The Official August 2002 Great SDMB Smokeout thread

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Okay, ladies and gents, this is the thread to get serious in.

This is the thread that will allow you to talk about your fears, your frustrations, your dreams of life without smoking. If you slip and you smoke, it’s okay, come back and tell us, I hope we can get you back on track. You aren’t a bad person if you slip, let’s just focus on getting you, me, him, her, back on track to this whole non-smoking thing.

This isn’t about the taxes or the pricing of cigarettes, this is about your life and your health. You don’t stop smoking because you want to attract the opposite sex, you don’t stop because people around you at all. This is all about you and your overall health.

I had an ex boyfriend ask me today if I was doing it because of a boyfriend. I kind of laughed at him and explained to him that no, I am still single, as single can be, and this is completely and totally for me. While society has pressures for me to stop, this is something that I have to do for my health and my heart. I do have financial considerations as well but above it all my health is most important.

In this thread http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=126168 we have:

1- techchick68
2- squeegee (perhaps yes?)
3- BrattiAtti
4- Mooch
5- velvetjones
6- VDarlin (yes?)
7- Kiki (perhaps)
8- Jorel
9- jack@ss
10- Seven
11- meek
12- Tiburon
13- loupdebois

and two or three other posters/moderators that have signed on the Live Journal community.

So, that’s about 16 people that are here to support and encourage each other, including Jorel’s hubby and boss.

Any current non-smokers (former smokers recently quit) that are dealing with issues on the not smoking thing are welcome. Any person that wants to encourage us to finally stop on August 5th are welcome.

This is about a community of friends coming together to help one another stop this nasty, horrible, expensive habit once and for all. If a mod would consider it, sticky this? I understand if you wont but this is too important for so many of our SDMB friends to pass up.

If anyone wants to join the ranks, there is still time to get it in your psyche to stop with us.

Anyone wanting a Live Journal to get in on the community to stop smoking, please drop me a line. If you really want to quit, I want to help you quit right along side me and my fellow SDMBers.

2

Silly me,

August 4th be sure to snuff out your last smoke cuz August 5th we all will be smoke free!

3

Hello? Anyone there?

4

I missed the other thread - I’m a recurring smoker who continually quits. It’s coming down to the wire. This Friday is my last day at work, Saturday I move and then grad school starts.

But it’s not about money, although that’s part of it. I want to quit, but frankly, I’m scared to. I’ve used it as a crutch for so long, and it’s been a part of me for a long time - I feel like I’d be losing part of who I am, albeit a part I don’t particularly like.

But I saw this thread, and I thought - what a great time for me to quit again. I’ll be in a new apartment that doesn’t reek of smoke, and I’ll be around an entirely new group of people, who don’t identify me as a smoker. I can be who I want to be instead of the smoker I never really set out to become.

But I’m going to think about it for the next couple of days. I know that if I do it, I have to go straight out. I’ve tried the gum and the patch, and my last round on the patch I ended up at the doc with my heart racing, but only when I dropped to the second level. I’ll check back in and let you know.

5

I’m in. I failed in my last attempt, but I want to kick these things.

As for making the thread sticky, I’ll pass it by the other mods, but I think it might be better if we all have to keep posting to it to keep it up. That way, it will stick around as long as we’re successful but disappear if we fail.

6

Lsura,

You are welcome to join us, any smoker is.

I know what you mean about it being a part of your life for so long. I have smoked for 19 years, YEAH, 19 years of it being in my life, every day. When I say 19 years, that scares me because that’s more than half of my life as I started when I was 15 years old.

I honestly think that’s the sticky point for all smokers, the idea of living without the brown and white stick when it’s been there for so long.

But we also need to think of it as a bad friend, a friend that does nothing but get you in trouble. It’s a friend that embarasses you in a crowd. A friend that makes you an outcast at virtually every event you attend. This is a friend that must be gone.

Lsura, if you want to join us a week or so after, please do. This isn’t about having to stop the same day as others, this is about making a commitment to you and your health and when that fits into your life, it fits into it. Heck, if you want to hold off for a month, go for it. But try to commit to yourself that you will attempt to stop again and soon.

