I honestly do not know of anyone in my immediate circle that smokes. It seems the smoking population has decreased a lot since the 90s.
There's a built in mechanic that keeps the numbers self limiting.I honestly do not know of anyone in my immediate circle that smokes. It seems the smoking population has decreased a lot since the 90s.
Good stories here! Some inspirational, some cautionary, all worthwhile.
I started at 15, started quitting at 21 - that took almost 2 years. Was free for about 9 years, then had a cigar. 6 years later, hadda quit cigars, pipe and cigarettes again. Finally decided that not having the 1st one is a heluva a lot easier than trying to not have another one.
I guess I'm one of the "lucky" ones: I don't think about 'em at all. I know some folks struggle long after they've quit.
Stay strong, find soemthing better to do than think about smoking.
Don't do it!
FWIW, I was just diagnosed with lung Cancer for the 3rd time since 2005
PET scan tomorrow. Bronchoscopy next week. Chemo to follow.
Trust me, you DO.NOT want to be in my situation, weigh the odds if you continue smoking.
Don't do it brother, I am not so sure I will win this time!
Hate to hear that. Anything I can do?
I started smoking cigarettes when I was 13, quit when I was 23, and picked it up again with a vengeance when I started drinking heavily. Got tired of waking up in weird places with a horrible taste in mouth and didn't like the idea of being controlled. Bought a pack of nasty USA Gold Menthols, smoked all of them and dropped all the butts in a water bottle with a couple fingers of water. For the next week, whenever I wanted a smoke, I would unscrew that MFer and take a big huff and nearly vomit every time.
Wife still smokes because she's afraid she will gain enough wait to not be a skinny little shit. I wish everyday she would stop. I can't believe how much those damned things cost now. I remember 35 bucks a carton Camel Wides, 3 packs for 3 bucks Montclaires and other such.
On the scale of things I've quit, it's definitely second or third.
My dad did the same sort of thing. Quit a 2 pack a day for 30 year habit one day on a whim. We asked why he was quitting and he said because he wanted to. Never smoked again. Doesn't talk about it ever.Dad once told me the secret to quitting smoking:
"Make up your mind you don't want to smoke, then just don't smoke again. Don't cut back, don't tell yourself you'll quite after this pack or carton. Just stop."
That's how he quite when I was a wee lad back in the late 60s. He had gone to the doctor for something (a rare event for Dad) and the doc told him he needed to quit smoking. Dad, ever the practical person who did not like wasting money or time, figured if he went to the doctor and then didn't follow his advice, he might just as well have burned the money and never gone in the first place.
Was pretty much done with them the day Doc told me I had cancer.
Ask @Chdamn or @DCGallim how much I smoked.
Yeah...part of putting them down is physical, but to me, it was mostly mental; really no different than the day I found out about the cancer. At that point, I only knew “cancer”. I didn’t know what stage it was or if it had spread and if so, where and to what extent.
What I do know is that in my mind, I convinced myself that surviving it was the ONLY option, no matter what the tests and scans showed. Not saying I rejected reality or what it may prove to be, but mentally, I had this condition beat before the treatment plan was even drawn up. Some folks may dismiss that as “fairy tale” thinking and even some in my own family believed me to be in a state of denial. It wasn’t that at all, rather, it was the human will to live/survive and personally, I believe it to be one of the strongest things on earth.
Approach quitting smoking the same way. You gotta convince yourself that you’re a hell of a lot stronger than the urges that say, “One more won’t matter” or “After this pack, I’m done.” Easy? Not at all, but the mind is a powerful thing.
There have been times in the last 20 years I was so tired, I thought I would kill for just 5 minutes of sleep or times I was so exhausted, I didn’t think I could take another step or go on...
But my mind said, “You HAVE to...you ain’t got another option.”
He's smokin em not swallowing emJust keep a bowl of chicken livers in the refrigerator, when you start hacking, go look at it. It'll keep you from seeing your own liver
That’s rough man, I don’t know the answer. For me, I just stopped. It was shitty but eventually it wasn’t.Honest post.
Almost 34, smoked since 16. 6-15 cigarettes a day. A pack in an evening of heavy drinking(1-2 times a year). 2 kids(6&4). Wife never smoked. Been together 15 years in November. I do enjoy smoking. At one point, everyone in my 7 member immediate family smoked. Dad has smoke since 1965, still does. Mom quit during each pregnancy. Her last smoke was about 15 years ago. My brother had a heart attack at 39 in Dec 2019 and I watched CPR performed on him and the paramedics shock him. He had a triple bypass. All of the men in my family(8) except me have all had a heart event to some degree that warranted a surgery. 4 died of heart attacks. Grandfather died of emphysema. During my brothers recovery, his heart surgeon gave me a referral for tests as he learned our family history of heart issues. All of my tests passed with success.
I argue with my wife about smoking. I don't do it in front of my kids, or when out on family events/vacations. I won't smoke when with a group of people and I am the only smoker. I won't excuse myself from them either to go and smoke. But I drive for work every day and work by myself. Driving is the largest trigger for me as it cures the boredom. I am active, can run a mile. Within weight for my age.
All of the above are excuses for my smoking. As others stated, it's the effing annoying bastard in my head. It's the lack of will power. The gas station stops. Alcohol. Money isn't a problem, never spent my last dollars on smokes. Of everyone in my family only my dad and I smoke.
