On the other hand, sometimes people relapse because they are thinking too much. The act of quitting is usually looked upon as a continuous process and the going practice is to be focused on the process, focused on resisting. This is effective for some, but really ineffective for others. Thinking about it gets you thinking about how GOOOOOD it is and that gets you in trouble.
Maybe you have to not care. You have to be so blase towards the cigs that you can’t be bothered to ask for them at the 7-Eleven.
One guy at work said a couple weeks ago that you can’t try to quit smoking - you just quit. It’s a single act. You quit in one swoop and it’s done.[/quote]
If you’re tryin’–you’re lyin’.
It gives you that out that you’ll probably take when you forget why you’re doing it in the first place. You need a full commitment. If you’re gonna try you may be just setting yourself up for a way out. But, failing a few times doesnt mean you wont eventually do it. And that’s the important thing. That it gets done. The sooner the better however.
I quit 13 years ago in July…for 2 hours at a time.
I made an unconditional commitment for 2 hours and found I could manage any craving or discomfort, come what may, for that period of time. And just continued to do that.
I was lucky though. A roommate also quit about 3 days after I did. So I could see how much progress I had made in such a short time… he was Jonesin’ pretty hard for a butt. Just like I was 3 days earlier.
Okay, I’ve quit. It’s been four days, so far, and I think I can hack it. Actually, my wife forced me to quit. She hasn’t smoked for about eight years now, and has nagged me about it off and on over the years. Five days ago she got in a mood: she took my pack of smokes, worth $9.50, to the garbage can and tore them up.
Thing is, I never smoked much in the first place. I started at the ripe old age of 22 when I was in university (puberty smoking is the worst, so I dodged a bullet there), and never had more than half a pack a day. Usually less. Of course, if I was out drinking, I’d have more.
Over the last six years I never lit up in the morning–my first one would be late afternoonish. And never, ever inside a house or a room. Always outside. My habit was to have three or four between 10:00 PM and 3:00 AM, my prime work hours (at home, on computer). About one power dart every one and a half hours. I’d step out onto the back deck in the quietness of the late of night (I’m in Canada now) and gaze up at the moon or the stars and really, really enjoy my 5-minute tobacco reverie before heading back inside to the computer.
Here’s the problem: It’s not that I was ever physically addicted, so I’m not getting the shakes or a lusty desire coursing through my veins. No, what I feel now is the remorse of loss, because for the last four days I haven’t had my little 5-minute break out on the back deck. It’s that break, that little time to myself after having accomplished something workwise, that I miss. That slightly clandestine activity, that personal vice.
How can I get that back? Carrot sticks? Pretzels? Knocking one out?
The physical addiction (whether or not you had it) is overwith in 48 hours.
It takes about 30 days to starve the psychological habit. In the meantime you will be tempted by memories such as those.
You can’t replace that feeling of satisfaction that was supplied by the nicotiine. What will probably happen is that one day soon you will see someone light up and you’ll think “how did I ever do that?”
Careful. Your second to last paragraph has “light up soon” written all over it. At 4 days your addiction is not ready to give up just yet. Hang in there for short bits no matter what. You’ll see soon it will be worth it.
Remember> everyone that ever quit has gone through it. You can too.
I’ve found that brewing tea can provide an alternative “ritual” that is missing when you quit smoking. Buy some really nice tea (expensive enough to qualify as a bit of a “vice”).
Good ideas, thanks. I think the tea thing just may be my ticket. And I’m pretty sure I’m done for good. The main thing that’s nice to be free of is the stench on your breath and clothes. It’s only been four days, but I’m still not completely used to not having to scour my hands and face for minutes on end to try to get rid of the stink!
Good on you PP. I’m an ex smoker, 17 y.o. to about 25y.o.
I still get an uneasy feeling when I think back to blowing smoke all over my family and why the hell they tolerated it. I stunk up my mom and dads house and made them breath that smoke and walk around in stinky clothes.
I barely tolerate it from others now.
Re your comment on replacement of the break. Yes, we all need something and we are all creatures of habit. A coffee or tea break makes a good substitute. Great thing with the green tea is that it seems you can have a lot more cups through the day.
I have quit smoking this year and it’s been quite easy. Honestly. A friend recommended Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking. The book undoes the brainwashing associated with smoking. It makes you feel like you are really getting free from a terrible affliction, rather than giving something up. You carry on smoking while you read it, and afterwards you feel pretty empowered to quit. I can not recommend this book enough. It was written by a guy who used to smoke himself, a chain smoker of 100 a day. I think if he can quit all you guys can too. Now go get yourselves a copy and make it easy on yourselves.
Coming up on two weeks smoke-free, and I’ve already experienced one of the benefits.
Specifically, if the weather was under 15 degrees and I was breathing hard on my bike, I used to get an uncomfortable burning sensation in my right lung where I had pneumonia 16 years ago. Anything over 15 degrees, though, and I was fine.
Today I went for a nice half-hour bike ride, and I feel fine.
Oh, forgot to mention: it’s currently 0 degrees where I am in Canada! The point where water freezes.
Brace yourself for some heavy mysticism.
I mean to say that an addictive substance has power over you, but by equating it with the underworld is giving it spiritual power over you that it does not have. It has psycho-physical influence over you, but does not have the power to hold your soul. Devils and spirits of vengeance do have that kind of power, and they may augment their power with tempting substances, but the substances themselves you have the power to resist.
