I finally quit smoking

[pornrex]

After nearly 16 years, I finally found the inner strength to do it once and for all. I have been smoke free for almost two weeks now and I have to say that I could not have done it without the support of some good friends and especially a counsellor over the Canadian Cancer Society that I called in order to get help to quit the right way - once and for all.

She made me write down my reasons and to continue to write them down each and everyday. She also told me that temptation will come at me in a flurry sometimes and that before my temper gets the better of me and I lose my cool, I should sit down calmly, think of how far I have progressed and to remember my reasons for quitting and how much time has passed, so on and so forth.

I am not too proud to ask for help in doing this. I have enlisted my parents as support members and they have been most obliging to me during this early phase and my family doctor had told me to take two weeks before I engage in any physically strenuous activities such as running and/or jogging.

If you have a success story to share post it here. For those of us in the early phase of quitting, we could really use the encouragement and to those of you that are looking for help, read this thread, it will only help you in the long run.

I found that above all, you have got to want it in order to really do it, there is no if ands or buts (sic) about it, which is pretty much consistent with anything and everything else in life.

By the way, cold turkey is still the number one method, in case you were wondering.

To those that have quit, you are indeed my heroes.
To those that have fallen, get back up.
To those that are considering quitting, don't do it if you can't take it seriously, you'll only fail miserably.
Like and make a list - writing down short and long term goals DO GET ACHIEVED.

Good Luck.

[Pornwolf]

Wow, after 16 years. That's a helluva accomplishment! Congrats!

[KG Gary]

Excellent! Well done!
19 years for me and I feel that I'm on the verge of quitting. My kids keep telling me that I have to and the government are running a really hard-hitting set of adverts at the moment showing the video diary of a teenager with a dying mother who is 38 or something. I'm 35 so it really hit home hard.
I'll do it soon.

[pornrex]

You can do it Gary, if you really want to!

Start slowly - begin with visualization - picture yourself NOT smoking. I did that part - that took two months. Another good technique you can use is that you must start to hate it. Once I told the consellor that my kid brother died from cancer, she made me realize that I need to re-evaluate my health not just for myself but for my family too. And she was absolutely right. Everyday I practiced hating smoking more and more until I conditioned myself to believe that I HATED smoking. Once you reach a level of hate for something your psyche will re-adapt - it now becomes the ENEMY. And I don't know about you but I will not suck on my enemy, unless she is a gorgeous cheerleader.

Another thing you will realize is that people that you associate with will either support or sabbotage your efforts. Those that REALLY care will not make you feel like smoking while those that don't have the strength or are jealous of your efforts to quit while they can't will 'blow smoke' at you. Unless you have an indestructible character, you will lose to the temptations brought on by these people.

For me, that meant completely over-hauling friendships. Those friends that support my efforts to quit will obviously not do anything to 'light up' around me, while those that basically don't give a shit whether your quitting or not will smoke. You have to make a decision: remember, their lungs aren't yours and your air isn't theirs.

[tigris]

Wow, now that's quite a thing! Congrats!

[KG Gary]

Originally Posted by pornrex

You can do it Gary, if you really want to!

Start slowly - begin with visualization - picture yourself NOT smoking. I did that part - that took two months. Another good technique you can use is that you must start to hate it. Once I told the consellor that my kid brother died from cancer, she made me realize that I need to re-evaluate my health not just for myself but for my family too. And she was absolutely right. Everyday I practiced hating smoking more and more until I conditioned myself to believe that I HATED smoking. Once you reach a level of hate for something your psyche will re-adapt - it now becomes the ENEMY. And I don't know about you but I will not suck on my enemy, unless she is a gorgeous cheerleader.

Another thing you will realize is that people that you associate with will either support or sabbotage your efforts. Those that REALLY care will not make you feel like smoking while those that don't have the strength or are jealous of your efforts to quit while they can't will 'blow smoke' at you. Unless you have an indestructible character, you will lose to the temptations brought on by these people.

For me, that meant completely over-hauling friendships. Those friends that support my efforts to quit will obviously not do anything to 'light up' around me, while those that basically don't give a shit whether your quitting or not will smoke. You have to make a decision: remember, their lungs aren't yours and your air isn't theirs.

Some great advice - thanks!
I need some inspiration, and I'd never thought about getting help from folks here on GG&J.
It might just work.
Hmmmm.