I've tried turkey, patches(absolutely horrific vivid dreams), gum, lozenge, phone counseling via work, straws, toothpicks. Knew a couple people that did chantix with bad reactions, so that made me timid. And I got chantix from my doctor 2 days before my brothers heart attack, and reading the insert in his ICU room didn't help either. His surgeon(while not my primary doctor) suggested trying something else as the family history of heart failure could be concerning while taking chantix.
Not sure what other routes to take to stop. If having kids didn't work, and all my other methods didn't as well.
What's left?
Honest post.
Almost 34, smoked since 16. 6-15 cigarettes a day. A pack in an evening of heavy drinking(1-2 times a year). 2 kids(6&4). Wife never smoked. Been together 15 years in November. I do enjoy smoking. At one point, everyone in my 7 member immediate family smoked. Dad has smoke since 1965, still does. Mom quit during each pregnancy. Her last smoke was about 15 years ago, 15 years after I was born. My brother had a heart attack at 39 in Dec 2019 and I watched CPR performed on him and the paramedics shock him. He had a triple bypass. All of the men in my family(8) except me have all had a heart event to some degree that warranted a surgery. 4 died of heart attacks. Grandfather died of emphysema. During my brothers recovery, his heart surgeon gave me a referral for tests as he learned our family history of heart issues. All of my tests passed with success.
I argue with my wife about smoking. I don't do it in front of my kids, when they are awake or when out on family events/vacations. I won't smoke when with a group of people and I am the only smoker. I won't excuse myself from them either to go and smoke. But I drive for work every day and work by myself. Driving is the largest trigger for me as it cures the boredom. I am active, can run a mile. Within weight for my age.
All of the above are excuses for my smoking. As others stated, it's the effing annoying bastard in my head. It's the lack of will power. The gas station stops. Alcohol. Money isn't a problem, never spent my last dollars on smokes. Of everyone in my family only my dad and I smoke.
I've tried turkey, patches(absolutely horrific vivid dreams), gum, lozenge, phone counseling via work, straws, toothpicks. Knew a couple people that did chantix with bad reactions, so that made me timid. And I got chantix from my doctor 2 days before my brothers heart attack, and reading the insert in his ICU room didn't help either. His surgeon(while not my primary doctor) suggested trying something else as the family history of heart failure could be concerning while taking chantix.
Not sure what other routes to take to stop. If having kids didn't work, and all my other methods didn't as well.
What's left?
That reminds me... I quit cold turkey the first time, and it took a long time. [whiney] It was hard! The second time, I knew a bit more, and I understood human nature/myself a little better. So I played a head game with me.Dad once told me the secret to quitting smoking:
"Make up your mind you don't want to smoke, then just don't smoke again. Don't cut back, don't tell yourself you'll quite after this pack or carton. Just stop.
You've already started. You are aware you ought to quit, you (kinda) want to, and you've admitted it.What's left?
Honest post.
Almost 34, smoked since 16. 6-15 cigarettes a day. A pack in an evening of heavy drinking(1-2 times a year). 2 kids(6&4)...What's left?
Thanks, too damn ornery to give up!Hang in there brother I quit 34 years ago. Was a pallbearer for my best friend last Year bone cancer, commented smoked one to many.
Of all the things I read here, none of them involved anyone's plan but yours.Honest post.
Almost 34, smoked since 16. 6-15 cigarettes a day. A pack in an evening of heavy drinking(1-2 times a year). 2 kids(6&4). Wife never smoked. Been together 15 years in November. I do enjoy smoking. At one point, everyone in my 7 member immediate family smoked. Dad has smoke since 1965, still does. Mom quit during each pregnancy. Her last smoke was about 15 years ago, 15 years after I was born. My brother had a heart attack at 39 in Dec 2019 and I watched CPR performed on him and the paramedics shock him. He had a triple bypass. All of the men in my family(8) except me have all had a heart event to some degree that warranted a surgery. 4 died of heart attacks. Grandfather died of emphysema. During my brothers recovery, his heart surgeon gave me a referral for tests as he learned our family history of heart issues. All of my tests passed with success.
I argue with my wife about smoking. I don't do it in front of my kids, when they are awake or when out on family events/vacations. I won't smoke when with a group of people and I am the only smoker. I won't excuse myself from them either to go and smoke. But I drive for work every day and work by myself. Driving is the largest trigger for me as it cures the boredom. I am active, can run a mile. Within weight for my age.
All of the above are excuses for my smoking. As others stated, it's the effing annoying bastard in my head. It's the lack of will power. The gas station stops. Alcohol. Money isn't a problem, never spent my last dollars on smokes. Of everyone in my family only my dad and I smoke.
I've tried turkey, patches(absolutely horrific vivid dreams), gum, lozenge, phone counseling via work, straws, toothpicks. Knew a couple people that did chantix with bad reactions, so that made me timid. And I got chantix from my doctor 2 days before my brothers heart attack, and reading the insert in his ICU room didn't help either. His surgeon(while not my primary doctor) suggested trying something else as the family history of heart failure could be concerning while taking chantix.
Not sure what other routes to take to stop. If having kids didn't work, and all my other methods didn't as well.
What's left?
Of all the things I read here, none of them involved anyone's plan but yours.