Just wanted to say that I’m quite impressed with all of your stories. I’ve never had a desire to smoke…so these are probably battles that I will never have to fight (or truly understand)…but from a distance, I’m impressed!
I had smoked on and off for 12 years - started when I was about 15 and didn’t quit until I was 27. Right before I quit, I met the woman of my dreams. We were just dating at the time, and she said something like “If you ever want to live together, you better quit smoking.”
Since I planned on being with her for ever, I quit the next day.
Haven’t had a cig in over three years, and I will be marrying my soulmate in 5 months!
Beyond that, I also want to be able to run around with my kids (when I have them).
Heembo
I quit about 14 years ago. All my kids and step-kids were dipping into my cigs. I got tired of supporting their habits. I did it slow and easy but methodically. The first day I waited till I have been up for a half hour to light one up… then every half hour I HAD to smoke… the next day I went for 45 minutes… then the next day an hour. The next day it was 2 hours between smokes. the next 3 hours… and so on untill I was just smoking one a day… then quit. It was sooooo easy… changed the pattern of when I was smoking… made a big difference that I HAD to smoke one whether I wanted to or not… haven’t wanted one since I was down to 4 hours between smokes.
I haven’t quit yet, but have given it some thought. Im 23 right now, having smoked since I was 16. Currently I smoke about half a pack a day. Way too much for me with prices as they are right now. (3.63 a pack here) Im not sure If I have the willpower to go “cold turkey”. Mabey the patch.
Might as well include me in here. Im a frugal bastard, if something is too expensive, there is no doubt in my mind i’ll drop it faster than a maggot-ridden apple.
Amedeus, unless you have incredible willpower, I’d suggest using the patch. I smoked for 11 years. I had my last cigarette at midnight on Tuesday. It’s been 3 days and I haven’t had a nicotine fit or felt the need for a cigarette yet. I’m using NicoDermCQ and I’ve found that my worst symptom of quitting is simple boredom…I’m amazed at the amount of time I must have spent smoking each day. I’m having to try to remember what I used to do before I smoked…it’s been 11 years.
Just as an aside…I realized that tonight was the first time in 11 years that I actually went out to the porch “to get some fresh air” and meant it literally rather than as a euphemism for “blacken my lungs”! Really neat feeling…
I’ve been thinking about quitting on and off for about 4 years now. At one point I was down to 1 or 2 cigarettes a day, and was prepared to give it away for good when my idiot friend came over to spend the day with me, and bullied me into smoking with her all day (she smokes about 30 a day). That destroyed my 2 a day habit, and next thing I knew I was smoking full time again.
The other day, I was reading hardygrrl’s thread in MPSIMS on quitting, and someone provided a link to SilkQuit and their Quit Meter. I downloaded it to play with (and to file away for the day when I decided to quit), but out of curiosity I fired it up to see how it worked…
Five days, 19 hours, 47 minutes and 25 seconds. 116 cigarettes not smoked, saving $36.89. Life saved: 9 hours, 40 minutes.
I can’t stand to turn it off again, or reset it. It’s been ticking over for the last five days, 19 hours, etc because I can’t stand to reset it! No patches, no gum, just lollipops and willpower. On this, my sixth day, I find the cravings have eased a lot. The second and third days were the worst for me. It helps that I never smoke in the house, so don’t have associations with smoking and indoor activities, but I had trouble when my (now nonsmoking) friend came to visit because we always used to smoke together, so having her around triggered off additional cravings. I’m at a point now where I know I can do this, and it’s only going to get better, but Milossarian’spost gives me hope! Thanks, Milossarian!
This is rather embarrassing… you know what I was most stressed about as a smoker? Not cancer… not heart disease… but wrinkles. How insane is that? Vanity… thy name is cazzle
I never smoked, but let me tell you about my family:
My grandmother quit in 1975 when her younger sister died of Lung Cancer. She never touched another cigarette. However . . .
My Grandfather never quit and, indeed, stayed a pack or 2 a day smoker until he died in 1999 at age 82. He lived for 3 years with blood clots in his coratid arteries which would often make him dizzy. The doctors wouldn’t operate on them because his blood vessels were so brittle that they were afraid of being unable to repair them. The fact that he lived to 82 without a heart attack eating nothing but Kielbassa and Pigs in the Blanket and smoking like there was no tomorrow (Not to mention working 30 years in the steel mill and working as a painter on the side–nasty fumes) speaks well to my chances of surviving if I keep in shape.
Many of my relatives on this side, including my dad and his brother, won’t visit my grandmother unless she lets them smoke. This despite the fact that she had 2 minor heart attacks last year and has 2 stints in her arteries.
My dad thinks that smoking can’t hurt him because he knows some very old people who smoke. Good Logic.
There is nothing I like more than hearing about people who have quit smoking. Breaking an adiction that strong IS a challenge, like losing weight when one gets obese. It’s very difficult. I hate seeing the people I love hurting themselves that way.
I started when I was 11 or 12. It was in the Boy Scouts where I took my first drag.
I smoked the most when I was 13. Then before I turned 14 I stopped forever. I don’t even remember why or how or exactly when I quit. Must have just lost interest.
I was sitting in Dunda’s Bar and Grill and I had enough money for either one pack of smokes or two beers. I was up to a a pack a day. I had my two beers and I haven’t smoked since.