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 Post subject: Re: Dragon Slaying
PostPosted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 7:02 pm 
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Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:05 pm
Posts: 2888
Location: Natal, South Africa
:yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah:
:cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:


:angel: I eventually got it done. The last cigarette I smoked was during the last week of April, and I am now also not eating Zyban tablets to keep me away from the nicotine, so I think I can confidently say:

"DONE AND DUSTED"

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Glen Grobler

Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled. Anon


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 Post subject: Re: Dragon Slaying
PostPosted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 7:06 pm 
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Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2007 8:20 am
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Location: Dresden, Germany
Oh wow, Glen, that is so great! :clap: :f:

I have thought of you and this topic a few times over the last months (of course I have thought of you more often, but I mean in relation to the smoking), and I am so happy for you now. :) :) :)


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 Post subject: Re: Dragon Slaying
PostPosted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 12:40 am 
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Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2008 7:15 pm
Posts: 123
Location: the Minnesota prairie, USA
oh how wonderful Glen!! I just popped in here on a whim -- I'm so glad to read this! May you enjoy the air you breathe even more!

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: (before Leigh gets here) :yes:


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 Post subject: Re: Dragon Slaying
PostPosted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 8:56 am 
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Location: Vienna, Austria
WOW! :cheer: :yeah: :cheer: :yeah:

That is one big dragon you have slain! Huzzah!

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 Post subject: Re: Dragon Slaying
PostPosted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 9:32 am 
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Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:05 pm
Posts: 2888
Location: Natal, South Africa
:love: Thanks everyone.
The Nicotine Dragon is indeed one big scary monster and he eats people up by the thousands. His appetite is huge and he is never satisfied.
It is difficult to explain just how hard it is to kill that dragon, and he often just won't stay down and acknowledge that he is actually dead now.
:f:

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Glen Grobler



Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled. Anon


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 Post subject: Re: Dragon Slaying
PostPosted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 1:59 am 
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Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 2:32 am
Posts: 3270
Location: New York
You are a GODDESS!!!!!!!!!


:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

:giveflower:

I'm coming up on three years in February, and it still fills me with self-righteousness!

You rock.

Congratulations.

xoxoxox
L.

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"Ours is the portal of hope. Come as you are." -- Rumi
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 Post subject: Re: Dragon Slaying
PostPosted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 5:05 pm 
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Joined: Thu May 17, 2007 8:18 pm
Posts: 4941
Location: Alberta
Oh my...is now my turn? My lungs hurt, my throat is often sore. It's time to kill or be killed.... :sad: :blush:

Glen and Leigh, you are my heroes! May I have the strength of will to follow in your footsteps! :kiss: :kiss: :kiss:

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"Ride reverently, as if each step is the axis on which the earth revolves"


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 Post subject: Re: Dragon Slaying
PostPosted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 7:18 pm 
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Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:05 pm
Posts: 2888
Location: Natal, South Africa
Karen, I confess I am still surprised that I can say "I don't smoke" without feeling like a fraud :yes: but I could not have done it without Zyban tablets.

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Glen Grobler



Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled. Anon


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 Post subject: Re: Dragon Slaying
PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 8:59 pm 
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Location: New York
Yay, Glen!!!!!!

Karen, it's your turn...

Truly, if she who has no willpower can do this, so can you...

First day was the abject worst for me -- the smoke monster kept telling me I was gonna DIE if I didn't have one... i figured that if I could make it 24 hours, then I'd take stock.

After 24 hours, it was a bitch for a couple of weeks, but it was doable, because I'd proven the bastard wrong. I knew he was lying to me when he said I needed one.

I used the patch, along with Wellbutrin -- think the Wellbutrin really helped to take the edge off, and then I convinced myself that I had to listen to the message on the packaging of the patch --- couldn't have a cigarette for several hours until after I took the patch off. This helped when I thought "I can't stand it for another minute" because I was going to have to stand it for several more hours, and if I had to wait that long, I might as well not take the patch off...

YOU CAN DO IT!!

I am as proud of achieving this as anything I've accomplished in my life. Feel healthier than I have in years. Got my singing voice back. Am actually (gasp) running -- building up to a 5K in fits and starts. (In spite of years of dance, I NEVER was a runner -- decided that was a goal -- and I don't get winded like I used to!)

Anyway, you can do it, you can do it, you can do it. It's so worth it.

Let us know if you're ready, and if so, what we can do to help.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoox
:thumleft:

L.

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"Ours is the portal of hope. Come as you are." -- Rumi
www.imaginalinstitute.com


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 Post subject: Re: Dragon Slaying
PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 9:14 pm 
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Joined: Thu May 17, 2007 8:18 pm
Posts: 4941
Location: Alberta
Thanks...i likely have all the ammo I need lying around here. Just have to do as you did, and not listen to that "voice".