[sue-fl]

Congrats pornrex you should be proud of yourself

I quit and stayed a nonsmoker for 10 years. Then I did a really stupid thing and picked it back up. I'm angry at myself everyday but I don't have that urge to quit

I wish you the best of luck in staying smoke free you'll feel so much better. I know I did

[Fonz]

Way to go pornrex!

I'm entering my 12th year as a smoker now. Well actually 10.5 since I quit for 1.5 year but picked it up again a year ago. I can tell you I felt better in those 1.5 years I quit than I do now

[StaceyJo]

Thats good, finally you made a very good decision and hopefully you could do it continously... hope for the best!

[HC-Majick]

Congrats pornrex. Every day gets easier and easier now.
I quit cold turkey just over 2 years ago after smoking for 18. Decided on a wednesday that I was gonna quit. Stopped at the store on the way home from work and bought the patch. I used the first one that night and to work on thursday. when i got home, took the patch off, and didn't put another one on. Haven't had a smoke since then.

[cosmiccat]

Congratulations. I quit in January 1991. Hard to do but worth the struggle. And think of the money you're gonna save!! Cigarettes were 10 bucks a carton when I quit...now they're 25 or 30. I don't know how people can afford to smoke anymore!!

[blazi]

congrats and good luck pornrex!!

[ronnie]

Congratz Pornrex! And some good stuff on quiting, actually reminds me of some books, very firmilar, but makes sense.

My hardest part is trying not to smoke while sitting in front of this computer. If I am out and about, doing something, It's easier to not smoke, least not think about it as much. But cant take off two weeks...

But you got me thinking again. I know I really need to quit and my kids remind me all the time, but it's sure not easy.

ronnie

[SirMoby]

Congrats

[bluemoney]

Good for you and Congratulations pornrex

[juggernaut]

Well congrats. I really hope you make it. I would love to see a study done. I have this theory that if you start smoking young enough the body gets so used to the drug that when you quit you do more harm then good. But you never see studies on that. The reason I have this idea is not cause I smoke. But because I have seen so many people who have quit only to get cancer a few years later. My mom, 2 uncles, friend, co worker and my next door neighbor. All these people started smoking in there teens and then decided to quit once they pasted their 30's. Then you get my grand mother and grandfather. Both smoked every day and nothing happened. She lived to be 93 and he 87.
I'm not saying smoking is good for you by a long shot. I'm just saying I have this strange feeling the body can adapt at young ages and once you make a drastic change to an older system the results are worse then if you kept smoking. But I'll never see that study nor would anyone ever put up funding for it, let alone publish the results if I was correct. Ok now everyone bash me lol and while your bashing read text over my avatar. lol
But seriously good luck to you, hang in there.

[juggernaut]

God dam. Well I ran those numbers for myself once also and you are 100% correct. Then I thought SHIT!!! The wife smokes just as much as me so double that number for me. I have tried to quit and at that time I decided I was going to take my $10 a day and drop it in a can and in 1 year buy myself something I wanted. But I never lasted. What really pisses me off, is I know I can quit and I know it's not hard. When I entered the military there was no smoking at all. I heard of people saying "back when I was in you could take smoke breaks" but not anymore. Anyway when I went it I thought it was going to be a nightmare not being able to smoke. Fact was being I could not get my hands on a pack it was easy. Out of sight out of mind. I really do wish they (government) would make it illegal instead of fucking around with other things. I felt so good when i quit, 6 months of serious working out everyday, 5 mile runs every other day, blah blah. When I came home i felt so strong i I felt like i could carry a small car on my back. But hey good luck man. Keep with it, if for nothing else you will save a shit load of cash that you can do better things with.

[tonya]

Thats AWESOME, pornrex Congrats!!!! You dont know me but Im still proud of you LOL. I struggled with smoking and I've been smoke free almost 3 years.

[clickdude]

You have strong will, Congrats Man What an accomplishment

[PersignupDustin]

Congratulations player...

[Lot]

Congrats! Ppl can't do it after 2 or 3 years and've made it after16!!!

