That isn’t the case for me. I’m addicted to a product I’ve been using my entire adult life. Smoking hasn’t interfered in my life (finding places to smoke isn’t that hard) and I’m currently showing no signs of it damaging my health (perhaps a cough from time to time but so far nothing major).
I’m tired of craving them.
We’re also looking at a total life reconfiguration. For more than 20 years cigarettes were interweaved into my everyday rituals. I have to de-program that out of me. Once I’m done I don’t see any reason why I couldn’t have one cigarette with a friend.
The question is, will I want to?
I don’t think I will.
(don’t get me sidetracked on the whole alcoholics are born as alcoholics mumbo-jumbo)
So you haven’t quit and tried the “just one” theory yet? If not, be careful. I was totally convinced that after 3 smoke free months I couldn’t possibly want more than one or so a day if I chose. Boy was I wrong.
I know people who only smoke one or two cigerettes a day, but that’s all they’ve ever smoked. To go from hard core down to that is a tall order.
HoosierDaddy has been saying he wants to quit. He’s asked for my help but I’m not sure how to be helpful here. I quit a number of years ago and shared with him some of the strategies that worked for me. So far he’s made it probably half a day at best.
Recent lapses he says are stress related - work is a little crazy for him right now. I’m thinking he needs a replacement activity. I’ve suggested going outside for the break, just not the cigarette. Other ideas?
What do I do to show my support without nagging - pissing him off and pushing him in wrong direction?
Coincidentally, I resolved last night to quit – again.
I’ve never been a heavy smoker, really, but I transferred my cigarette buying habit away from packs and into single “flavoured” smokes in my efforts to cut down. (Shameful and embarrassing, that.)
Last night I reviewed my online statement and was shocked to see that the bulk of the line entries were ~$4.00 debit card purchases at the petrol stations by my house and by my workplace. A quick estimate puts my habit around $180/mo. for bad breath, stinky clothes, and shortness of breath. Oh, and something to do with my hands. :o
So, no smoking today. I think I finally found the incentive; so far, so good.
Yep. The money is a great incentive. Between Mr. Stillwell and myself we average around $300 a month on our habit. He usually follows my lead when I try to quit but he is a heavier smoker and as rough as it is for me it’s ten times as hard for him.
Best of luck Larry Mudd! Take that $180 a month and put it in a “Fun” fund.
I was a regular smoker for quite a while, then I was one of those on again, off again smokers. I started smoking “just when I was out drinking”, then I caught myself smoking at home, then more and more. I stopped in December when I got sick with an upper respiratory infection and the smoking was making me 100x worse. I haven’t had a single once since, but I’ve been very, very tempted and my nails are chewed right to the quick.
So far so good- 2 months. And after the trouble I had quitting this time, I will not be starting up again. Enough is enough.
He just turned 1 last week. I’d like to see many more of his birthdays. I was coughing so much sometimes that he was coughing back at me, thinking it was a form of communication. That depressed me big time.
I still go out to the smoking area at work. I still have exactly 48 cigarettes in my house (although those 8 are probably pretty stale), and 4 (even more stale) smokes in my truck. Someday I’ll throw them all away. Someday.
I flew cross country, alone, a couple weeks ago, with a 3.5 hour layover in Denver. I went into that big ass smoking bar in the top level. I had one of those unopened packs in my coat pocket. I ordered a drink, drank it, repeated steps 1 and 2 for two more drinks, and then left, all wof ithout lighting up. After about 4 hours in the air.
For me, that was a MAJOR victory against starting back up.
lordy, no, don’t nag. it’ll just push him right to the smokes. give him space, let him bitch - and find yourself a flak jacket and a crash helmet until the pissiness and stress subsides. if he really is serious about quitting, he can only do it for himself. not you. not even the hoosierkids (if there are any).
the dive master was never a smoker and i was when i met him five years ago. i’ve quit several times in the last 20 years, but only within the last three was i able to finally let cigarettes go for good. but not for him. for me.
i finally got to the point where i wanted to get rid of them. they smell bad, they’re expensive as hell any more and i was slowly killing myself.
i also got smart and took advantage of a cease-smoking class offered by my workplace. i do believe it helped. not everybody in the class quit or stayed off of them, but i did. if the jobsite doesn’t offer such a thing, check with the red cross, your local hospital, county health department, etc. somebody somewhere has a free class waiting for you.
and best of luck to everyone on this board whose quit. i know exactly how freakin’ hard it is to stay off the damn things.
Larry: I actually did this for a month. My habit sounds about on par with yours, and, by the end of said month, I took Birdgirl out for a steak dinner. Take that Phillip Morris!
Someone upthread suggested I read Carr’s book. Yet, I’ve been cold turkey for 45 days. Should I still do this? I’m feeling pretty cocky at this point…(knocks on wood, throws salt over shoulder, punts black cat down stairs)
I liked Allen Carr’s book. Can’t say that I quit the minute I read it but the stuff in it really stuck with me.
I haven’t smoked in just over 2 years and when ever I see folks huddled together outside in the cold (or sweating in the heat) or smoking in their car with the windows down I think “I’m glad I don’t have to do that anymore”.
BoBettie that was me exactly. I quit for 10 years then started again but only when I was partying which gradually increased to daily smoking. When I first quit I used to get cravings when I was drunk but I don’t even get those anymore.
I did it. I’m no more willful or brave or whatever than anyone else. You can all do it too. Good luck and good health to all of you.
