Emily,

I had to pop in for a moment and welcome you. Once upon a time an 18 year old version of me, one who had never smoked anything EVER, asked a friend for one of his clove cigarettes because they smelled so good, and because he assured me they didn't have nicotine in them. Hah. I hope that you keep reading here at Freedom. Your post indicates to me that you have already learned some of the most important lessons taught here. Those lessons help us understand why we smoked and how to stop. But reinforcement is the key to staying quit and avoiding relapse. In this battle, knowledge fuels our quit in a manner similar to how nicotine used to fuel our addiction. Whether we are focused on no nicotine this minute, or none this hour, or none for the rest of today, we do so because we understand the law of addiction, and know what violation of the law would mean. Though we are truly signing up for a lifetime of probation, that probation is only intensive in the early going. Stick with it, because it gets much, much easier.

Best of luck to you. I'll make sure to pop in and read what you share with us often.

Ben (strat)
Quit since 11.26.10

Edited 1 time by stratsquire Nov 22 11 4:11 AM.