Disappointed in Myself

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This past week, I had high self esteem. I quit smoking for four days and avoided sweets. I have gained 10 pounds in 3 months due to stress eating, since I have moved. Now, with being desparate to stop smoking, I fear I will gain even more weight.

It doesn't matter. I must quit. I must do it for my basic self-respect. I feel like s**t. I've started smoking again today and I ate a small pie. This does nothing but trigger anxiety and depression for me. It makes me feel very discouraged and sad.

I have come to realize that the solution is simple. Just stop doing those things again and try to remember how sh***y it made me feel to indulge in them before. I don't know if I'm beating myself up too much or not, but I'm very disappointed in myself.

I think you are indeed being too hard on yourself.

It's very hard (or impossible) to just stop. The bad habits are giving you something and removing them creates a vacuum or tension that demands release. I think in this situation the best approach is to find other things that give joy, pleasure, self indulgence and self esteem, and cultivate them. And be kind to oneself.

It's pretty normal to gain weight after people quit smoking. I would try and not crave food.

Try not to be too hard on yourself, you seem to be a decent person and I am sure that there are many people out there who are worse than you. Have you considered the basic idea of CBT ?

If you think that you are bad then consider what the worst of the worst of people do, and then consider your own conduct. I guess that you do not indulge in a lot of bad activities, if you have never robbed a bank, mugged a little old lady, drowned a puppy in the bath or sold your kids into slavery then you are already many steps off the bottom of the moral ladder.

Think about yourself for a while and you may understand that you are a better person than you thought you were.

Maybe try to fix one problem in your life at a time, or if you can not stop smoking then try to cut down. My wife gave up smoking years ago and she said that after about three days the cravings for another one tend to go away, so there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I do not know what help you can get for quitting smoking in your area, but I know that in some parts of the world at the drug store you can get help and advice on how to stop smoking.

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Health is a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity I am not a jigsaw, I am a free man !

Diagnosed under the DSM5 rules with autism spectrum disorder, under DSM4 psychologist said would have been AS (299.80) but I suspect that I am somewhere between 299.80 and 299.00 (Autism) under DSM4.

I found the only way to quit was to cut down gradually.

Thanks everybody.

I hate smoking. I only do it to end intolerable cravings. I have a serious addiction. Cigs are powerful poison sticks for me.

So, last night, I took the pack with the 7 cigs left in it, and I stomped on it over and over. Then, I crushed it. Then, I poured water into it.

Then, I put on a patch and I prayed for an hour that God will give me the strength to resist temptation.

I seriously do not want to smoke anymore. Not at all. And, my commitment level is high right now. I can't even have one, because just smoking one makes me crave another, and then I go out and buy a whole pack and can't control how much I smoke.

So, cutting down is not an option for me right now. I think it is good to be back in non-smoking mode. I was really happy for the four days I quit completely, and very unhappy yesterday.

I've never smoked (though everyone else in my family did -- and quit) but I used this stop smoking site, applying the skills to other habits, and I thought it was good. Check it out:

http://www.stoptabac.ch/en/welcome.html

I also thought the crash course at the bottom of this page was powerful and thought provoking in a very positive way. It is for alcohol addiction, but all addictive habits that produce intense irresistible urges have an important similarity, Ithink:

http://www.rational.org/html_public_are ... cture.html

YMMV

I completely understand. I am also very unhappy and disappointed with myself at the moment. I promised myself I would stop going on WP and just focus on uni work and achieve something, and I didn't keep that promise AGAIN and another whole day has gone by and I have achieved nothing. Apart from bawling my eyes out over the phone and requesting extensions.