Good for you, THespos! Fuck Cancer!
I quit smoking five years, 7 months and 17:30 hours ago.
Thanks.
I wonder if I should get a jar or something and put $5 into it every day, such that when I reach the same milestone, I actually DO get the $2,600.
Hmmmm…
Seconded.
Read this thread and this one if you need extra motivation.
If you were spending $5 on cigarettes each day, and you put that amount in the jar each day for two years, you wouldn’t have $2600. More like $3600 by my calculations.
Roughly. Cigs at my local gas station cost me $4.60. Less at the Shinnecock Indian Reservation. Now, if I buy them on Long Island before I go to work, I saved money. At the delis and bodegas next to my office, the prices are anywhere between $6.50 and $8.00.
Damn. What was I thinking?
So… after two years, you’d have somewhere between $3358 (at $4.60/pack) and $5840 (at $8/pack).
Heck, after 2 weeks at $8/pack, you’d have $112. You could certainly buy yourself something nice with that.
Good luck THespos!
When I quit, I did use the patch that gradually lowers the dosage of nicotine, and it was a cinch. by the time I was done with the last box of the lowest dose patches, I just had a couple of very mild cranky days, no crazyness like every time I had tried to quit previously.
I use the SilkQuit meter.
One year, six months, two days, 17 hours, 28 minutes and 35 seconds.
11034 cigarettes not smoked,
saving $1,930.90.
Life saved: 5 weeks, 3 days, 7 hours, 30 minutes.
I quit after reading his book. I needed to change the way I thought about quitting. I couldn’t think of quitting as some big sacrifice I was making:rolleyes:; I couldn’t think I was giving something up; I had to think of it as freeing myself from the slavery of having to smoke.
Once I worked thorugh the mind games that tripped me up before when I tried to quit smoking, overcoming the physical withdrawal symptoms was a piece of cake. Honestly, it was easier than I had thought. One common trigger is “I’m all stressed out, a cig will calm me down”. Uh, no. A cigarette does nothing to calm one down; it is actually a stimulant. I had to get rid of all the stupid excuses I could possibly make up to have a cigarette and realize that there really isn’t a good reason to light up, ever.
It all boiled down to winning over my own mind to a different way of thinking, but to actually read the book takes some degree of commitment - if you are reading the book you probably are serious about quitting. That is half the battle right there. Good luck! 
Smoking sure is a pisser. I’m also in the midst of yet another attempt to quit. Smoking was making me feel more and more physically ill, so I decided it was time to give it up. This was about a week and a half ago. In the past I’ve quit cold turkey and I’ve used nicotine gum - this time it was cold turkey. I know that irritable feeling that lasts for about 3 days. I was so edgy! But I’d been through it before, so at least I knew what to expect, and that it would let up.
My problem has never been quitting, it’s been not starting again. I have to keep reminding myself of certain things. There’s nothing at all good about smoking. I do not need a cigarette to help deal with stress, no matter how stressed I am. I keep telling myself that I don’t miss it, and I really don’t miss the stomach aches, the coughing, the sore throats, etc.
I’m pretty much rambling now, so I’ll stop. I just wanted to let you know that I sympathize.
Gods, I want a cigarette.
Next update:
Snapped at my mom for absolutely no reason last night. She asked me to open the door that goes out onto the roof deck outside my room and I just flipped for no reason. Five minutes later I apologized to her. Couldn’t tell her that I was quitting. (We have this unspoken thing about cigarettes. I pretend I don’t smoke and she pretends she never sees me smoking. It’s a freakishly weird arrangement that seems to work for us both.)
Today, I feel much better. I have cravings, but they’re easily ignored. I can concentrate much better today. Yesterday before I left the office, it was getting difficult to put coherent thoughts together. Today I feel clear-headed.
The only time I’ve craved a cigarette is during my typical break period. Sometimes, when I’m multitasking and have a dozen windows open on my computer at once, I stop everything in mid-task and run outside for a smoke so I can clear my head. This morning I caught myself heading for the fire escape, reminding myself that I don’t smoke anymore. So I walked over to the water cooler instead and paced back and forth in the kitchen for a bit while I gathered my thoughts.
Tonight will be the true test, as I’m heading out for a barbecue with a friend after work and there will be plenty of smoking and drinking going on. I might skip the beer/wine/liquor because I know this will make me want a smoke, even though I don’t want one right now.
I cleaned all the ashes off my truck’s ash tray yesterday. Instead of holding butts it now houses my iPod Mini and iTrip. Perfect.
I love the idea of getting a jar and putting money in. It could be an added motivater.
Good to hear that you’re still going strong!
I have a similar arrangement with my mother on a whole lot of topics. It’s kind of good to know I’m not the only one.
I started a mini-rants thread over here. Rant away.
Over 48 hours here. Still want a cig.