Quitting smoking

valentine's day resolution = quit smoking, as a show of love towards my body

I have been smoking a lot less lately (spending time around grandparents will do that, heh), and noticed today that my singing voice is stronger already, which makes me feel like I've made the right call. we'll see how I feel after I actually go a couple of days without a cig, though.

the most stupid thing for me is that last time i quit (last december, for about 6 months) i told everyone at work and they were so happy for me and continue to congratulate me to this day (they are all super healthy non drinking non smoking lovely-if-boring ppl). then i started again and didn't have the heart to tell them i was a dirty smoker again so i've just been putting myself through cycles of smoking furiously when i'm at home and then nothing at work. kind of exhausting....

*last-last december

4 months for me
cold turkey, haven’t had one puff since
today has been a depressing, stressful mess and i almost bummed one :/

congrats Aerosol!

thanks bro!

we all know it's so difficult but it's been worth it for me.

still love cigs though and always will i think

i have a problem to believe people who say it has been easy to quit. the whole allen carr school in fact. there is a colleague who has quit maybe 4 weeks ago. and she says it was piss-easy. i bet she will smoke again in one year's time. because if it is simple to stop it is even simpler to start again.

otm
just thinking about how hard it was for me plays a big part in discouraging me to start up again.

day 4. went to the pub with a 'trigger' friend. he went out to smoke and i stayed firmly inside. feel drunk but proud :D

day 5 even!!!

:D

I still think s1ocki should write a book about this!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHH

Went on weekend vacation with new ladyperson, don't smoke around her generally, noticed I hadn't had one in a day and a half, decided to ride it, now on day 3, have I mentioned

WAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH

Doin' it though.

good luck!

I am out of cigs and almost-out of chewing gum (which I have attempted to substitute in order to placate oral fixation) and trying to decide what I should buy when I step out to the store later today (probably end up with both though, who'm I kidding)

3 months now.

CHRIS! GOOD JOB

its actually easier when you put your mind to it.

Keep it up!

When I smoked I had anxiety when I couldn't smoke for a while (visiting family, air travel, severe illness, etc.) and when I knew I wanted to quit I had massive anxiety about that as well.

I found the anxiety over quitting was worse than the actual physical withdrawal from nicotine and the habits associated with smoking.

For months prior to stopping, I deliberately interrupted certain routines developed over years and years, things like smoking while driving, smoking after a big meal, etc. so that later on it wasn't so sad.

Day 6. Been doing something that really helps, I find: I actually carry a pack around, and when a craving is really bad, I get it out, look at it, and tell myself "I can totally smoke one if I want to. Nothing bad will happen. I'm just not going to, because I'd rather quit smoking." or something to that effect. Removes the anxiety I associate with even the shortest periods of not smoking.

Also I've made $3 from people wanting to buy one from me.

I still have my last pack of cigarettes in my desk from three years ago. If I ever want one, there they are.

Right. This time I'm going to make this public so I have more at stake. I'm having another crack at quitting. I have a cheer squad behind me threatening to kick my ass, this time.

And a likely new bf who is a non smoker, so I have a very good motivation :D

I really hope I can do this, I'm so sick of being tired and smelly and broke.

new love interest definitely helps. seratonin runnin' etc

Didn't think of that angle, good point!

Reading this thread reminds me of my nursing assistant class: Nine people and the instructor, all of whom smoked except for me and one woman who was pregnant. We all hung out together outside in the smoking area, of course.

I didn't originally quit just because of the price of cigs, but that really helped keep me from cheating.

Yeah I'm suprised it isnt just the cost that stopped me before now. As I've prob mentioned on other threads, cigarettes are CRIPPLINGLY taxed here (and banned everywhere these days too ugh). Now they average $18 a pack and when you're spending that daily, you really go broke fast.

$18 dollars a pack! Holy fuck.