One way to look at it is not to say you quit smoking, but that you have the power to resist the addictive qualities of the substances in cigarettes. I have had 2 cigarettes :beatnik: since I “quit,” but these episodes have not phased me. I am in control, but the unfortunate side effect has been melancholy. Even when I laugh or joke, there is a darkness to it that I can not shake. Never again will I be safe as I was when I was young, never again will I smile as I did when I had trust in the world.
[quote=“porcelainprincess”]
Here’s the problem: It’s not that I was ever physically addicted, so I’m not getting the shakes or a lusty desire coursing through my veins. No, what I feel now is the remorse of loss, because for the last four days I haven’t had my little 5-minute break out on the back deck. It’s that break, that little time to myself after having accomplished something workwise, that I miss. That slightly clandestine activity, that personal vice.
How can I get that back? Carrot sticks? Pretzels? Knocking one out?[/quote]
That was my final reason for booting the smokes. I slowly came to realise all of my smoking related breaks and pleasures were part of a greater addiction. What disgusted me the most, was that companies had been persistently putting those ideas in my head without me conciously realising it. Need a break? Take 5. Relax.
I had no problem doing these things prior to smoking, so why did I all of sudden expect that cigarettes were my friend?
I got jack of that idea. Some fat bastard was rubbing his hands together and calling me another addict. Screw that.
Gave up in Nov. 2005 after 10 years, a pack a day.
Sorry if I say anything redundant but I haven’t bothered to read all the above posts. I just want to say that I finally did it last year after trying and trying repeatedly. For what it’s worth, here are a few things that helped me:
Don’t go announcing it to everyone you meet. I did that before and it never worked. I found myself resenting the self-created ‘social pressure’ that caused. I found myself sneaking off somewhere to have a smoke as if I were a kid at school lighting one up in the jon. If you’re going to do, then just shut up and do it.
Brainwash yourself in the most simple way possible. Every time you think of cigarettes or smoking, get pissed off. Work yourself up. Think “Ugh! I f***ing hate cigarettes!!!” And mean it. HATE cigarettes. Desire to stomp them to pieces. You have good reason. You are their slave, controlled not by your mind or heart but by your basest impulses. You are like a rat going through a maze to get your quarter-hourly feeder pellet. You are killing yourself to make the absolute worst corporations rich.
One last piece of advice: just remind yourself how good you’ll feel. Every time I see someone light up, I let out - not the groan of ‘God I want one of those’ - but a sigh of relief: 'Thank GOD I’m free of those awful things!" I don’t hack in the mornings. I’m exercising again. I don’t stink. And I sleep better. It’s not giving something up. It’s liberating onesself.
Hey what happened to Namahottie? Did she keep smoking or stay off?
I quit on August 1 last year after spending 24 hours trapped on a plane. Stayed with teh cold turkey and had 1 cigarette in the following week after too much beer but nothing since. I really think the odd slip has to go down as not counting, it is too disheartening in the early days to go back to day 1.
Incidentally I refer to myself as a recovering smoker even now. I like the comparison with other addictive drugs and do not believe we addicts are ever freed from our addiction. I have previously quit for 8 years and 2 years so my (almost) 10 month run is nothing to shout about but at least I am on the way again.
When I quit I found the first few days to be the most difficult. It doesn’t get any harder than the beginning. I think it’s a misconception, that the longer you go the harder it is.
Whenever I craved a ciggie, I just used two negative anchors. The first was recalling the taste of that one cigarette too many. I found that if I got into chain smoking 20-30 per day the taste of the last few cigaretes almost had a metallic flavor. The second was simply to visualize the unpleasant image of a cigarette burning all the way down to the butt in yellow fingers. Simple but worked for me.
My fianl point to anyone wishing to quit would be dont cut down - quit!!
If you are going to quit quit. JUst keep quitting until you get the job done. It took me 3 or 4 honest tries.
I cant remember the last one. 4 or 5 years perhaps.
I do not light up around my wife and kids, or smoke in front of people who are bothered by it.
There is nothing better than taking a long, lovely drag on a Marlboro while checking out the Danshui river from my balcony. Smoking is a like a warm kiss from the inside, the ultimate stress reliever, something to look forward to over the course of a long, stressful day.
I do not light up around my wife and kids, or smoke in front of people who are bothered by it.
There is nothing better than taking a long, lovely drag on a Marlboro while checking out the Danshui river from my balcony. Smoking is a like a warm kiss from the inside, the ultimate stress reliever, something to look forward to over the course of a long, stressful day.
Yeah, I should give it up.[/quote]
Eloquent. Okay, that’s it…I’m off the wagon. I’m going out to buy my first pack of power darts in two months.
Kidding.
Still, I know what you mean. There are moments that call out for a smoke, no question. After two months without, every now and then I still find myself reflexively thinking about going outside to light one up. But I don’t, because it’s not that strong an urge. Even more, my wife is too happy and content with me not smoking anymore, so the reproof and disappointment from her would be too much for me to take–there’s more at stake than just my own health.
Funny, it’s true what someone further up said in this thread–when I see people smoking now my only reaction is “christ, I’m glad I don’t do that anymore!”
Honestly. A friend recommended Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking. The book undoes the brainwashing associated with smoking. It makes you feel like you are really getting free from a terrible affliction, rather than giving something up. You carry on smoking while you read it, and afterwards you feel pretty empowered to quit. I can not recommend this book enough. It was written by a guy who used to smoke himself, a chain smoker of 100 a day. I think if he can quit all you guys can too. Now go get yourselves a copy and make it easy on yourselves.