[Mr Exotic]

I struggled with smoking for a long time, I quit a couple times for 3-6 months but always found myself going back to it. Then I realized that at least for me smoking is like any other kind of drug addiction (kinda like alcohol) a little doesnt seem to hurt ya, but when it gets control of you and you are just smoking to smoke then thats when it starts fucking you up. To me the key to conquering my tabacco addiction was not totally cutting myself off but allowing myself to indulge once in a while, when I cut myself completely off I always would ultimately go back to doing it full time again. I havent had my own pack of cigarettes in well over a year. I probably average maybe 1 cigarette a day, some days I might have 3 or 4 and sometimes I go a whole week without any, its just a matter of having control over the situation. Ya getting thru the physical nicotine addiction part is the hardest, but after a few weeks that goes a way (I quit for more than a couple weeks multiple times), but what ultimately would bring me back in is missing the enjoyment of lighting one up and actually enjoying it. Now when I smoke I smoke for pure pleasure not because I have to have it or I am gonna kill someone, hahah. Now when I do have a smoke I enjoy it more than I ever did when I was a full time smoker, I dont hack my lungs up in the morning, I am not short of breath, and I dont feel like shit like I used from smoking over a pack a day. And beleive it or not what I learned from my smoking experiment I did to myself has kind of turned into my new philosphy on life. After I quit playing sports in my mid to late teens and then became a webmaster I let myself become a fat ass, I have applied that same attitude towards my eating habits and have lost almost 70 pounds in the last 6-7 months, I havent been at my current weight since I was like 14 years old. Most recently I have applied the take control philosophy on my business. I got to the point where I was making enough to live off of working maybe 10 hours a month and I became complacent because it became just too easy to not work and make a livable wage. So I took control over my work habits and I have worked more in the last month to month and half than I probably did the previous 2 years, haha.

Now I am not saying this will work for everyone, for most it is probably a bad idea, I guess I am weird, I dont know anyone else that has done it the way I do it, my mom and dad keep asking me if I am crazy because they dont know how I do it. My dad smoked his whole life and quit when I was around 10-12 years old, and he says if he let himself have one he would be to the store buying a carton that night. To each his own, different strokes for different folks, guess what it all boils down to is having control over the situation.

[digifan]

Congrats, it's a good job. My dad also quit for 9 years but he put on weight because he always had the urge to eat something or just chew (must be the oral fixation thingie lol). And after 9 years he started it again...

[Halfdeck]

I quit once for 2 years, but a relationship going haywire started me back up on smoking, just like how I crave a few beers after a long day. I remember days when I would just spend nights trying to stop myself from driving to the gas station to buy one more box of Camels. I would go clean for a few days and I'd think "One cig won't kill me." Before I know it I'm back to smoking 2 packs a day. One thing I know -- if you're an obsessive / compulsive, it's impossible to just be an "occassional" smoker.

How did I quit? 8 years ago, I gambled / played tourneys in pool halls 24/7 all over my state. If you spent time in pool halls, you know everyone is stoned in there and you're usually surrounded by lots of smoke. One day, I picked up the habit of chewing gum instead of smoking and after 1 year, I realized I wasn't smoking anymore. It took no thinking, no will power, no counseling -- just packs and packs of gum

[pornrex]

It seems there will always be something that gets us going. Case in point today, I had a scrap with my dad. I needed to borrow his car to go to the pharmacist to get a prescription (oddly enough, it was for my mom, his wife) filled and I said I would be back as soon as humanly possible.

Unbeknownst to him because he has his arrogant fucking useless brain attached to his new flat screen TV, it was snowing outside and as a result, I took a little longer than anticipated coming back home.

He started calling me on my cell and he even left me a very derogatory message. When I got back and gave my mom her meds, I heard the message and I was furious. I went to my place and started punching a punching bag I have set up just for such occassions and swore my head off too. But STILL I have not smoked.

Rather than let some stupid fucking useless dick head ruin my efforts to quit smoking, I found another outlet for my frustrations. I also sat down and re-wrote my reasons for quitting smoking. Basically, I am maintaining the broken pattern because I want to stay smoke free.

I am reading some posts about people breaking down and giving in to smoking again. If you still intend to quit, don't give up! You can still do it. Keep trying. Don't ever give up. Break your habitual routines that bring you back to where its too easy to allow temptation to get the better of you. If I can do it, you most certainly can as well.

I gotta get some sleep - come hell or high water, I am going to do some cardio (be it jogging or running) on Sunday afternoon. I will let you know how it goes.