Happy “Spotlight Day”! Today I’m excited to share with you this week’s most inspiring success stories and tips from the CBQ community.
Inspiring Achievement
This week, CBQ Program member Roy Starke from Ohio, US, celebrated 3 years smoke-free…He quit all nicotine after 42 years WITHOUT WITHDRAWALS.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Roy a few months ago as part of CBQ’s Ask An Ex series. You can watch Roy sharing his story of how he quit smoking with the Cognitive Behavioral Quitting (CBQ) Program, and why he’s proud to be a “quitter” of nicotine and alcohol!
Inspiring Milestone
This week, CBQ Program member Tracy Brown from Ontario, Canada celebrated 2 years smoke-free! Tracy smoked her first cigarette when she was 13 years old and continued smoking for the next 47 years with many unsuccessful attempts to stop. After discovering the CBQ Program, she decided to join and do her very best to follow the process. She did, and quit smoking before her 60th birthday!
This is what Tracy shared a few months ago about her journey:
3 years after her quit date, Tracy is still a happy, free non-smoker:
Tip of the Week
This is the excellent tip Tracy shared with our members group this week: Choose to move forward.
“Here’s the thing – back – and doing things over, means that you will, once again, be in the very space that you are right now. But… if you choose to go forward, every single day is a day closer to total freedom!!!! Total freedom!… where you never have to think about this again! So… you have a choice… back… or forward. Next time the thought of one of those things come up… just say… “I choose forward…. I choose forward towards health… I choose forward towards freedom. This smoking thing? It’s in the past now.” Be firm with what you choose to tell yourself. And say it out loud.”
New Section: Your Questions Answered… by CBQ Program Members
Question: “Is the CBQ Program worth it, and does it work if you have ADHD?”
This question is answered by CBQ Program member Michal Sturgess from Australia:
“100% get the program. It is one of THE BEST investments you can make in your family. More important than most of the spending you will make in your life. It is framing your families future, everything will be impacted by this choice you are making now. Ignore the voices protecting your addiction and dive into the commitment. It can be hard to track the motivation around your smoking, etc etc, but push through it and give it the time and trust. You need to be throwing yourself into it so your brain has the time to reframe, don’t jump ahead, don’t doubt, just focus on doing the content as delivered. It is a helpful exercise in critically analysing your inner dialogue weather you are a smoker or not. Letting unprocessed thought/ cravings dictate your behaviour and life choices isn’t living your best life. I got sick of smoking deciding what I could and couldn’t do, it’s oppressive.
You may have other things to unpack, for me undiagnosed ADHD and masking trauma responses resulted in me having big anxiety/ panic attacks around giving up smoking but smoking is masking not healing, if you are going to show up for your little one you need to work on processing your anxiety/ trauma. I had to get around the feeling that quitting was someone taking my coping mechanism away from me, this program worked great because it is about you reframing your thinking and better recognising craving thoughts for what they are and reclaiming the narrative on your life.
I am 2 years smoke free now (I did the quit smoking and detox plan in tandem, the.detox helps balance sugars and clear your system to support your quit, i always try to point out i did both as i imagine it helped my success) and wish I had discovered the plan before I had my little one, but grateful I was able to find it when I did and now having the freedom that I do.
Overcoming addiction is an important lesson for anyone to learn but especially prospective parents. My having ADHD means there is a good chance my little one will also have ADHD and with that often comes addictive/ dopamine chasing behaviour. I would not have been in a position to help him through that when the time comes if I had not found the path out myself first.
Best of luck to you both, the program will help you shape around so much more than just smoking and will be a useful tool in your marriage and parenting if you choose to keep using its logic.
Your brightest path is a series of small steps. It feels big, but just focus on the first step, then the next, and you can build a much kinder, healthier life for yourself and family.
What I told myself going in was ” what makes me think I am so special that I should be one of the people that fail?”
I didn’t know at the time I was battling with undiagnosed ADHD and feeding myself dopamine pathways but I have learned so much about myself and gained a trust in myself to achieve that I didn’t have before. Give yourself the benifit of the doubt. You can do this, as others have before, there is no reason you should fail above others. You are stronger than you know and it is within your reach to control your narrative.
Aaaaaand I’ve gone on again
I really hope you both find your path to a physically and mentally healthier smoke free life xx”
And as always, I want to say a huge thank you to our amazing CBQ Program members who have given me permission to share their stories!
