Thread: Had enough of smoking.

Congratulations. I have never smoked at all (not even tried) so I don't really know how hard it is. Hang in there. Think of all the shaving gear you can buy with the money

My wife used to smoke 3 cigarettes per day, but never in the house, or when I was with her. She quit altogether, half a year before she got pregnant. I hadn't even noticed until she told me that she had quit for 3 months already

My father was a pack-a-day smoker, but he quit when my mom got pregnant. He saw a show on tv (small b&w) where they disected the lungs of a heavy smoker who'd died (obviously ) from lung cancer.
He threw his pack in the fireplace and never touched a cigarette again.

Stick with it!

When I finally quit, I kept two things in mind. First, the urge to smoke goes away whether you smoke or not. Second, I kept thinking about how tough some folks have it in the world without having a choice and here's me having such an issue with whether to smoke a stupid cigarette. Sounds, corny... but it put things in persective and worked for me.

Whatever works for you, stay with it and congrats!

Good job! Remember there will be hard times, but if you know they are going to be there, you can be ready for them.
I finally quit four years ago after 15 years of smoking, up to over 2 packs a day. I'll admit to having slipped up once or twice, but alwyas got right back on that horse. I had tried to quit too many times to give up!
After 5 days, if I remember correctly, the physical nicotine is out of your body, and you are starting to re-equalize. Another two weeks, and the habitual nature of th ebahvior is going to start leaving you.

There are a lot of us around, if you need some moral support, shoot me a PM! You can stay off them! Spend your cig money on razors! A year's worth of two pack a day smoking could get me a Livi seven day set (regrinds) or a custom set with brush and loom strop. Hmmmm....I've got to give my wife a call about that.

I often think of Mark Twain's line, "I'm an expert at quitting smoking ... I've done it thousands of times" or "Quitting smoking is easy ... it's not starting again that's hard." But seriously, folks...

This time I have quit for more than 12 years. My previous longest time was 5 years, so I think I've got it licked.

The thing that helped me was to remember, when I wanted a cigarette, that the only cigarettes that I ever enjoyed were the first one in the morning and the one after dinner. The others were disgusting and just to maintain my nicotine addiction. In fact, for me the key was realizing that the thought of smoking was a lot more pleasant than the actual smoking.

When I was a kid, I regularly had a sleepover at my grandmothers (she spoiled me rotten ) and my uncle still lived with her. He was a 2-3 pack a day man. Every morning we'd hear him get out of bed and have a coughing fit that sounded disgusting, and it lasted for a full 5 minutes.
Every time we waited in anticipation of him coughing himself to death.

And we'd jokingly take stuff off the walls (paintings, crucifxes, ...) and then waited until someone noticed the stark white outline against the dark brown wallpaper. It got re-papered bi-annually, but it always took on the same brown hue after a couple of weeks.

Me and my brother never even touched a cigarette, being so disgusted at the whole concept of smoking.
Sorry for going

I stopped smoking three years ago on New Year's Eve, and never smoke a cigarette again. I can't say how much I am happy with my "non-cigarette smoker" life... maybe as much as my body is! From time to time (something like 2-3 times a year) I allow myself to smoke a cigar, but that's all.
My wife couldn't quit - more like wouldn't quit - with me, but she decreased her smoking (we don't smoke inside our apartment, that helps); but she will try to stop this year, and I'll be happy to help her.

I'm right there with you Nick. Hang in there.

Jordan

Congrats,Nicky,and keep it going.Ex-smoker myself and it's one of the best things I've done.Beyond that I watched my father slowly die from COPD(emphysema).6 years he was on an oxygen machine.We would follow his oxygen line to find him in his house.His last few weeks were just horrible.He said he felt like he was underwater.The point being,that the years you will be saving of your own life will be on the back end.As young people,it's easy to overlook or discount that time,but when you get there,it can be devastating.

I gave up at University nearly 20 years ago. I was standing over the cadavre we were dissecting. It wasn an old man who had lived in London all his life -- 89 years. We opened up his chest, the demonstrator crunching through the ribs with a big set of clippers, and we opened him up. His lungs were almost black with multiple nodules. "Oh wow, he must have been a lifelong smoker" someone said. The demonstrator looked at his notes and said "Nope, non-smoker. This guy just lived in London all his life. If you want to see a smoker's lungs, come over here..."

I stopped smoking cigarettes that day. But I do still partake in the odd 'smoke' every now and then.

Chin up, Nicky. You'll get through it. Just hone up an eboy special everytime you get the urge!

It's the same with me...I quit numerous times over the years, always drifting back. Now I've been nicotine free for 3 years, and I don't dare to try it again. Like someone else said; it gets harder and harder to quit with each time. I sometimes still get "smoke cravings" out of nowhere, and that is something I never had before.

Hang in there! Not only will your health benefit from it - your wallet will too!