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Joel

Come share your strength

#81

[-]

12/07/04 05:54

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Joel

Come share your strength

#82

[-]

12/30/04 04:36

From: Joel

Sent: 11/15/2004 3:31 PM

I see we had a couple of members who have just made multiple year milestones and stopped on by to tell us. One had not posted in four months and the other had not posted for almost two full years. I want to make it clear that I am not highlighting that they have not posted in a long time to make them feel bad. They are posting as much as they want to or feel the need to and that is fine by us. The string No need to apologize covers this issue. The reason I am making the comment here is to address the fact that if a person does not post for a significant time period, this does not mean that they are smoking or that they no longer read at the board. No one should assume that when a person seems to have disappeared it automatically means that he or she went back to smoking.

The majority of our successful quitters don't post all that often. As we are witnessing here today, we often see where a person is celebrating turning silver or gold or off multiple years who drop in and say, "I don't post much anymore but I still drop by and read regularly. Spending time reading is probably more likely to help a person secure his or her quit than posting. When it comes down to it, our real wish is for each individual here is to keep his or her own quit secure.

Now there are people who are long-term quitters who are in fact frequent posters. We really appreciate all of the work and help of these people who do stick around. You can tell from the posts of these people that they are well beyond the point of feeling insecure about their own quits. They know not to get complacent and they do want to help. If a person has the time and desire to be there for others they are great assets to our board. But for people whose time might be limited, we want them to put their time into securing their own quits more than trying to secure others.

There is one thing that makes our goal a little different than many Internet based sites. We don't want people to sacrifice time from other areas of their lives and getting hooked on the board. (See Crutches and Freedom - your journey to comfort - a highly focused forum) In the beginning few days this is common, where new members really do spend an inordinate amount of time reading and learning and trying to strengthen their resolve. This is during the time period when many people do find their lives centered around not smoking. Over time though, life should not need to be centered around not smoking, it should be centered around living your life. Being really successful means that you have developed the ability of being with family, friends, doing your job, and meeting your normal day to day demands without constantly thinking about smoking or about quitting.

Over the long-term not smoking should still be looked at as a big deal and a major accomplishment but you shouldn't have to spend more than a few minutes on any given day reminding yourself of this fact. (see "I am not going to smoke today!" and Take it one day at a time. We don't want new members or people first looking at our site who are just considering quitting to think that quitting smoking is going to be a major time commitment or something that is going to consume the rest of their lives. Quitting smoking is going to buy you lots of time and allow you the ability to live your life to the fullest.

We know not everyone has time to stop by and write everyday. Some people don't have time to write every week or even every month. But do try to find the time to stop by and read every once in a while. Taking a few minutes to read can help to secure your quit. Securing your quit can help to buy you years and maybe even decades of extra time of a healthier and higher quality life. Make a point of stopping by every now and then to to read and strengthen your commitment and resolve to never take another puff!

Joel

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Joel

Come share your strength

#83

[-]

01/08/05 08:59

I had a panel night for my current group. It was a small panel, just 5 people. One of the panelists who came was a Freedom member named Andy. He had been off about two years now. You may remember Andy as the man who completed the Chicago Marathon this past October. Then there was one panelist who had quit in October of 2001. His story was interesting because he was in the clinic that was set to begin on September 11, 2001 that got cancelled by the events of that day. Luckily he came to the replacement clinic and successfully quit.

The other three panelists also had some interesting experiences. Two of them were a married couple who quit smoking back on September 2. Not September 2 of this year, but in September 2 of 1990. Since I had some advance notice that they were coming I took a little time and calculated how many cigarettes that they would have smoked in this time period if they had not quit. They would have smoke 262,050 cigarettes each.

The other panelist was a woman who was in my January 3 clinic in 1978. She would have smoked 493,300 cigarettes if she had not quit when she did. These three people combined didn't smoke 1,017,400 cigarettes that would have been smoked.

I thought since they went through the trouble to come and share their victory with my current group they wouldn't mind me sharing their experiences and victories with everyone here. It is amazing how the numbers grow large when people stick to their commitment to never take another puff!

Joel

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Joel

Come share your strength

#84

[-]

03/02/05 04:46

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John (Gold)

Come share your strength

#85

[-]

03/29/05 01:30

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John (Gold)

Come share your strength

#86

[-]

04/20/05 07:05

Moving in on six years, it's almost embarrassing to mention here at Freedom just how long it's been since I last experienced anything that a newbie or middlebie would consider a desire or urge to smoking nicotine. It's been so long that I'm no longer even certain that I've still got the date right. I think it was in December 2001. Or was it November?

If I'd recently quit and someone tried to convince me that they had not had a yearning to smoking in over three years I don't know if I would have believed them. It would have been hard. And then if he went on to tell me that when the urge finally arrived, it had been so many months since his last, that he smiled during the entire brief encounter, well, I'm almost certain I would have doubted him.

It gets worse. I handle cigarettes during every smoking cessation presentation I make, and have even faced into the wind to attempt a breeze lighting of a few while trying to master Joel's famous Palmolive bottle demonstration. Nope, still no urge.

