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. We avoid discussion of political issues. If you are quitting or even thinking about quitting, please -- join us! GUS Library at dKosopedia is organically evolving, and stocked with free-range information: quit-smoking links, helpful GUS diary writing tips, and the GUS buddy list.
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A couple weeks ago I wrote a diary expressing my concern about what I considered one of my most serious up and coming challenges to my quitting smoking. My impending visit to what we might call Relapse City. The town where my last two quits ended.
But I am happy to report we are now back home and I survived the trip without smoking.
Even though, it didn't start out all that well and there were at least a few trials and triggers that came up along the way.
First, its a four hour drive to Relapse City and this time of year on a bright sunny day I'm not used to suddenly coming on a "road closed" cross-bar barring the road. We use those during winter time and extreme blizzards when the roads become impassable but that was impossible it seemed to me on such a bright and sunny spring day. Which is why I just kept working my way up that line of cars and trucks until I saw the actual flashing lights of the cross -bar and a state highway department truck sitting there.
Who informed me the road was not only closed due to head-on collision since it was between two semi-tractor trailer trucks and one of them was an oil tanker we were probably going to be waiting for a long time before the road was re-opened. And waiting is one thing I don't do well. In fact waiting is something I'm really terrible at and even if I had to wait two minutes I'd try to fill that two minutes smoking a cigarette. So I decided to take an alternate route which would only add about 40 miles to your trip and still get us to Relapse City. And then of course they had the road re-opened in 30 minutes. But at least I wasn't waiting.
Things started looking up though when we got to Relapse City. First we ate dinner with our youngest child, his wife, and their son who, at six months, is our youngest grandson. No smoking in that house or anywhere close to it. Then our oldest daughter, her husband, and a lot of the fun loving (but most of them smoking) crew like hanging out with were clear out in Atlanta as a music festival. That only left one still smoking son-in-law and low and behold he was also quitting.
So I have to admit this was another instance of me seeming to catch this challenge on the bounce and it was no anywhere near as hard as I thought it would be.
But I did have a couple challenges. One was when I went over to my oldest daughter's house to take a shower and get ready to go to our only granddaughter's ballet recital which was actually the purpose of the trip. And there I was all alone, and all all alone with cigarettes and matches. And all alone where I could smoke a cigarette and then take a shower erasing all the evidence. No one, except me, would even know. Which is the kind of thing that has caused me to fall in the past. Except this time I was ready for it and knew that the only one I would really be trying to fool is me. And if I was successful we all know what that would make me.
The other challenge though turned out to be the actual ballet recital. Which included everything from kids as young as six to teenagers, and even a few adults who looked old enough to know better but didn't. I just wanted to see my little granddaughter (who was the best in her row) dance. But I was not prepared for sitting there for more than two and a half hours watching other people dance or lack there of.
That was probably the strongest trigger and urge I had all the time I was down there. That intermission between the two never ending acts seemed to almost demand soothing with cigarettes but the urge passed and I survived both it and the ballet recital.
So I'm feeling pretty good about that even though it obviously kind of wore me out and made me late this morning.
BUDDY LIST
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ambeeeant, American in Kathmandu, amk for obama, andsarahtoo, angry marmot, Anne933, anodnhajo, aoeu, AoT, aquarius2001, arcadesproject, Archie2227, arodb, Arthur Wolf (in memoriam), assyrian64, Aunt Acid, awkawk, b4uknowit, BadKitties, bamablue, BARAKABETH, barnowl, b barrie, bdizz, beatpanda, beefydaddy18, betterdemsonly, BFSkinner, bgblcklab1, BigAlinWashSt, Bike Crash, BirderWitch, BJKay, bleeding heart, blingbling65, blue husky, Blue Intrigue, bluedust, BluejayRN, BlueJessamine, BlueMississippi, Bluerall, bluestatedem84, BoiseBlue, boudi08, Brahman Colorado, breedlovinit, BrenP, BrianParker14, Bronxist, broths, BrowniesAreGood, bsmechanic, Buckeye Nut Schell, buddabelly, Bugsydarlin, bumbi, BusyinCA, cactusgal, cagernant, Carol in San Antonio, CathiefromCanada, CathodeRay, CDH in Brooklyn, Cedwyn, cee4, Cen Den, ChocolateChris, Christy1947, ChurchofBruce, ciganka, cinnamondog, citizenx, ClapClapSnap, claude, Cleante, Code Monkey, codobus, Coldblue Steele, Colorado is the Shiznit, 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