Author Topic: Stopping smoking: when?  (Read 67890 times)

Stopping smoking: when?
« on: 14 July, 2008, 10:13:10 pm »
I think I am at the stage where I can either stop soon or I might as well carry on for the rest of my days.

I keep hoping for some stand-out date but they all pass by in a haze of Marlboro smoke.

How did the ex-smokers among you pick a date for an attempt?

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #1 on: 14 July, 2008, 10:16:05 pm »
It was going to be the next weekday morning for about three years and then one day it just was. I would pick a Tuesday of a week you know you are going to be really busy (so as to have distractions) and go for it.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

woollypigs

  • Mr Peli
    • woollypigs
Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #2 on: 14 July, 2008, 10:17:08 pm »
What about just now, just stop, never light up again, easy and simple, no stress about "I gotta stop buy this date", yup just stop.

My old man just stopped, ran out of smokes, couldn't be arsed to go and get some more, and then just stopped.
Current mood: AARRRGGGGHHHHH !!! #bollockstobrexit

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #3 on: 14 July, 2008, 10:18:05 pm »
I get anxious if I even think I might run out, even though I live about 2 minutes from a baccy shop.

eck

  • Gonna ride my bike until I get home...
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Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #4 on: 14 July, 2008, 10:18:58 pm »
After 23 years as a member of the Scottish Pro Smoking Team, I decided that I wanted not to smoke any more. I read Allen Carr's "Easy Way to Stop Smoking": his advice was to choose a date about six weeks away that had some significance for you, and look forward to that being the date on which you would become an ex-smoker.  Don't try to cut down before then, just smoke "normally", and look forward to the date. I know a lot of it is cod-psychology, but it worked for me.
I chose my son's third birthday. He's 18 now.  :thumbsup:

Quote
a haze of Marlboro smoke.

Edit: funnily enough, my last ever fag was a Marlboro. 10.12pm, 30 November 1992.
It's a bit weird, but actually quite wonderful.

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #5 on: 14 July, 2008, 10:20:18 pm »
I don't have any good advice, but I hate to think how bloody fast you'd be if you stopped smoking.  :o :o :o

 ;)

bobajobrob

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #6 on: 14 July, 2008, 10:21:32 pm »
I gave up for 8 months in 2005, it was just a case of not wanting to smoke. Tried to give up 10 days ago but failed miserably after 5 days and an incident with some cider in Somerset. Don't give up giving up :thumbsup:

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #7 on: 14 July, 2008, 10:27:51 pm »
Wot Wooly said, just stop. You know it makes sense.
[Quote/]Adrian, you're living proof that bandwidth is far too cheap.[/Quote]

FatBloke

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Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #8 on: 14 July, 2008, 10:35:26 pm »
I just stopped. From smoking 25-30 a day!

The price of a packet of 20 Rothmans King Size had just reached £1.25!   :o

I had a mortgage that was costing me £130 per month. I was skint.

The date? October 29th 1984.

Never looked back!  Where's that smug bastard smiley?
This isn't just a thousand to one shot. This is a professional blood sport. It can happen to you. And it can happen again.

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #9 on: 14 July, 2008, 10:43:42 pm »
How did the ex-smokers among you pick a date for an attempt?

(I read Allen Carr, it worked for me for 6 months but I started again. Still, enough of it remained in my brain and...)

I'd always said I'd never smoke in my thirties (I started at 18) so I had many years leading up to that date to prepare. I had a (surprise) thirtieth birthday party the day before my 30th birthday and got absolutely shitfaced. I was so hungover the next day I couldn't even face smoking even if I did want one. Haven't had one since and it's been pretty easy (compared with the other attempts).
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #10 on: 14 July, 2008, 10:44:11 pm »
I think I am at the stage where I can either stop soon or I might as well carry on for the rest of my days.

I keep hoping for some stand-out date but they all pass by in a haze of Marlboro smoke.