I can't use patches...I seem to be allergic to them. They leave red welts that last for days, so each day adds a new welt long before the old one is gone and they itch like mad. Tried cortisone cream to battle it...nope. Whoever invented cortisone cream needs to give back all the money he/she made...I think some fraud has been perpetrated ... :funny: :funny: :funny:

Anyway, I did Welbutrin twice. First time was lovely and I quit :cheers: then later started again... :sad: Tried another course of Welbutrin and it just didn't work for me. Could have tried a different dosage, but honestly, I just gave up that time.

My ammo this time around is Nicotine lozenges, nicotine inhalers and an electronic cigarette...none of which have a great track record for actually getting someone off for good, but well, I think it really comes down to will power no matter what. So...I'm working up the courage.... :pet:

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"Ride reverently, as if each step is the axis on which the earth revolves"


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 Post subject: Re: Dragon Slaying
PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 9:52 pm 
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Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2007 4:10 am
Posts: 3688
Location: Pacific Northwest U.S.
The problem with will power is that most of us, a super majority in fact, have little idea how will power actually works.

You have exhibited will power from your first Dragon Slaying post. How do I know this? You have the foundation well in place. The foundation is refusing to give up.

Quitting and then going back to smoking isn't giving up, it's just part of the battle.

My story is quite typical, though many might deny it and attribute their success to other things. I started with intent. I clarified that intent by study. I knew exactly those things that were the reason for my intention to using tobacco. I might add or subtract or do some priority shifting but in the end nothing much changed. I had my reasons and they were the basis of my intention.

I think I progressed immensely though when I added just one more thing to my list of reasons and gave it to my "intent."

I envisioned the day of my death. And I envisioned what I would be doing if I had not as yet quit smoking. Yes, I would still be tasking myself with my intent.

I laughed over that quite a lot, and it made clear to me that it would be silly to be on my death bed still battling smoking.

I gave up plans, by the way. I gave up helpers of all kinds. And I focused on my intent.

I smoked Kent hardpack, 'cause I was a "cowboy." One day I was crossing my living room about to go outdoors and work on something. I pulled the pack from my pocket and even took hold of the pullstripe and stopped and said to myself, outloud I think, "Smoke one if you really want one." And I didn't. Not right then anyway.

I threw the pack down unopened on the coffee table in front of the couch. Later that day I stopped there again and looked at the pack, and said the same thing. "Smoke one if you want one." "You have to really want one." "It's okay, take it and smoke it if you REALLY want it."

This went on for many days, and weeks, and I never did pick up that pack. It was there a couple of years later, being dusted and put back occasionally.

What I missed, but only understood later was that smoking is a ritual (that part I knew), and I had replaced one ritual with another just as powerful and satisfying (that I didn't know for a time).

By now you are establishing your own ritual. I'll be curious to learn what the last piece of it is, one day.

In fact you have about half the ritual done already because quitting is a process of decision making just as I've described above and that is a ritual for us all.

You are preparing for that last step, the little addition to the ritual that will be there for you always. Possibly not quite ready yet, but very close I think.

Image

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~~~~~~~~~
So say Don, Altea, and Bonnie the Wonder Filly.


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 Post subject: Re: Dragon Slaying
PostPosted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 1:29 pm 
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Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2010 7:42 am
Posts: 2147
Location: Vienna, Austria
Some years ago (I actually don´t remember for sure :ieks:, must be three years now), I also kicked that dragon in his mighty posterior :twisted:. Never had a relapse since.
For me it was relatively easy, as I had been smoking for "only" 13 years. Then I got a serious influenza together with Anna which made any smoking impossible for about two weeks. Together we took that as a sign to try to get rid of the beast. Fortunately it worked! It was definitely much easier to quit together.

I wish all who struggle all the strength they need :f: :f: :f:

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Volker

The horse owes us nothing.


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 Post subject: Re: Dragon Slaying
PostPosted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 1:54 pm 
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Posts: 4733
Location: Belgium
wow, how good Glen :) I am so proud of you! And so happy I never encountered that dragon :) (funny people who smoke try to imitate dragons by breathing out smoke? ha ha !)

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 Post subject: Re: Dragon Slaying
PostPosted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 12:53 am 
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Posts: 3270
Location: New York
Hey Karen --

Another helpful tool for me was this forum: http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.asp ... v=messages

I didn't actually post a lot there, but it became one of the things I could do when I was seriously jonesing instead of having a smoke.

And I love their NOPE rule -- Not One Puff Ever. Made it totally clear for me.

And -- mind trick -- I didn't tell anyone I was quitting. I told everyone I had quit. Done deal.

Had to cope with the impacts of having quit, but it took the "I'm in the process so maybe I'm not really done yet" argument out of my head. I decided I couldn't be a little bit of a smoker, in the same way you can't be a little bit pregnant. I was either a smoker or I wasn't -- and I decided I wasn't. For whatever reason, this made a big difference for me. That way the actual quit was the easy part...I just had to muscle through the ickiness of getting better from that sickness, which I knew I could do, because, after all, I'd quit...

You can do it!!!!

:kiss:
L.

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"Ours is the portal of hope. Come as you are." -- Rumi
www.imaginalinstitute.com


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