7

O.K. so maybe my post in the first thread was a bit vague. Blame it on the fact that I’ve been cutting down and have smoked the last of my Cubans. The crux of it is that I’m in.

(You see, diagnosed schizophrenics tend to smoke more than the general population and it’s theorized that they might be self-medicating. I didn’t mean to make light of a serious mental illness, only to allude to the general anxiety caused by nicotine withdrawal.

Also, when you quit smoking, there is an eventual increase in circulatory capacity which in some males can lead to more erections. That I hardly consider this a benefit to quitting was also supposed to be a humourous boast.)

You non-smokers have no sense of humour.

8

I’m in. God knows I’ve started a couple of these threads myself.
I know I need to quit.

9

Right on Manny, good to see your smiling, smoking face here too. I didn’t want to bring up your name unless you wanted to.

Anyhow, it’s okay if you guys don’t want to sticky it, can deal but it sure would be nice for the smokers that are joining the stopping to see it first and if they really need to vent about something, cry about something while in the throws of a need for nicotene…but whatever you guys decide is okay with me.

:wink:

10

Yippie, Hardy is here!

11

Cool. Because I have this decision involving you wearing high heels and a collar…

Oh, right smoking. Sorry about that. :wink: :smiley:

12

hmmm, would that be a spikey leather collar?

13

Hey… nice thread! I’ve now been smoke-free for exactly 22 days. I put my last one out on July 9th, Friday afternoon (~5:30 pm) and haven’t had one since.

Motivation: new town, new job, new start.

So far, so good. As long as I don’t find myself in a situation where a “smoke sure would be good right now” (e.g., hanging out on the porch with a beer, etc.), I can handle it without too much trouble. And after I hit about the “nearly three week” mark, I suddenly realized that I can do it!

Besides, if I don’t, my wife will kill me.

14

27 minus 22 is 5. Not smoking may have affected my math skills.

I quit the 5th–the day after July 4th (when I “needed” to smoke to help light the fireworks, right?).

15

If the smokes don’t get you first. :wink:

16

I quit smoking 1 year three months three weeks and 6 days ago. (thanks silkquit meter) I have not smoked over 12,000 cigarettes. I did accidently smoke three at a christmas party last December though. I still have cravings (and probably always will) - but they’re more like “ya know - it would be nice to have one right about now…” but nothing I can’t handle anymore. It just takes time. And trust me on this one - if I can do it - anyone can.
And Lsura - you were the one who got me seriously thinking about quitting… thank you thank you thank you.

Good luck everyone.

17

It’s been a week now since I re-quit smoking. :slight_smile: I originally quit on my 17th anniversary as a present for my wife, but also because I realized I’d smoked over 1/2 of my life :eek:. I didn’t start until I was 21 and fell in among negative influences (the US Navy:D ). Anyway, I stopped in April with the gum. I cheated a little for a week or so, but really quit after that. Several folks here on the SDMB were very helpful. But I found myself buying miniature cigars and smoking one every so often. Well, when it got to four or five a day, I knew I was losing it. So I’m chewing the gum again, trying to taper off on IT, and looking forward to more numerous and powerful erections :D.
… the next thread should be The Great SDMB GumOut!

18

Whew…thank you. Now maybe my brain will realize that I have to seriously think about this, and then just do it.

I’m really thinking a new place that doesn’t smell like smoke + the change in surroundings/schedule etc…could mean this is the time to make the plan, take this week to pound it into my thick head, and then break down and do it.

19

I will add my support. I have quit and started a few times in my life, the longest being a year.

I started again a few months ago cuz I was going away on a month-long vacation. (Stupid excuse, I know) :frowning:

But I have not smoked since July 1st, and this time I refuse to start again…ever.

I think with each time I’ve quit, I’ve learned something and it’s gotten easier. It will definitely get easier after a month, so stick to yer guns!

Here’s a little quote to help kick-start the soon-to-be ex-smokers:

I’d rather be an ex-smoker with an occasional desire to smoke, than a smoker with a constant desire to stop doing it.

Good luck, gang! :slight_smile:

20

You might not say that the sixth when I’m a psychobitch, growling about nicotine and trying not to eat everything in sight. :smiley: