The Giving Up Smoking Thread!!

helloworld2007

Hi Weezypoos et al,

Welcome aboard! Good luck in your quitting nicotine adventure. Your in good company here - lots of people have or are going through this, and it's a great place to share ideas, concerns, cravings, thoughts, feelings, etc etc etc!

Storm - I too can relate to your story. I was on holiday not so long ago with my partners parents. And like you, resented it when they "tagged along" because I wanted to get away and have a cigarette without them knowing. How rude is that of me. I was staying at their holiday home too. I've never really thought of it until you mentioned it - but now it is on my mental list of motivators.

(1) financial
(2) baby due in October
(3) ignoring / resenting family and friends because of nicotine cravings

Good luck for the rest of the day everyone. I feel OK today. No cravings to report....as of yet.

cheerio for now!

jo1972

Hi Weezy, so glad you came on board!! We are working together on this thread to quit smoking, the more people that join in the stronger we are! Take a look at the first post on this thread and check out some of the links, when (if) you feel you're waivering click on the Max Kirsten's stopping smoking link and you'll will definately remember why you are stopping. Keep posting, tell us your progress, rant, rave, big yourself up whatever, we're all here to listen!

HW, glad you're doing ok today, keep looking at that scan pic

I just got a pang of hunger but not time for lunch yet so finished off the jar of beetroot I had in the work fridge, oh my god they tasted so much stronger than when I bought them! I'm sure my taste buds have doubled!!

newsgroup_monkey

Storm wrote: »

Boxing Day came & I went to take the dog to the local park & my 5 year old nephew piped up saying he wanted to come too... What made me cry was that I was so hooked on the drug of nicotine I actually RESENTED my little nephew wanting to spend time just with me! I watched him from a distance playing with the football we'd taken so I could sneak a fag without him seeing (he would have gone & told people!) instead of being out there playing with him.

Storm x

Hey guys, sorry LTNS :cool:

I've got some bits and bobs to share with you too......

Firstly an apology, if you're struggling, I feel for you. Don't read the next bit!

I'm finding this really really easy.

Why? Around this time last year, I split up with my wife. We have 2 young children. When we first met, we both smoked. My wife quit with the first one but got caught out after she gave birth and went back to the demon weed. After the second one, she quit again. Apart from holidays (dunno why holidays, but she quits as soon as she comes home) she has never smoked.

Since my children were born, I've tried not to directly smoke in front of them. That doesn't mean they don't know. They saw me going to the garden for a smoke. When they were playing on the swings in the pub beer garden they'd see me smoking, they'd know where I was going if we were in a restaurant etc.

I have to say, I am and always will be ashamed of that and I can totally sympathise with Storm.

Those of you who are or have been separated with Children and only have access rights will understand that when you get your kids, you need to 100% focus on them. I'm lucky, I get my kids at least every other weekend and one evening in the week. Others I know aren't so lucky.

Smoking gets in the way. Period. If you take the kids to the park or on an outing or whatever, smoking just gets in the way. You end up trying to structure your day around getting a smoke in.

I am also lucky that I have a new partner, we are shortly getting our first house together and my life is back on track. She is a non-smoker (not particularly anti though). She does understand though that my kids come first. That means she HAS to be a close second. Don't have the time or effort for Smoking.

Allen Carr's book was for me lifechanging. We ALL know that we shouldn't smoke. We ALL know that it's hurting us. For me, the types of cigarettes that I smoked (Rizla Concept made up with imported baccy) cost me less than £5 per week for 20 a day. Now I do understand for some people £5 per week is a big deal, but I can shave that off shopping bills etc.

So the financial incentive was never an issue. Until you realise something.

When you are a smoker, think about being in a shopping centre or a foreign airport. Where COULD you smoke? Cafes, Bars etc. Ooh. Let's spend £3 on a pint so that I can have a couple of cigarettes.

Same when I was out with my partner.

Anyways, getting back to the point.........

It's been easy for me in so much as I get the slightest little pang, it's over.

It gets shot out of my mind because I start thinking about my kids, my partner and myself.

Time is something that cannot be bought, earned or demanded. It is something you have to use wisely.

I know there's other people reading this thread who have similar issues (even if you're not separated, you're making excuses around your kids).

I apologise for not visiting the thread as much as I should.... as I've explained, I'm rarely thinking about smoking and it's only when I spot one of those "Someone replied to a thread you're watching" that I even think about it.

KEEP GOING PEOPLE! IT DOES GET EASIER!

:beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer:
:beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer:

I'm gonna say it again btw.... I quit just over 5 weeks ago. I'm not going to smoke again.

I'm also not someone who was a "Joker Smoker". This was someone who's smoked regularly since I was 13 and have been on 20 a day since about 15. 20 years of the demon weed!

jo1972

Here Here Monkey!! Well said

I'm so glad you are still doing well, please keep popping in with your words of wisdom!

weezypoos

I get every bit of what your saying. I live at home with my hubby and 5 year old daughter but feel so guilty with the smoking! I too have smoked about 20 a day since I was 14 and am now <cough> 28. I find myself sneaking off to have a cig instead of playing with our daughter, anything for those 5 minutes when I can smoke. These minutes could be spent with her. If I'm not smoking, I'm thinking about it, so it stops, today.

This thread has been so inspirational, its fantastic reading other peoples success's. Well done to you all and I shall be here everyday for some motivation!

helloworld2007

newsgroup_monkey wrote: »

....Smoking gets in the way. Period....You end up trying to structure your day around getting a smoke in.

....It gets shot out of my mind because I start thinking about my kids, my partner and myself.

....Time is something that cannot be bought, earned or demanded. It is something you have to use wisely.

Excellent wise words there!

It's only when you stop you realise:-

- how much time the physical act of smoking takes from you (let alone the amount it takes away from your lifespan),

- how many times 'when can/will I have my next cig' thought enters your head in a day,

- how many deviations you have to make to (1) get money (2) find shop that sells cigarettes

Still on top of things today!! Good to hear everyone is doing well too. Good to hear your still pounding around the streets/undergrounds of London jo! Keep it up everyone!!

:T

cheers!

jo1972

Weezy, I'm 35 so you're gonna get 7 years of non-smoking more than me, I also started at 14!! Don't let yourself get to 35 and remember 'trying' to quit at 28 and realise you've lost 7 years! You must realise that the next few weeks will be difficult at times but so worth it when you get there Good luck to your dh too

HW, I'm pounding the streets everywhere now, just went to the corner shop and back in record time and I wasn't in the slightest bit breathless! I went for chocolate by the way not fags Although got a extra large 8 chunk dairy milk whole nut and now feel sick

helloworld2007

Chocolate -v- cigarettes = chocolate is the best for you by far!! It has proven medicinal qualities!

I'm sure it might have been mentioned/posted on here before, but

http://www.bmj.com/content/vol335/issue7609/images/large/avep489799.f1.jpeg

is a nice little graphic that shows the balancing act that goes on when giving up smoking in terms of the desire to stop and the need to smoke.

(Taken from a stopping smoking clinical review: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/335/7609/37)

keep it up everyone!! Breathe that nice clean air in!!

cheerio!

newsgroup_monkey

helloworld2007 wrote: »

Chocolate -v- cigarettes = chocolate is the best for you by far!! It has proven medicinal qualities!

Ooh... that just reminded me.....

http://www.lingscars.com/car_detail.php?make_model=91&id=1376&status=0

Pick a car (any car) and she tells you how many fags equivalent a car costs....

It's near the bottom of the page......

The one I picked above costs the same as 18 fags per day.

I love the quote....

Encouraged by Charles Kennedy, LibDem celeb & freedom smoker! It's fun to compare new car cost to lung cancer!

helloworld2007

Craving alert!!!

My partner has gone out for the evening - so I'm having to defend for myself!! Big big cravings at the moment. 70% is saying 'go on have a cig" 30% is saying "no dont!'.

I'm hoping in the next half an hour it will be vice versa.....

I'm not going to give in. No. No chance. I wonder what I'm going to be like at the leaving do on Thursday night.....gulp...Nope. Be strong. I've come this far. I'm not going back to my old ways. Ahh.....70% is now saying 'dont have a cig'.....rant over!!

Keep it up everyone!!