Congratulations, rachelellogram! IMO, you are a non-smoker from the moment to smushed out the last cigarette with the honest intention of never picking another one up. It’s beneficial to continue consider yourself a non-smoker because that reinforces your resolve. Why would you smoke? Non-smokers don’t smoke and that’s what you are.
I quit after 20-something years a little over three years ago. I’m fortunate that I don’t have any cravings or yearning to smoke at all. I now find cigarette smell utterly revolting. I had to get rid of old belongings that were just ruined by the smell permeating into them permanently. But I am so thankful to have rid myself of that disgusting, expensive, controlling, unhealthy habit. I don’t miss the coughing fits from laughing. I don’t miss the desperation of running out of cigarettes and not being able to crack open a new pack. I don’t miss filth of the butts, ashes, and smoke in everything. My health and happiness have improved dramatically. I wish nothing but the same for you.
I appreciated the tremendous support here while I went through the process, which was hard but easier in some ways than I expected. I’d failed before, but this last time it took. I’m very thankful to have shared that experience with fellow Dopers who had gone before me and those who never smoked but showed up to provide moral support as well. Great group of people here.
I’d say good luck, but it’s not about luck at all. So, I guess, I’ll say good on ya! Keep on truckin’. You can and will make it.
More thanks to everyone. Still smoke free, over a week now! Still have a pack in my desk at work. I never think about it outside this thread, though.
I wish I could make myself hate the smell of cigarette smoke, like I did when I was a little kid. I feel it’s still an old familiar friend when I have to walk into work every day. (that side of the building always has at least one or two smokers outside–which I used to be part of, but not anymore! yaay)
I quit a little over three years ago, too, and I, too, have no cravings or desires to smoke ever, at all. The thought and smell of it only make me nauseated. I have found nausea to be a powerful deterrent for many things in life that are bad for you. Good for you for keeping to it. Get rid of the cigarettes at work- why have them? No good can come of it. Stick to it! There will eventually come a time when there will be one last person left smoking. You don’t want to be that person.
Well I really hate throwing away something I spent good money on, even if it’s not useful. Mostly though, it’s kind of a battle of wills. Like, I know the pack is sitting there, and making me a stronger nonsmoker by not smoking it? Frankly though, I don’t pretend to understand myself at the best of times.
I quit smoking over 10 years ago and it was 2 or so years before I could actually call myself a non-smoker. I had a wake up call in January of 2001 when I was hospitalized for pneumonia. My 15 day hospital stay convinced me to quit, but I really didn’t want to. It was April 16th of that year (a Monday, I’m pretty sure) that I decided to quit. I had 2 cigarettes left in a package and it was in the glove compartment of my car. On Friday of that week I actually tried to smoke one but it tasted so awful that I only had one puff and tossed the pack.
In the early days I would pass a group of smokers and get high just inhaling a little bit. It was a guilty pleasure. It was about 2 years before I actually disliked the smell of smoke and so that’s when I called myself a non-smoker.
A few years ago I had a checkup and the doctor (whom I did not know) said, “Well, I see you’re a non-smoker”. :eek:
I guess I’m one of the lucky ones who was able to clean up their lungs.
As some smokers say, “Oh, it’s not hard to quit, I’ve quit many times.” :rolleyes: It’s staying quit that is the problem. My technique for staying quit was the fact that if I stopped and went back to smoking, I’d have to go through this withdrawal all over again.
I used the patch. The first 2 weeks I used the 21 mg. The 2nd 2 weeks I went for the 14mg but only used 3 and realized I didn’t really need it any more. But it’s different with everyone. Some can quit cold turkey, some have all kinds of difficulty.
When my mom quit smoking - she kept a pack of cigarettes on the window sill in front of the kitchen sink for at least a year.
She said that knowing that she could have a cigarette anytime she wanted one made it easier for her to not have one. Makes a certain kind of sense, for a certain kind of person. Worked for her, at any rate (she’s been a non-smoker for probably 50 years or so, now).
My rationale is if I didn’t have one, and I freaked out, I would have to go to the store and buy at least 20 of them then I’d be all “well might as well smoke the whole pack.”
Knowing I have one that is there if I NEED it, and then not NEEDING it, is much easier.
FYI, I’ve been stopped for about 8 years. Be warned, there was a time when I was stopped for 5 years and started up again.
Another piece of advice… don’t make up some rationale like “It’s okay as long as I don’t smoke inside.”
What worked for me was what I did differently from prior “quits”. I lapsed maybe a half dozen times in three months after stopping, but I decided not to think of them as “failures”, but more like “glitches”. I didn’t give up in despair, and I didn’t mentally reset a clock to zero. I just went on with trying to stop.
One other thing that was helpful to me. I used a nicotine patch – not steadily as means of tapering off, but in “emergencies”. If I had a sudden really strong craving, I would slap on a patch, and I swear I could feel the results in a few minutes. I have no idea whether this was a genuine physiological response to the nicotine, or my psychological response to the idea of nicotine. I used 3 or 4 patches total over a few months.
Good reference. I sold my copy off a few months ago – the only one in US I could get for cheap was French, but I assume it was pretty closely translated.
What did it for me (yes, the “non-smoker” who maybe smokes 1.5 packs a month) wasn’t Carr (but it’s a good method), but sheer boredom during a long winter. It’s a fun activity to do, and it will change your way of thinking in ways a hard-core smoker wouldn’t have thought (not speaking of Carr, but just the act of not smoking for days/weeks on end). You can truly spin not being addicted into a positive thing – not about health, or smell, or whatever. Just a cool mental trick you can play on yourself that’s as fun as any board game.
I guess I’m shallow, but that’s the way I thought of it – “Hey, here’s something fun to do – let’s try!”
That being said, I’m not good enough at the game to put a full pack at my desk in my home office in full view and grit my teeth, but I’m not much good at chess, either.
I’m 30, have never smoked in my life, have no desire to, but my parents(and other members of the family) smoke like chimneys. When I come back from visiting with my mom and dad, my clothes smell like smoke, my suitcase too. Doesn’t make me a smoker, I was just hanging out with smokers.
It was a guilty pleasure. It was about 2 years before I actually disliked the smell of smoke and so that’s when I called myself a non-smoker.