But guess what. It could happen tomorrow, and as far as I've traveled and as comfortable as I've become my now arrested dependency has traveled with me. Whether 1 year, 5 or 30, our common bond with Freedom's newest newbie will always be that we'll each remain just one powerful puff of nicotine away from returning to our old level of dependency or higher. What frightening is that there is no guarantee that any of us would ever get this far again.

One of the beauties of this place is the two-way street of give and take and seeing so many return to recharge their motivational batteries while reaching out to Freedom's newest generation. It's pretty special.

Millions of words here in Freedom's more than 260,000 member posts but just one guiding principle determining the outcome for all ... no nicotine today, Never Take Another Puff, Dip or Chew! John (Gold x5)

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Joel

Come share your strength

#87

[-]

05/21/05 01:28

From: Joel

Sent: 11/15/2004 3:31 PM

I see we had a couple of members who have just made multiple year milestones and stopped on by to tell us. One had not posted in four months and the other had not posted for almost two full years. I want to make it clear that I am not highlighting that they have not posted in a long time to make them feel bad. They are posting as much as they want to or feel the need to and that is fine by us. The string No need to apologize covers this issue. The reason I am making the comment here is to address the fact that if a person does not post for a significant time period, this does not mean that they are smoking or that they no longer read at the board. No one should assume that when a person seems to have disappeared it automatically means that he or she went back to smoking.

The majority of our successful quitters don't post all that often. As we are witnessing here today, we often see where a person is celebrating turning silver or gold or off multiple years who drop in and say, "I don't post much anymore but I still drop by and read regularly. Spending time reading is probably more likely to help a person secure his or her quit than posting. When it comes down to it, our real wish is for each individual here is to keep his or her own quit secure.

Now there are people who are long-term quitters who are in fact frequent posters. We really appreciate all of the work and help of these people who do stick around. You can tell from the posts of these people that they are well beyond the point of feeling insecure about their own quits. They know not to get complacent and they do want to help. If a person has the time and desire to be there for others they are great assets to our board. But for people whose time might be limited, we want them to put their time into securing their own quits more than trying to secure others.

There is one thing that makes our goal a little different than many Internet based sites. We don't want people to sacrifice time from other areas of their lives and getting hooked on the board. (See Crutches and Freedom - your journey to comfort - a highly focused forum) In the beginning few days this is common, where new members really do spend an inordinate amount of time reading and learning and trying to strengthen their resolve. This is during the time period when many people do find their lives centered around not smoking. Over time though, life should not need to be centered around not smoking, it should be centered around living your life. Being really successful means that you have developed the ability of being with family, friends, doing your job, and meeting your normal day to day demands without constantly thinking about smoking or about quitting.

Over the long-term not smoking should still be looked at as a big deal and a major accomplishment but you shouldn't have to spend more than a few minutes on any given day reminding yourself of this fact. (see "I am not going to smoke today!" and Take it one day at a time. We don't want new members or people first looking at our site who are just considering quitting to think that quitting smoking is going to be a major time commitment or something that is going to consume the rest of their lives. Quitting smoking is going to buy you lots of time and allow you the ability to live your life to the fullest.

We know not everyone has time to stop by and write everyday. Some people don't have time to write every week or even every month. But do try to find the time to stop by and read every once in a while. Taking a few minutes to read can help to secure your quit. Securing your quit can help to buy you years and maybe even decades of extra time of a healthier and higher quality life. Make a point of stopping by every now and then to to read and strengthen your commitment and resolve to never take another puff!

Joel

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Joel

Come share your strength

#88

[-]

05/24/05 02:59

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Joel

Come share your strength

#89

[-]

06/18/05 12:16

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Joel

Come share your strength

#90

[-]

07/29/05 03:01

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Starshinegrl Gold

Come share your strength

#91

[-]

07/29/05 06:41

Thank you, Joel, for bumping this up today!

For anybody reading: make sure you hit the

First button and read every message in here.

Wishing us all a good nicotine free day!

Gitte

245 days and a bit

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Joel

Come share your strength

#92

[-]

08/20/05 06:51

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Joel

Come share your strength

#93

[-]

09/07/05 02:26

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Joel

Come share your strength

#94

[-]

09/16/05 01:43

From: Joel

Sent: 11/15/2004 3:31 PM

I see we had a couple of members who have just made multiple year milestones and stopped on by to tell us. One had not posted in four months and the other had not posted for almost two full years. I want to make it clear that I am not highlighting that they have not posted in a long time to make them feel bad. They are posting as much as they want to or feel the need to and that is fine by us. The string No need to apologize covers this issue. The reason I am making the comment here is to address the fact that if a person does not post for a significant time period, this does not mean that they are smoking or that they no longer read at the board. No one should assume that when a person seems to have disappeared it automatically means that he or she went back to smoking.

The majority of our successful quitters don't post all that often. As we are witnessing here today, we often see where a person is celebrating turning silver or gold or off multiple years who drop in and say, "I don't post much anymore but I still drop by and read regularly. Spending time reading is probably more likely to help a person secure his or her quit than posting. When it comes down to it, our real wish is for each individual here is to keep his or her own quit secure.