I don't even think of having a cig anymore. Addiction completely gone. For now. lol

I am at the point where staring at the massed ranks of them in tobacconists brings me joy in relief - feeling that I don't have deal with that any more, don't have to give up a stupid amount of money to get them, don't have to plan excursions or structure my day to have them .

I'm curious about ex-smokers who take up social smoking when they go out. I'm going out tonight for the first time in a while and it might be a tad tempting to have one after a stiff drink or two. I feel like I can get away with doing this since I don't go out very much, but I have a friend who quit around the same time as I did and he has been "social"-smoking more and more lately. I even saw him out in the smoke pit behind the building last week. I can't even imagine the circumstances that would convince me to go back out to that depressing are of coughing addicts now, but maybe he couldn't either the first time he decided to dabble in it again.

i'm pretty sure i couldn't do that.

it might last like one day and i'll be out buying a pack the next

I think it would take a lot for me to make the leap from one cig to buying packs, but it's been about 14 months since I quit and I've only had 2 in that time. All that said, I really doubt I'll have a problem tonight. It's not even my old smoking crew I'd be tempted to smoke with, but the people who -only- smoke while drinks are being had.

like, the smokers just seem like a miserable group of people to me now. coughing and stinking (sorry to any readers who haven't quit yet, but it's true!) They might actually be the biggest motivation not to go out there.

You can still smoke inside some bars and restaurants here. A few weeks ago, I went to a late-night send-off party for a guy heading to Iraq. I hadn't gone out to one of these places in forever, and it was just a complete shock to me. The place smelled like shit. As soon as one smoker would put out his cigarette, another would light a fresh one. There were ashtrays smoldering where someone had put out a butt on a filter. And the next morning, my clothes smelled bad and my throat and nose hurt.

The shocking thing was that this bar, these smokes were how I spent most of 1995-2005. Did I really used to smoke inside my apartment? Did I really think I was fooling anybody when I wore that jacket to work or family gatherings? I haven't smoked in three years, and there was a small part of me that thought I'd be tempted once I returned to my old haunt. Turns out, it was the complete opposite.

The key to being tempted or not is to ask yourself, Do you still want to smoke? If you do, you may want to rethink quitting. Anything besides that question -Do you want to smoke? - is going to be an artificial barrier that will come down again at some point.

coming up on 4 months. i've had one cigarette and it made me throw up in my mouth.

a week today. my impression so far is that it's very much like breaking up with someone you love very much. i just have to keep in mind that it doesn't love me back. in fact, it's been trying to kill me ever since i met it.

(but that knowledge still doesn't fill the hole)

It's okay, thanks for asking. I just walked into a door knob and it blackened my lung.

You're right, PP. Tonight I'll re-ask that question, and I know what the answer will be. I doubt I'll succumb to any temptation. Last time I went to a big shindig with these people was last July and I did have a cig, and it make me feel sick as hell. The first drag was undeniably great, but I tossed it out about 3/4 of the way through. It also helps that I would be highly ashamed to be seen smoking in front of certain people that will be there.

i tell you what though, if i didn't have my e-cig i'd be smoking again. At least now, im off the patch, gum...etc.

e-cig, huh.

tracer, they are a godsend.

joye 510

so far my craving manifests itself as kind of pulsing energy surge, like my insides are electrified. i know a smoke would sate it, but if i change my mentality a tiny bit it's almost like being high or something.

i honestly can't even conceive of what an e-cig is supposed to even be. i'm intrigued, though

http://www.thevaporpro.com/joye-510.html

best investment i made in a long time....plus you can get nice tobacco flavored smoke juice. but not from there, his juice sucks.

it heats up vegtable based liquid into a vapor (it has nicotine) but nothing else. You get a throat hit and actual smoke (water vapor).

i just watched a youtube review of the 510 and that is honestly some amazing Fifth Element type ish

ive also saved an assload of money too.

Vaporizers were being used for marijuana use long, long before they were used for tobacco. (I'm assuming that there's no way to adapt e-cigs for use with pot?)