Yeah, the term is meaningless if you want it to be. :rolleyes:
I’m a “non-smoker”, I just like to smoke a pack everyday.
Absurd. A non-smoker is able to, without effort, refrain from smoking at any time, and in fact, does so frequently. Seems like as solid a definition one might find.
Does the term crackhead include someone who smoked some crack at a party once, or every few months at a party? Ditto for cokehead?
Is an alcoholic someone who has wine with dinner and, at the occasional hen party, gets a little crazy with the cosmopolitans after watching “Sex and the City”?
Didn’t think so.
“I don’t drink, either, but I’ll have five or six liters of wine every week or two as well.”
So according to your logic, one can drink just about a liter of wine a day and not be considered a drinker? 
And a non-addicted smoker can refrain from smoking, at any time. The fact that they DO smoke, however, makes them a smoker.
Don’t conflate “alcoholic” with “drinker”
Theoretically I should do the stash thing. I need a new video card pretty badly. But most likely I’ll just eat through it, lol. I’m a horrible saver!
I’m a non-smoker. If I ever smell smoke on someone’s clothes, whether it’s daily or once a week or month, I consider them a smoker. Perhaps not addicted, and a smoker nonetheless. I was out with some co-workers. One of them disappeared for a bit and smelled gross when she came back. I said to her, “I didn’t know you were a smoker!” Because she’s a smoker. Maybe only when she drinks, she’s still a smoker.
Non-smokers don’t smoke. Ever.
Just here to say congrats. The good news is that your life doesn’t care what your reasons are…you benefit financially and health-wise no matter why you quit!
Keep going!
-D/a
woop woop, thanks.
I threw away my ashtray forever as of last night, and I am not giving myself time to miss it =)
Great news! Keep it up!
Congrats to the OP for their decision to quit smoking. Hoping it sticks.
My understanding on the subject is that the greatest success rate for people wishing to quit are those people who are well armed on two fronts; firstly, with no bullshit education regarding the chemistry of nicotine addiction and secondly; going cold turkey without resorting to alternative nicotine delivery methods.
The combination of the two, apparently, is the basis of the most successful means of quitting.
Also, it seems that once you’re addict, you’re always an addict - even one pack 10 years down the line can re-ignite the addiction on a full blown basis.
Seems a bit harsh. I’m no 12-stepper, but every day one doesn’t smoke, or even one hour, then he or she is a non-smoker. By convention of language (any language I’ve learned). If they smoke, then they’re a smoker. If they stop, then they’re a non-smoker.
I think a lot of over-complication is going on in a poorly-understood area of psychology. I didn’t drink today, so I’m a non-drinker today. Simple, right? Why should it be more complicated than that? I don’t plan to even have some wine this week, so, maybe I’m “cured.” Seems silly when put like that, no?
Congrats on quittting smoking. I quit in June of this year. I would get rid of the cigarettes you have stashed at work. No reason to leave a temptation haning right in front of you. Remember that the actual cravings only last a matter of minutes. I have found a few deep breaths helpful for minor urges and quick walk around the block or a visit to somewhere that smoking is banned (like the mall) to be helpful in fending off the more pressing urges.
This doesn’t make any sense.
Sure it does. I just had a sandwich. But since I might not eat again til later, I don’t eat anymore. I quit. Just like that, and it was easy too. At least for now. As long as I am not eating at the moment, I quit. Hey, who’s to say I haven’t quit for good? I don’t think the fact that I plan on eating later should have any bearing. I quit eating. And that’s the important thing to focus on.
But Jaledin keeps referring to drinking as if it were synonymous with alcoholism.
Still going strong!
I do have an old e-cig packed away, but I know if I go back to it then I’ll pick up normal cigs again eventually. This is the second time I’ve quit, and I went cold turkey both times (I almost just typed “cold turnkey”… yikes). I feel increasingly inattentive lately, which I know is a consequence of quitting. I really hope it isn’t permanent, but there’s nothing I can do about that.
It’s been almost a solid week now, and no backslides for me. I was a little tempted last night (as I’m a little tempted nearly every night), but knowing that the physical withdrawals are over helps me to resist. 'Cause I know by now, it’s just psychological habituation, and I really don’t have an excuse not to fight it. I can distract myself until the desires pass, generally, and they’re coming fewer and farther apart.