Now there are people who are long-term quitters who are in fact frequent posters. We really appreciate all of the work and help of these people who do stick around. You can tell from the posts of these people that they are well beyond the point of feeling insecure about their own quits. They know not to get complacent and they do want to help. If a person has the time and desire to be there for others they are great assets to our board. But for people whose time might be limited, we want them to put their time into securing their own quits more than trying to secure others.

There is one thing that makes our goal a little different than many Internet based sites. We don't want people to sacrifice time from other areas of their lives and getting hooked on the board. (See Crutches and Freedom - your journey to comfort - a highly focused forum) In the beginning few days this is common, where new members really do spend an inordinate amount of time reading and learning and trying to strengthen their resolve. This is during the time period when many people do find their lives centered around not smoking. Over time though, life should not need to be centered around not smoking, it should be centered around living your life. Being really successful means that you have developed the ability of being with family, friends, doing your job, and meeting your normal day to day demands without constantly thinking about smoking or about quitting.

Over the long-term not smoking should still be looked at as a big deal and a major accomplishment but you shouldn't have to spend more than a few minutes on any given day reminding yourself of this fact. (see "I am not going to smoke today!" and Take it one day at a time. We don't want new members or people first looking at our site who are just considering quitting to think that quitting smoking is going to be a major time commitment or something that is going to consume the rest of their lives. Quitting smoking is going to buy you lots of time and allow you the ability to live your life to the fullest.

We know not everyone has time to stop by and write everyday. Some people don't have time to write every week or even every month. But do try to find the time to stop by and read every once in a while. Taking a few minutes to read can help to secure your quit. Securing your quit can help to buy you years and maybe even decades of extra time of a healthier and higher quality life. Make a point of stopping by every now and then to to read and strengthen your commitment and resolve to never take another puff!

Joel

Reply Quote

Joel

Come share your strength

#95

[-]

10/13/05 02:28

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Joel

Come share your strength

#96

[-]

11/30/05 07:15

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John (Gold)

Come share your strength

#97

[-]

01/09/06 08:30

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Joel

Come share your strength

#98

[-]

01/29/06 03:55

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Sal GOLD

Come share your strength

#99

[-]

02/28/06 11:04

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Joel

Come share your strength

#100

[-]

03/05/06 03:40

From: Joel

Sent: 11/15/2004 3:31 PM

I see we had a couple of members who have just made multiple year milestones and stopped on by to tell us. One had not posted in four months and the other had not posted for almost two full years. I want to make it clear that I am not highlighting that they have not posted in a long time to make them feel bad. They are posting as much as they want to or feel the need to and that is fine by us. The string No need to apologize covers this issue. The reason I am making the comment here is to address the fact that if a person does not post for a significant time period, this does not mean that they are smoking or that they no longer read at the board. No one should assume that when a person seems to have disappeared it automatically means that he or she went back to smoking.

The majority of our successful quitters don't post all that often. As we are witnessing here today, we often see where a person is celebrating turning silver or gold or off multiple years who drop in and say, "I don't post much anymore but I still drop by and read regularly. Spending time reading is probably more likely to help a person secure his or her quit than posting. When it comes down to it, our real wish is for each individual here is to keep his or her own quit secure.

Now there are people who are long-term quitters who are in fact frequent posters. We really appreciate all of the work and help of these people who do stick around. You can tell from the posts of these people that they are well beyond the point of feeling insecure about their own quits. They know not to get complacent and they do want to help. If a person has the time and desire to be there for others they are great assets to our board. But for people whose time might be limited, we want them to put their time into securing their own quits more than trying to secure others.

There is one thing that makes our goal a little different than many Internet based sites. We don't want people to sacrifice time from other areas of their lives and getting hooked on the board. (See Crutches and Freedom - your journey to comfort - a highly focused forum) In the beginning few days this is common, where new members really do spend an inordinate amount of time reading and learning and trying to strengthen their resolve. This is during the time period when many people do find their lives centered around not smoking. Over time though, life should not need to be centered around not smoking, it should be centered around living your life. Being really successful means that you have developed the ability of being with family, friends, doing your job, and meeting your normal day to day demands without constantly thinking about smoking or about quitting.

Over the long-term not smoking should still be looked at as a big deal and a major accomplishment but you shouldn't have to spend more than a few minutes on any given day reminding yourself of this fact. (see "I am not going to smoke today!" and Take it one day at a time. We don't want new members or people first looking at our site who are just considering quitting to think that quitting smoking is going to be a major time commitment or something that is going to consume the rest of their lives. Quitting smoking is going to buy you lots of time and allow you the ability to live your life to the fullest.

We know not everyone has time to stop by and write everyday. Some people don't have time to write every week or even every month. But do try to find the time to stop by and read every once in a while. Taking a few minutes to read can help to secure your quit. Securing your quit can help to buy you years and maybe even decades of extra time of a healthier and higher quality life. Make a point of stopping by every now and then to to read and strengthen your commitment and resolve to never take another puff!

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