Smoking pot also increases tobacco cravings (just like booze does), so it’s just as well.
The problem with that Ogre, is that around week 2 when the depression hits, you will likely crack. I admire your resolve, but I have seen it happen too many times (Myself included).
Good luck!
Perhaps for some people.
So give me some extra motivation. Wanna bet, in other words?
You can do it, Ogre! The worst of the physical cravings is almost over now.
We’re pulling for you.
Seven years, four months, two weeks, two days, 16 hours, 18 minutes and 23 seconds. 67391 cigarettes not smoked, saving $13,478.60. Life saved: 33 weeks, 2 days, 23 hours, 55 minutes.
Play guitar, not only because it gives you something to do with your hands, but you might be surprised at how your music can be more vibrant and brittle at once.
I never smoked cigarettes; I only know this because I quit drinking a few weeks back and have noticed the difference.
Good Luck!
I have band practice tonight. I am looking forward to it, except that:
- Two of the other guys are smokers.
- The practice space is in the drummer’s house, and he smokes…inside.
Urgh.
This will be a major test.
You have my admiration, Ogre. (Also, Nocturne, Teacake, and yojimbo.) I’m sending supporting thoughts your way.
On preview, cool that **Dolores Reborn **has more than seven years in. My Dad quit before I was born, in order to set a good example for his kids. His stories of how tough it was to quit is one of the reasons that I never smoked.
Good luck with band practice, Ogre.
Here’s a good thought I read somewhere re: the jonesing…
Let’s say you’re somewhere, and a fire alarm starts going off. It goes on and on for twenty minutes, and it’s driving you crazy - you can’t think, you can’t talk, you can’t sleep, etc.
Then, suddenly - it’s off! Hooray! Your tension level drops off suddenly, and you feel great! Hooray for the alarm shutting off!
Now, while shutting off the alarm made you feel absolutely fantastic, the actual problem was that the alarm was going off in the first place. No alarm, no stress. So, in the long run, it would have been much, much better if the alarm had never gone off.
Of course, in this allegory, the alarm going off is the jonesing…and the alarm itself is the cigarette. The joy the cigarette will bring just resets the alarm for next time.
Good luck - I’m a smoker myself, and have been slowly working toward a(nother) quit.
You can do it, and you will feel better for it! 
You have made it three days and that’s more than most quitters, who give in within the first 72 hours. You should be proud of yourself. Now you need to trust yourself and let the false need for cigarettes just wash over and away from you. Just one more will NEVER be enough. And you will never stop fighting those intense cravings unless you quit for good.
Three years ago I had those same cravings. I have slight “I wish I could” thoughts now still occasionally but it gets so much easier after those two weeks. You don’t have to crack just because someone else does. You can be one of the ones who makes it.
(have to do this. . .always have to recommend it. . . Allan Carr’s Easy Way to Quit Smoking helped me so much)
+1 on this. And **An Arky **- best of luck; I stopped drinking a few months ago - just didn’t have the time for it anymore, frankly.
**Ogre **- don’t drink at practice tonight; it will make you want a cigarette. Also, what are you going to communicate to your bandmates, if anything? Will you tell them not to offer you anything? I don’t have a recommendation either way…
Given that I’m the one who normally calls for the mid-set smoke break, I’m just going to let it ride until someone says something.
Heh- I’ll send you my old e-cig.
Seriously though, I didn’t mean to sound like a downer, but man is it tough to get past that 2 weeks. The most important thing is if you fail, don’t be embarrassed to talk about it. A few times when I quit before, I would tell everyone so that I couldn’t back out- Which only led to me ultimately hiding the habit from people, so I felt like a smoker and a fraud at the same time.
It’s a funny thing- I had just accepted that aspect of my life as something that would always be. Damn was I an addict. Hell, I guess I still am. However, it just occurred to me that in all this talk of cigarettes, I haven’t wanted one, nor have I puffed on the e-cig, or eaten anything. I must seriously be on the road to recovery.
Next week y’all can make fun of me when I am back on the Marlboro’s!
You can do it, Ogre!
Don’t bother with the e-cigs, the monkey is almost off your back now. Breathe. Remember it can’t last forever. You can totally do this!
I stopped smoking on Wed, 7 Jan 2009 08:59:00 UTC.
It has been 104 weeks, 0 days, 16 hours, 43 minutes and 13 seconds since I quit.