I’m liking the effective income increase too much to give up on quitting. I also like that I smell non-smoky, and that my bedroom odor is almost back to normal now. My roommate is still a smoker, but oddly that isn’t a cause for temptation (also she smokes menthols, bleyuhhhh :p). I’ve been keeping my door closed/windows open because the smell of her cigs sometimes wafts over my way. I’m actually really hoping to move somewhere soon as a nonsmoker. It’ll smell better, and I can hopefully find cheaper rent.
If you’re serious, if you’re genuinely serious about quitting for good, it will probably aid you to embrace the reality that you’re a junkie and that your addiction will never truly go away - merely the symptoms of addiction will.
I know… I know… at first that reads dreadfully harsh but there’s a Law of Addiction which I like to share with people…
The Law of Addiction - if you administer a substance to a person who is addicted to that substance, just two things will happen. Firstly, you will reignite the addiction to that substance and secondly, you will also reignite the pain of withdrawal. Hence, don’t do it again.
Now, I’m sure other folks will come on here and jump down my throat with THEIR particular take on things - whatever. If you get your head around The Law of Addiction, and embrace the fact that you’re a junkie (and you are, it’s just that nicotine is the chemical of choice in this instance) you can then empower yourself to say “No… I’m not gonna do this anymore… these cravings I’m feeling? I’m a junkie and I refuse to be that person anymore…”
At the end of the day, the nicotine molecule is nothing more than a naturally occurring insecticide that the tobacco plant perfected over millions of years of evolution. Regrettably, the molecular structure of nicotine (like cocaine and a whole raft of other drugs) is perfectly suited for hijacking the neural transmitters within mammal brains. In particular, nicotine is remarkably well suited for hijacking that part of our brains which lets out the “aaaaaah” signal after a long day’s work and you slump in your favourite sofa. You know that feeling? Well that’s what nicotine artificially hijacks. That’s why people mistakenly believe that a smoke will calm their nerves - but it’s artificial. The truth is, bad news never gets better with age.
My point is, the addiction of nicotine is an insidious one because it’s so good at hijacking that part of our brain which wants to slump in a sofa after a long days work and go “aaaaaah…” Worse yet, the synthesised receptors which grow within our brains to process nicotine actually drown out our natural receptors for natural feelings of being at ease with the world. It takes some time for the natural receptors to come back into full swing - perhaps up to 6 months.
This is why the addiction never goes away - the brain’s dopamine receptors are always waiting, waiting, waiting to be reignited once more to the nicotine molecule. They like it. They prefer the nicotine molecule to our internal versions.
Yes! I must also be a non-eater, since I haven’t eaten anything in a couple of hours, and it may be hours still, until I eat again. I am also a non-bather, since I haven’t bathed since this morning, and I probably won’t again until tomorrow.
rachelellogram, nice going! I hope you’re able to move to a non-smoking living arrangement soon, you will notice such a difference! Congratulations on the first hurdle, and I hope you’re able to “stay strong,” as they say.
As I am writing this, I am a non-breather! :eek:
Good work. I called myself a non-smoker from the day after I quit almost 3 years ago.
I also carried my last pack with two missing, the last two I smoked, for more than a year before I threw it out when I changed purses. I never had cravings with alcohol (although having said that, I apparently had couple of puffs of someone elses once about six months in, although I was smashed and don’t remember it, so I dunno if it counts.)
Good on you for quitting, for whatever reason. 
Two pages in and no one’s recommended Allen Carr’s The Easy Way to Stop Smoking yet? I quit a couple of weeks ago, and while it hasn’t been quite as easy as Carr makes it out to be I’m still doing pretty well. Until today, in fact, the only times I’ve thought about smoking it’s been like, “Holy crap, can you believe it? I don’t even want one!” Today, for some reason, I would freaking kill for one. Don’t think I will, though. It would be kind of pointless.
Anyway, according to Carr, you’re a non-smoker anytime you’re not actively smoking a cigarette. So even when you were smoking, you were a non-smoker probably 80% of the time. You’ve just extended your non-smoking time to 100%. Congratulations!