So I'm three months in to this quitting smoking, and it's not so bad. I have quit for six months at a time twice and once for two years, so this isn't uncharted territory. I still slap at my breast pocket once or twice a day, either in response to a "usual cigarette" moment or in a moment of anxiety, but experience no craving. Smokers look odd to me, and I am surprised how few there are.
The major negative remains concentration. I am still aware of needing to focus on something difficult and being unable to have quite the sharpness I need, which a nicotine hit to the forebrain would remedy. It's not often, but it's uncomfortable when it happens.
10 comments:
What worked for me was making it about slavery - being a slave to it. I didn't care about health or money but i hated the slave part.
I just think of how miserable it was the first few days I quit. That is enough to convince me not start again. And the fact that cigarettes are approaching $10 a pack...
The deal about nicotine helping concentration I had heard many years ago.
I can't quite figure out whether it's a nicotine hit I crave or solitude.
Isn't it funny that I may have started smoking to fit in socially with a certain crowd and now I find myself enjoying getting away from people to smoke.
I avoid designated smoking areas almost as diligently as dedicated non-smokers do.
Is the friends of Bill that say "One day at a time"?
I consider myself to be a "recovering smoker".
I still tell doctors that I am a smoker--which causes some awkwardness, but it is the best I can do.
I last smoke a cigarette sometime before 2003, but I don't know just when.
(I have seen so many people make fools of themselves, in some cases committing crimes in the process, over quitting--I was not going to do that and I had "quit" several times in the past, so I made no mention of having quit. It would be convenient if I had made a secret record, but for things like needing to take drugs that smokers should not use and such....)
Congratulate your self, one day at a time.
Stopped in 2007. Had tried before - with nicorette, "self-hypnosis," whatever, but never made it beyond six-eight months. This time I just decided I'd stop. Not so much I "quit smoking" but just "stopped smoking."
All the outside wheedling and cajoling and nagging didn't help me stop. I just had to want to do it. So, this time in 2007, it was nothing more than stopping.
One bad thing -- since I no longer go to the smoking gazebo at work I no longer what's going on in areas other than my own. I no longer have non-work interactions with other folks at my workplace. And my supply of new jokes is running low.
I continued walking out the the ghetto from time to time, although not as often during the brutal weather periods.
But after a while, the coffee shop became the better choice.
Part of the ghetto appearances was training, for want of a term. I had "quit" several times, but was driven to restart when I was confined in small conference rooms with active smokers--I really don't like the smell much if I am not smoking.
I still miss my pipes--packing to move has been hard in that regard, packing the pipes and paraphernalia related.
How I stopped:
1. I had a child and knew I could not tell her not to smoke (or any other bad habits) if I did it myself.
2. Though NOT a big government guy, I actually do believe what it says on the side of cigarette packs. I paraphase: "Hey, stupid, this stuff is REALLY bad for you."
3. I found smoking "went" with certain of my activities. I changed them a bit.
4. I was a Marine Major then (circa 1983) and if I really wanted a smoke, I would drop down a do a sit of push-ups, get up, go wash my face and then get back to work.
5. I had stopped, briefly before, but you really have to say to yourself, this is it, I am not doing this anymore...and mean it.
Once I stopped, I noted how foul the smell was. I noted the cost of the habit. I noted that more and more seemingly bright people didn't smoke.
Hope ANY of this helps. BTW..I haven't had a cigarette in three decades and am delighted.
You might put a mousetrap in the pocket you used for cigarettes. You want to stay away from traps.
Had a boss once who rotated thru cigs, pipes, and cigars. Smoked "Palma Throwouts", which were greenish.
I tried them, never got the habit.
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