Quitting smoking (almost) 1 year in.

[CyberBOB]

family tragedy a couple years back put me on the habit after four years free of the stupid habit. last week something in me clicked and that was it, time i said fuck those things for good...been six days without (using juul mango for the time being) and survived a regatta weekend with a smoker with no problems or cravings. yesterday's hangover was a whole lot less miserable, i'm not hacking nasty shit every half hour, and my paddling, surfing and sailing endurance is sure to gain. 

never again man, never again

Keep going aA.  Been over 5 years since I had a smoke.

Quit once decades ago for 2 years.  Had a smoke at my mom's funeral.  That one cigarette was all it took.  I look at that as a life lesson.  Some people can have a smoke now and then, others can't.  I am one that can't.

 

[floating dutchman]

Keep going aA.  Been over 5 years since I had a smoke.

Quit once decades ago for 2 years.  Had a smoke at my mom's funeral.  That one cigarette was all it took.  I look at that as a life lesson.  Some people can have a smoke now and then, others can't.  I am one that can't.

I'm another one that can't

I quit two years ago, used the vaping to quit with the intention of giving that up once I got to zero nicotine.

I think some people just have to be addicted to something, so I still vape with a very low level of nicotine, keep me from buying smokes.  Sometimes I go a few day without vaping, depends on if I'm at work or home.

The click thing is the key, you have to decide you just don't want to smoke anymore to give up.

 

[Mid]

you have to decide you just don't want to smoke anymore to give up.

'zactly , if you don't really want to quit , you won't , and fooling yourself is next to impossible .

 

[Monkey]

Time to revive a worthwhile dead thread. I’ve already tried and failed once in this thread, but this time I’m all in by my choice. Day four is almost over and not a single craving today. The last few days were pure hell though. 

Edit:  just saw Mid’s post right before mine, and he’s absolutely right!

 

[Mrleft8]

I haven't had a smoke in 11 years, except for lighting up for my wife while we're driving someplace. I hate it now. Smells like an old ashtray even freshly lit to me.

 I smoked a pack or so of Lucky Strikes Unfiltered, for 20+ years. Every so often I dream about them.... But, no.

 I tried the Chantix thing, but when it started making me puke, I quit that and still kept on not smoking.

 I still check my breast pocket for a pack at certain points in the road, but it's not there...... And I just keep rollin' on.

 

[Monkey]

I haven't had a smoke in 11 years, except for lighting up for my wife while we're driving someplace. I hate it now. Smells like an old ashtray even freshly lit to me.

 I smoked a pack or so of Lucky Strikes Unfiltered, for 20+ years. Every so often I dream about them.... But, no.

 I tried the Chantix thing, but when it started making me puke, I quit that and still kept on not smoking.

 I still check my breast pocket for a pack at certain points in the road, but it's not there...... And I just keep rollin' on.

The funny thing is that the Chantix making me puke about once a week is a big driving force to not cheat. The worst thing I’ve noticed so far is how disgusting my car smells. 

 

[Point Break]

Good on ya Monkey!! Addiction is a real tough thing to beat. I am amazed at the variation between people though. Its so much harder for some than others based on individual biology I'm sure. I never smoked and darn glad I didn't (sports in high school etc) but Mrs PB did when I met her . I really liked her...well turned out I loved her....but told her the smoking was a deal breaker for me. She said okay she would quit and did. Never smoked again. She did say there were certain moments she wanted to.....oddly enough on the chair lift skiing was one and when drinking a lot was another.....but she said it was always a momentary thing and not a problem. I wish you luck beating it. You'll feel so much better - or so everyone says.

 

[Mrleft8]

The funny thing is that the Chantix making me puke about once a week is a big driving force to not cheat. The worst thing I’ve noticed so far is how disgusting my car smells. 

My car, and my house never smelled like an ashtray. Can't say why, but they didn't. My clothes when I came back from a long night at the bar needed immediate attention.

 

[Point Break]

Smokers are the last to recognize that your stuff smells so strongly. I think the sense of smell must get attenuated or they just get used to it. I can tell a smoker when they walk past. Its on the clothes....everything. Sometimes it REAL strong other times a little fainter but its there.........

 

[Mrleft8]

Smokers are the last to recognize that your stuff smells so strongly. I think the sense of smell must get attenuated or they just get used to it. I can tell a smoker when they walk past. Its on the clothes....everything. Sometimes it REAL strong other times a little fainter but its there.........

Even non smoker friends said my house didn't smell of tobacco.  Woodsmoke from the stove, sawdust from the shop (which was attached to the house for a long time. ) and cooking smells, but no one ever noticed the tobacco. I only smoked on the first floor, and in the car, I always had the window down, and never left butts in the ashtray, so...... Maybe that's why.

 

[Innocent Bystander]

Monkey. Keep quitting until it sticks. 

Count me in the “quit 4-5 times before it stuck.”  Now it’s been 32 years. My “quit buddy” was my new lady friend who was a social smoker but we quit together and leaned on each other. Both the quitting and the lady stuck. Our 31st wedding anniversary was in March of this year. 

 

[Navig8tor]

Gave up in 1991,  was morally outraged that the price of a pack of Marlboro red went up to 95 cents,  a pack! In Rhode Island as I recall.

