Through a stop-smoking programme set up by her employer, Becky Midgley has managed to ‘officially’ quit the cigarettes and is feeling positive about the future.
Well, the day came, the day passed, and I have officially stopped smoking. This week was a bit tricky for the advisors; the bank holiday meant that they couldn’t come and take the session on their usual day, and after much emailing back and forth, two other sessions were set up this week. I couldn’t attend the first, so I attended the second session two days later, and was due to attend with two others. Needless to say the dropout rate was evident; I was the only quitter in attendance!
Quit day wasn’t at all tough in the slightest. I slapped on my 10mg nicotine patch when I got up and didn’t notice a thing all day, except the initial burning and itching sensation directly beneath the patch. It’s something I have now got used to after a couple of days and is a small price to pay. I managed the entire day without one craving and felt hugely positive. I did end up using my inhalator as a ‘top-up’ boost in bed that night though, because I could feel myself beginning to twitch a bit!
The following few days were also great and there is huge support in the office, for those of us who have actually managed to quit that is. There are currently three of us who have not smoked since quit day, and we are all sharing our experience each time we pass in the kitchen or on the way to the ladies.
I am feeling less stressed actually, and employing some healthy tactics to keep myself positive like deep breaths and drinking more water. I hope this lasts. If it does, this will turn out to be one of the best experiences of my life so far. But I’m not completely away with the fairies yet, I fear next week could be tough as I contemplate downing my patch dose.
Oh, by the way, my CO2 reading is ‘0’ already!
See also:
Up in smoke: An employee’s attempt to quit the cigarettes
Up in smoke: One week until ‘quit’ day
