves about five day's notice prior to last year's June 15th quit.
Five days isn't a lot of time for someone who needs to get his head around pretty much a new way of living, of going about life and learning anew how to breathe again. And retrain myself to think of smoking as (again) an unnatural activity. Eventually, I find that feeling natural in my own non-smoking skin comes about mostly from spending some time encountering life's usual knocks (i.e. working through triggering situations) while avoiding the reach for a cigarette.
We keep it nonpolitical at GUS, but one fact that no one need fear mentioning around GUS is that ... well, if I'm a big tobacco lobbyist, then my best money option is to do business with a Republican. Though it appears that the gap narrowed between the two parties over the past few years, of highly encouraging note is that all contributions to big tobacco have continued to drop over a 16-year period, from over $10 million in 1996, to just over $4 million in 2008.
I found it really easy to associate my smoking habit as a tag team enemy from hell: the political party who I have pretty much hated since Tricky Dick shook my 7-year old hand in 1972 (FSM help me), and a black-shrouded big tobacco CEO who views human life as nothing more than an ongoing series of numbers to be crushed.
It is because of being able to post these silly videos, along with the connections I've made here, that I find my involvement with GUS to be a labor of love, transferring my compulsive tendencies away from a cigarette and towards creative blogging with others on how to encourage one another to better kick the ass of this deadly habit.
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Today being 11 months, the big one year anniversary is just around the corner. A few of us have been floating ideas back and forth about how to go about celebrating that day, which is Tuesday, June 15, for all you calendar markers.
Useful ideas and creativity abound in GUS. Taken in part from a comment by Vacationland:
We've done the Demon Diaries (and we should certainly link to those) but maybe this time we could explore the quit from different perspectives?
*People at different stages of the quit (long-term, one-year, new quitter, someone who is still struggling)?
*Maybe do a prime-time "group diary" -- like a roundtable -- written and hosted by a few people, though posted by just one?
*People who never smoked but whose lives were or are impacted by nicotine addiction? People who have lost a loved one to smoking, or worry about that issue?
*People who have had other substance addictions or concurrent mental health issues like depression that impact our ability to quit.
Whether you are an experienced or a would-be diarist, I invite you to consider any of the above suggestions, and add your input in the comments below.
The round table can be formatted with specific topics centered around smoking. Or like the old Ask A Kossack series, it can be a Q & A snarkfest. Thoughts?
Vacationland also mentions a fun idea called Quitter's Bingo. Right now, the blueprints are in rough draft stage, but more info will follow, as this particular idea gets constructed (or deconstructed, if you follow the thread further down).
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Are there any Kossacks out there who are looking for a good excuse to quit smoking? The GUS 1-year bash on June 15 is a month away, it's going to be a big celebration, and it just may be the booster that you need to get off the smog!
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Current members of the GUS team!