Glad I walked away when I did, still enjoy the occasional fine Cigar but don't have the inclination to start again.

 

[ShortForBob]

I'm hopeless, I can get on a plane, go on holiday, quit with nary a twitch for weeks..get home.. back on 10 a day within 3 weeks.

I don't smoke at work, I don't smoke in the car, i don't smoke on holiday.I don't smoke inside.It's weird.

I don't even get withdrawal symptoms much.

But when I'm home relaxing with nothing to do there's like another person takes control.

I can have been clean  for a month, overseas, even my friend smoking around me? no problem. But when i get home..i go to the shop for milk and this invisible person leans over my shoulder at the checkout and says..Oh, and 20 Rothmans? 

I think I need an exorcist.

Gaaah

 

[DA-WOODY]

Quiting is for quiters

once proving to themselves that they can, they quit quiting

When you have a chance you Won't be able to finish the one in yer hand

20, 30 or 50 years after your last you shall wonder WTF were you thinkin when you smoked

Just be Fuckin Done with it !!

Nothing to romance about from when you did

Trust me on this !!!!

Or log your longest quit each time

 

[aA]

since someone bumped this, i'll give an update...

besides no longer smelling of an ashtray, coughing up lung oysters constantly, losing time with my family or friends to go hide and feed the habit, i've seen huge dividends from quitting. met my goal of podium finish at our champs in singles and was added to our hottest open crew for the 1000m. i'm running stairs at work instead of walking and gasping at landings and i've got a renewed sense of caring for myself. all positives with zero negatives

yes i wanted to quit. and it's the only way i could do this...

 

[Point Break]

since someone bumped this, i'll give an update...

besides no longer smelling of an ashtray, coughing up lung oysters constantly, losing time with my family or friends to go hide and feed the habit, i've seen huge dividends from quitting. met my goal of podium finish at our champs in singles and was added to our hottest open crew for the 1000m. i'm running stairs at work instead of walking and gasping at landings and i've got a renewed sense of caring for myself. all positives with zero negatives

yes i wanted to quit. and it's the only way i could do this...

Excellent!!

 

[mikewof]

since someone bumped this, i'll give an update...

besides no longer smelling of an ashtray, coughing up lung oysters constantly, losing time with my family or friends to go hide and feed the habit, i've seen huge dividends from quitting. met my goal of podium finish at our champs in singles and was added to our hottest open crew for the 1000m. i'm running stairs at work instead of walking and gasping at landings and i've got a renewed sense of caring for myself. all positives with zero negatives

yes i wanted to quit. and it's the only way i could do this...

I kinda like lung oysters, I don't know why.

You know, you're sitting in a meeting, you really can't offend your guests by hawking a loogie into the trash can, everyone is looking at whatever bullshit is on the overhead projector. So you give a discreet little cough, and then bingo, you have a fucking rubber ball in your mouth. And you're sitting there thinking, "okay what the fuck do I do with this thing?"

Then you remember that it's made of the shit that comes out of the assholes of white blood cells, and smoke, air pollution, condensed glycerin vape droplets, whatever. And you say to yourself "self, whatever is in my mouth at this moment is consiserably less disgusting than a lot of the food I happily shove into my mouth hole." So you give it a little chew, and swallow it, and it has that slightly salty taste of the ocean, and yes, it was purely disgusting, but there was something oddly satisfying about swallering it, like eating the blood filled tick off the back of a fellow gorilla.

 

[random]

 

[Steam Flyer]

since someone bumped this, i'll give an update...

besides no longer smelling of an ashtray, coughing up lung oysters constantly, losing time with my family or friends to go hide and feed the habit, i've seen huge dividends from quitting. met my goal of podium finish at our champs in singles and was added to our hottest open crew for the 1000m. i'm running stairs at work instead of walking and gasping at landings and i've got a renewed sense of caring for myself. all positives with zero negatives

yes i wanted to quit. and it's the only way i could do this...

Double excellent.... congrats on your quitting and staying quit, now that you know how good it can feel to NOT smoke I hope it's not even tempting.

My personal addiciton is coffee, but I can easily get by on two cups of plain joe in the morning. In the military I stood around with a cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other..... "quit" smoking but would occasionally have one standing around with a friend, or after a really hot gig (cigarettes and loud blues just seem to go together), until Mrs Steam informed me that "not smoking" meant truly never ever having even one cigarette. That was ~20 years ago. Now I'm glad that it's no longer the norm to smoke, I can't imagine wanting to put a burning weed in my mouth.

IMHO vaping is worse, but industry is better at lobbying and hiding the facts, so who knows what will come out.

- DSK

 

[Point Break]

My personal addiciton is coffee, but I can easily get by on two cups of plain joe in the morning.

Oh man..........had my first cuppa joe in the Navy. Mess deck coffee.......1/4 cup coffee and 3/4 cup hot water....if you wanted to live. And in the FD.........the FD runs on coffee. There is NEVER a moment (or better not be) in any firehouse that there isn't a pot on. I drank about 6-8 (sometimes a little more) cups a day. Darn rookies kept my cup full all day.....and in Fire Camp.......you live on coffee, sleep.......not so much. Since I've retired I hardly drink any though. Maybe once a week it sounds really good and I'll have a slow morning cup while reading. Its funny how much of any of those "addictions" are habit/ceremony as much as any physical addiction.