I have saved $ 11112.62 by choosing not to smoke 18217 cigarettes.
More importantly, I saved 19 weeks, 6 days 3 hours 51 minutes of my life!
I stopped Sunday night around 6:00 pm.
I want and don’t want to quit, if that makes sense. I am still young (24) and know that I should do it now before it becomes too hard to quit, but I already miss it.
But my city just imposed a ban in restaurants/bars which will help a lot - I never smoked in my home, just in my car and when I was out or outdoors. I have Febreezed the living crap out of my car, threw away the car ashtray, and have bought tons of gum and also bought those pricey Crest Whitestrips I always wanted to try but didn’t see a point while I smoked.
I have not cheated yet but I definitely dislike the feeling of “unease” I’ve had and am also feeling very tense overall. Also trying VERY hard not to resort to increasing calories, I refuse to kick one habit then gain weight, damnit. Also, it just feels weird as I often would use cigarettes as stress relievers or “rewards” for myself - now I do not know what to do when I am annoyed at work or like what I will do tomorrow after that job interview? It’s just…wrong. And I have not had a big meal or gotten drunk either…those were always best paired with smokes.
Best of luck to everyone quitting, I know I need it as well. I have been doing my best to be positive and it has been helping - I have had awesome breath, been smelling beautifully, and been drinking a lot of water this week, all good things!
yes, quitting IS a bitch. i totally concur, Ogre, and the first few days of it makes you feel you’re stuck spending eternity in the lowest circle of hell. but you’re on day three and the good news is the chemical dependency is starting to fade. your body no longer *needs *the nic. it just *wants *it. someplace i read that nic is more addictive than heroin. i believe it.
this last time wasn’t the first time i’ve quit. it was my third serious attempt. like the others, i second the deep breathing and the drinking of lots of water and the walking. it all helps to offset the cravings. the other part is behavior modification. keep your mind busy. vary your routine. **dukette77 **mentioned tetris? i ended up doing online jigsaw puzzles. cigarettes tie themselves to our routine behaviors. pick up the phone, pick up a cigarette; finish a meal, light up, and so on. tetris and puzzles break the cycle, the pattern of behavior.
another small thing i did for myself was behavior reward. for every week i went without a smoke, i rewarded myself with something. always a small thing – otherwise you’d go broke – but something to make you feel that you’re making progress.
for now, stay away from bars and booze if you can. as any hardcore smoker well knows, cigs and alcohol go together like pb&j. do your best to distance yourself from it for a while. it makes a huge difference.
best of luck in quitting.i know it sound ridiculously cliché, but if i did it, anybody can. i smoked for about thirty years and actually liked smoking!
hang in there, myskepticsight.
it IS worth it and you ARE doing the right thing. keep reminding yourself of that.
right now you’re fighting the chemical dependency. in a few days it becomes just the psychological addiction, but it means you’re past the physical part. distract yourself. best advice i can offer. if tetris and jigsaw puzzles aren’t your thing, go do something you enjoy.
again, the behavior modification is the biggest issue. beat that, and you can beat the addiction. you sound like you’re on the right track.
if i can do it, anyone can. i do still miss cigarettes but i don’t miss the damage to my health, the horrible smell, ***and ***the weekly dent in my pocketbook.
Quick story from a non-smoker. About five years ago, I was on a dive trip in Fiji. One of the dive masters I traveled with was complaining that her regulator wasn’t breathing well. The owner of the dive shop that organize the trip is also a repair guy. He took her reg, and opened it up…tok *her *towel, and wiped out the nastiest black stuff from the mouth piece. Put it back together, and told her it would work better now.
She asked where the black stuff came from. He told her it was from her lungs, because she’s a smoker.
Try breathing into a filter for a few hours, and then look at the results. It’ll convince you of the health issues…and give you MAJOR motivation not to do it.
Good luck to everyone trying to quit. I’ve seen people go through it. It’s hard, but it’s rewarding.
Make it happen.
-D/a
OMFG… :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
that’s something that never even occurred to me first as a diver and second as a former smoker… WOW!!!
if there was ever an impetus to quit - and i was still smoking - THAT would be it.
Remember it’s not just you. Other people like you and want you to live a long time so you can be around. So when you get weak, remember stopping smoking is important to them. Do it for THEM.