1BQ, 3rdGenFeminist, Abra Crabcakeya, addisnana, AfroPonix, aishmael, Alpha99, ambeeeant, American in Kathmandu, amk for obama, andsarahtoo, Anne933, anodnhajo, aoeu, aquarius2001, arcadesproject, Archie2227, Arthur Wolf (in memoriam), assyrian64, awkawk, b4uknowit, bamablue, BARAKABETH, barnowl, bdizz, beatpanda, BFSkinner, bgblcklab1, Bike Crash, BirderWitch, bleeding heart, blingbling65, blue husky, Blue Intrigue, bluestatedem84, BoiseBlue, Brahman Colorado, breedlovinit, BrenP, BrowniesAreGood, bsmechanic, burrow owl, CathodeRay, cee4, Cen Den, ChocolateChris, ChurchofBruce, Cleante, Colorado is the Shiznit, coloradomomma, Common Sense Mainer, coppercelt, dadanation, dangoch, Dauphin, demkat620, Dexter, DiegoUK, Dingodude, distraught, dolfin66, donnamarie, Donna O, DRo, droogie6655321, duckhunter, EdgedInBlue, effervescent, El barragas, ericlewis0, Everest42, Ex Con, fhamme, Fineena, fiona2, fishhawk, Flea, FlipperWaves, flumptytail, FrugalGranny, Garrett, Gator, gchaucer2, Geiiga, Georgianna Darcy, GN1927, gooderservice, gooners, gravlax, greylox, grndrush, GrumpyWarriorPoet, Haole in Hawaii, HeyMikey, hideinplainsight, High Tide, hiliner68, hulibow, I love OCD, Im a frayed knot, imisa, Indexer, indyada, Interceptor7, inventor, itsbenj, Jahiz, JamesEB, janl1776, jbou, Jeffersonian Democrat, jmadlc55, Joe's Steven aka Steven, john07801, johngoes, jsfox, JVolvo's Mom, jwinIL14, Jyrinx, kai99, kailuacaton, Kelly of PA, kestrel9000, khloemi, Khun David, Kitsap River, Kodiak54, Ksholl, labwitchy, Lady Kestrel, ladypockt, Lahdee, langerdang, LarsThorwald, last starfighter, Laurie Gator, Lipstick Liberal, litoralis, lmdonovan, longislandny, luvsathoroughbred, maggiemay, magicsister, mango, Marc in KS, marknspokane, maryabein, Matt Esler, mdemploi, Micburke, michael1104, Mikeguyver, MillieNeon, Minerva1157, MinervainNH, Missys Brother, Morague, Mr Bojangles, mrsgoo, mskitty, msmacgyver, MsWings, nannyboz, ncsuLAN, Nick Zouroudis, notgivingup, NY brit expat, operculum, one pissed off democrat, OrangeMike, Ordvefa, OverTheEdge, paige, PaintyKat, paradox, parryander, Pennsylvanian, phrogge prince, Positronicus, post rational, Proud Mom and Grandma, psycho liberal, ptolemynm, Purple Priestess, PvtJarHead, real world chick, red mittens, Reepicheep, relentless, revelwoodie, revsue, Rex Manning, rexymeteorite, RiaD, rickeagle, ridemybike, rincewind, rkex, roadlion, Roger Fox, Rosebuddear, Rudini, Safina, SallyCat, Sark Svemes, sboucher, scooter in brooklyn, Scrapyard Ape, seenaymah, sfbob, sgary, Shahryar, sheddhead, shmuelman, slowbutsure, smartcookienyc, smeesq, snoopydawg, snorwich, SoCalHobbit, sofia, soonergrunt, sowsearsoup, SpecialKinFlag, spmozart, SpotTheCat, Statusquomustgo, tallmom, Tay, ThAnswr, theatre goon, TheStoopingRabbit, TigerMom, tiredofcrap, tonyahky, Treefrog, triciawyse, trueblueliberal, ttanner, Turn VABlue, Turtle Bay, uc booker, Unduna, Unforgiven, Vacationland, valadon, Vayle, waytac, webranding, weelzup, Wes Opinion, willy be frantic, willy mugobeer, Wood Dragon, wolfie1818, Wordsinthewind, Wreck Smurfy, x, yet another liberal, Zotz
Please post a comment in the butt can if you would like your name added to the GUS Buddy List. We'd love to have you join us!
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So you've had some experience with the effects of smoking, and want to write a GUS diary or host an open thread? Please sign up in the Butt Can (Tip Jar), and name the day and time that works for you (AM, PM, late-night, early-bird...)
*Asterisks* indicate regular GUS diary time slot:
Sat AM: **bsmechanic** (you are here)
Sat PM: MsWings
Sun AM: bgblcklab1
Sun PM: **Safina**
Mon AM: Open
Mon PM: Vacationland
Tue AM: **FrugalGranny**
Tue PM: **aoeu**
Wed AM: anodnhajo
Wed PM: Open
Thu AM: **Colorado is the Shiznit**
Thu PM: Open
Fri AM: Open
Fri PM: **rexymeteorite**
Diarists: to get a customized embed code for GUS blockquotes, email bsmechanic35 at yahoo dot com. Specify which ones you would like (mission statement, buddy list, diary schedule), and they will be sent via inline text.
How to write a GUS diary on the fly and easy as pie.