Stop Smoking - Post-match Analysis

How did you get started on the road to stopping?
I really wanted to turn my life around. Stopping smoking is one of the things I knew would have the biggest impact on improving my self-esteem. It would make the later challenges easier to do, such as running and losing weight.

Stop Smoking - It's behind you!

Well, this week has gone by without a hitch. I haven't really thought about smoking.

A couple of times over the last week, while we've been doing the pantomime, I've been chatting with some other pantomimers, and I've been thinking "Am I only talking to them as an excuse to breathe in their smoke?"

Stop Smoking - Panic at the Bus Stop

Hello again.

Well, being a non-smoker is going real swell!

I've had a couple of times where I've had a really strong desire to light up a cigarette this week.

The first was when I went back to college after the Christmas break. I was off from college for three weeks before Christmas due to my depression.

Stop Smoking - The Start

Well, one week of being a non-smoker has passed! Yay!

I've found it mostly quite easy. On 1st Jan I read Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking. I have found this an excellent book. You don't stop smoking until the end of the book.

January Challenge - Stop Smoking

This is something I've done before in the past with limited success. I want to stop smoking for several reasons:

Hello

Hello.

My name's Joel.

I suffer quite badly with depression. This eventually led to two overdoses in April and May of 2013. So after different treatments and being on a hospital mental health ward, I've had chance to read about different therapies. One in particular Ive read about is Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT).

After doing CBT exercises for a few months, one thing has arisen is feelings and thoughts of being valueless, that I can't achieve anything. So really these challenges that I've set myself for this year, 2014, are a way for me to prove to myself that I can achieve things. Also, I hope that it can serve as an example to others that whatever state of depression they're in, you can work yourself out of it, you can achieve things.