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. You can also click the GUS tag to view all diary posts, or access the GUS Library (the archived version for now). Want to make sure you never miss us? Follow (♥) the GUS tag to keep GUS in your Stream and easily find the link to the latest one. It's just that easy!
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.
Hey there GUS people...it's me, Vacationland, subbing for your usual Friday hostess with the mostest, flumptytail. She nicely took my Wednesday night slot this week so I wouldn't have to do back-to-back shifts (speaking of which---if you have ever considered hosting GUS, we could really use the help right about now!), and here I am completing our own version of Freaky Friday. Hopefully things will get back to normal next week, but if hanging out in GUS has taught me nothing else, it's that [almost] anything is possible.
Remember Freaky Friday? Not the remake, but the original Disney movie with Jodie Foster. I didn't see it when it was playing in the theaters; I remember trying to ditch the "kiddie movies" around that time. I think I might have been in 8th grade? Anyway, I ended up seeing on TV a few years later, but by then, I was already familiar with the premise: a mom and a daughter swap bodies---and each others lives---hijinks ensue.
By the time I saw it, invoking that movie's title had become a sort of shorthand for the idea that we don't really ever know what someone else's life is really like unless we're able to walk a mile in their shoes, figuratively speaking. If we could actually switch lives with someone else, we'd truly understand, but barring that, we can only guess what someone else is going through, what they might be experiencing, and how their lives are different than our own (as well as what that might mean to us in practical terms).
That's one reason why there's no single "right" approach to behavioral change or recovery from addiction (of any sort): we're all very different people, and none of us knows precisely the unique set of life experiences, circumstances, challenges, limitations, and thought patterns anyone else possesses.
We can hypothesize, empathize, and sympathize. We can make educated guesses, offer suggestions, give advice, help and support. But we can never truly know exactly what someone might feel or need or have to do to make that change work for them.
The best we can do is try to put ourselves in someone else's shoes every so often, or at least try to consider what might be going on with someone else before we decide what is best for them. What works (or worked) for us might be the exact wrong approach for them...and there's no way to know for sure until they try it themselves.
Who's Your Little Buddy?
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Have you 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. The weekly GUS Diary Schedule is below, with regular hosts in bold. There's an open slot just calling your name!
Fri AM: Vacationland, subbing for flumptytail
Fri PM: Open
Sat AM: Open
Sat PM: Open
Sun AM: gchaucer2
Sun PM: Open
Mon AM: aoeu ?
Mon PM: Open
Tue AM: gchaucer2
Tue PM: Open
Wed AM: Open
Wed PM: Vacationland
Thu AM: anodnhajo
Thu PM: Open
If you can spare a few hours, please consider hosting GUS. It doesn't have to be a permanent slot; it can be a one-time deal or just an open thread! Not sure where to start? Just ask for help in the Butt Can (Tip Jar). Seriously, it doesn't have to include specific elements or require all sorts of fabulous diary formatting skills. The regulars will make sure stuff gets carried over from diary to diary, so if you want to just tell your story or provide an open thread and host for a few hours, that's cool too. You do not need to be perfect, you do not need to become a regular, and you would make some quitters very happy.