Depression Recovery

Question:

Hey Gwen! You have your eyes wide open! That is a good thing. Luv ya, Janet Janet ~ OF A free thinker sure beats being a sheep any day! http://home.talkcity.com/FabioLn/windupd0ll/page4.html Expressions of my soul

Response:

>>>They are NEVER out of the woods > >just like us. >And hell, why not?

Check your own experience Bob! How many times have you "quit smoking"? Apparently you had 3 years and then went back to smoking? I call that a "relapse of an addiction".  Of course you can call it anything you want. It’s FRIDAY isn’t it Bob? I guess you are wanting a big flame fest to last the weekend. I will leave the next space in the thread for you to HAVE AT IT because I committed to not participating in such foolishness. Janet ~ OF A free thinker sure beats being a sheep any day! http://home.talkcity.com/FabioLn/windupd0ll/page4.html Expressions of my soul

Response:

>But, like I said, my main point was I don’t have a great interest in >seeing myself as this vulnerable helpless ‘addict’ just waiting to be >had again by the evil demon weed. It’s negative. There’s too much >individuality here for people simply to be classified as just another >poor helpless soul who’s…."just like us". >Where does it leave you? Where does it get you? >Bob >1y+

I guess it gets you right back to this support group after you blew a 3 year quit! My hat is off to you Bob! You ARE differnent. I am addicted to nicotine and always will be. I prefer not to smoke today. Since I am detoxed and rid of it, I have control again. Just for today I will not smoke. TIP TIP Janet ~ OF A free thinker sure beats being a sheep any day! http://home.talkcity.com/FabioLn/windupd0ll/page4.html Expressions of my soul

Response:

I am an ex-smoker just like all of us here that quit. I like to think like a non-smoker – In order to think like a non-smoker I must become one. No matter what, under ANY circumstance, they just don’t smoke. Even if a tornado touches down and rips their home to smithereens, wipes out their entire family, and they end up Ohio with no Toto. The thought of smoking NEVER comes to their minds because they don’t smoke. That is what I do for me to stay smober. Janet ~ OF A free thinker sure beats being a sheep any day! http://home.talkcity.com/FabioLn/windupd0ll/page4.html Expressions of my soul

Response:

> All this garbage about >’once an addict always an addict’ is nothing more ‘victim culture’, >and may fit nicely into your sch >I’ve had no experience of heroin addiction

Take a good look at that statement! Just read and learn then Bob!!!!  You have no experience in this! Have a great weekend! I am not going to nibble on your flame food for weekend kicks. You will have to do that elsewhere. Bye! Janet ~ OF A free thinker sure beats being a sheep any day! http://home.talkcity.com/FabioLn/windupd0ll/page4.html Expressions of my soul

Response:

Bob, please note that I stated my opinion and said so – I stated that I speak from my EXPERIENCE that I OBSERVE. Make note. Thank you! Janet ~ OF A free thinker sure beats being a sheep any day! http://home.talkcity.com/FabioLn/windupd0ll/page4.html Expressions of my soul

Response:

>Janet, you are always opening my eyes with your words, seems we don’t always >see the whole scenario sometimes, and it takes someone else to expand our >thinking.

Thank you for your comments GadgetMan! I do have a lot of experience with this stuff – eleven years to be exact!  No matter what, who, or why, just don’t smoke. Janet ~ OF A free thinker sure beats being a sheep any day! http://home.talkcity.com/FabioLn/windupd0ll/page4.html Expressions of my soul

Response:

>Eh??????? Janet, what on earth are you talking about? "NEVER out of >the woods" ?????

NEVER out of the woods meaning "Once an addict, always an addict." Prove me wrong Bob. Go out there and see if you can smoke just one. See if you can have just one and enjoy it. Try it more than once. It may be worth a case of the Git Fits to see if you are conviced you are an addict. Janet ~ OF A free thinker sure beats being a sheep any day! http://home.talkcity.com/FabioLn/windupd0ll/page4.html Expressions of my soul

Response:

i am glad that you are both comfortable with your idea’s about i am also comfortable with mine and this is how it goes: ADDICTION, ITS CUNNING, BAFFLING, POWERFUL and PATIENT rosie VOF

Response:

>My question being can you, could you, smoke "just one" and not >be an addict again?

Well, to be honest, if I smoked one now, and inhaled, it would probably blow my head off and probably just make me feel sick and just generally dreadful. So really, as far as I can tell, the answer is, ‘no’. It would take a bit more of a concerted effort on my part to be smoking again. The main thing is the ‘desire’ to smoke has to be there. And right now, it’s not there. But things could change. But, like I said, my main point was I don’t have a great interest in seeing myself as this vulnerable helpless ‘addict’ just waiting to be had again by the evil demon weed. It’s negative. There’s too much individuality here for people simply to be classified as just another poor helpless soul who’s…."just like us". Where does it leave you? Where does it get you? Bob 1y+

Response:

Lemming wrote > There is no dragon.  There is only you.

Amen. I don’t think we’re doing ourselves any favors by imagining this desire to smoke as something outside ourselves that’s just waiting to pounce and take away our hard-earned quits. I do a little creative visualization, myself, so it’s not that I’m without imagination, it’s just that I’ve spent too many years endowing this ugly habit with much more power than it ever deserved, and I do not want to fall into that trap in quitting, too. It has no power that I don’t give it. They say you can have a struggle with needing to smoke after having smoked as little as four cigarettes in a one week period. It doesn’t get much more addicting than that. I believe that at some point fairly soon, my chances of becoming readdicted to cigarettes will be about the same as someone who has never smoked. I have a lot of confidence, if not always in the present, then for the future. I have had some really hard times in this quit, where my resolve wavered, but I feel sure that that will not always be the case. I feel sure that it’s becoming easier, and I know that I will be more confident with every week that passes. I don’t believe that "once an addict, always an addict" is necessarily true for everyone. Not with alcohol, not with drugs, and not with tobacco. To think like an addict and to label myself as an addict forever would have defeated me. If I didn’t believe that a person could make deep and lasting changes in their way of thinking and way of being, I would have given up long ago. Science has proven that receptor cells can be damaged and lost forever, but it’s also proven that the human body will adapt and create *new* pathways and receptors and will adjust levels of various hormones and chemicals so as to balance and harmonize the whole organism. It’s a large part of the reason that people with spinal cord injuries can learn how to walk, again. It’s part of why some cases of depression will heal themselves. I will never accept the idea that I can’t be as happy a person as I would have been had I not smoked. That kind of thinking shortchanges the body’s miraculous ability to heal and recover, and negates the effect that my own will has on my degree of happiness. (NTM that it’s not something you can prove, anyway, any more than I could prove that I would have been a happier person if I had been born rich. Or redhaired. So even my not accepting the idea probably turns into wasted energy and time. You can accept "facts" without question as they are presented to you or you can examine each of the ideas that are on the table and choose and adapt them to fit you and your life. Whatever keeps you sane and keeps you quit, hold it and treasure it as long as you need it. But, you will shortchange yourself if you think that it’s just as true for everyone else as it is for you. JM2