How did the ex-smokers among you pick a date for an attempt?

I didn't stop. I just ran out of cigarettes one day and was lazy/busy enough that I didn't get any more for a day. At which point I decided to see what would happen if I didn't get any the *next* day either. And so on. I wasn't *quitting* - I was just experimenting - so I didn't get as anxious, and if I had bought cigarettes I wouldn't have felt a failure for doing so. So there wasn't the pressure of quitting, I suppose.

It's only been a few months, mind. It might not stick.

Torslanda

  • Professional Gobshite
  • Just a tart for retro kit . . .
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Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #11 on: 14 July, 2008, 10:52:39 pm »
Once upon a time there was a weak man called Torslanda. He smoked. He smoked because he was unhappy, he smoked because he felt he was under pressure. It was a habit and he had done it for 26 years. He scored a new job with the prospect of less pressure, less stress and more free time and began to think more about stopping.

One day he was invited to UK Biobank and while he was there he spoke to a nuse from the British Heart Foundation. The conversation went along these lines.

'So, Mr Torslanda, do you have a pension?'
'Yes I'm saving for my children's future and my retirement'
'Why bother? You're not going to live to collect it!'

At first Mr T was affronted, then frightened and then he realised he was being given a not-so-gentle prod in the right direction.

He quit.

That was in March this year. In April he suffered anxiety/panic attacks but still kept off the fags. In May he was made redundant from his new job but despite being sorely tempted he still kept off the fags.

20 weeks after packing in smoking he now goes out to ride his bike for pleasure. Admittedly not as often as he would like but you can't have everything. He got a new job fairly quickly and doesn't miss the fags too much.

Sarge, you can do this. Don't look for some appointed day of significance.

JUST STOP!

Stop now. For the rest of tonight try not to have a fag. If you succeed then do it again tomorrow. Do it  for an hour at a time. Say to yourself not 'Can I do this?' but 'I CAN DO THIS!'

This is VITAL. DON'T TELL ANYONE THAT YOU ARE/HAVE GIVEN UP SMOKING. What I mean is; let them find out. Be proud of yourself.

Trust me. If you can stop for an hour, then you can do two. If you can do two you can go from lunch to teatime. Then it's a hop- skip & jump to the next morning.
Update yourself, there's a whole thread somewhere about Mr Torslanda's attempts.

The only significant date is the one marked on your calender in big red letters

'THE DAY I GAVE UP SMOKING'
Mr Torslanda managed it and he's a weak-willed wanker!
luv'n'stuff

J
VELOMANCER

Well that's the more blunt way of putting it but as usual he's dead right.

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #12 on: 14 July, 2008, 10:58:26 pm »
Oh, I might have been omitting things there. I had spent at least a year *contemplating* quitting, and trying to get rid of as many habitual cigarette things as possible, before that. So I'd managed to stop having cigarettes for the sake of them when I got off a bus, or whatever. I think that helped a lot, because there were fewer times when I'd reach for a cigarette out of habit.

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #13 on: 14 July, 2008, 11:00:59 pm »
Great stuff and very thought provoking replies, everyone.

*Chain smokes furiously at the thought of stopping now*

No, not now, dammit, I want to talk theoretically about future dates, especially future dates, way way in the future, when stopping smoking will be so effortless that I don't even notice. That's the kind of date I'm after.  ;D

Anyway in the meantime tell me good things about not smoking. Will I get a girlfriend?
Hmm? OK, get laid even?

woollypigs

  • Mr Peli
    • woollypigs
Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #14 on: 14 July, 2008, 11:01:57 pm »

This is VITAL. DON'T TELL ANYONE THAT YOU ARE/HAVE GIVEN UP SMOKING. What I mean is; let them find out. Be proud of yourself.


As a none smoker, that just make so much sense. How great that would feel when your friends after a while go erm Sergent you smoked didn't you and you can then say nope not since x date. That would just make me feel so great if I could say that :)

So then how long since your last smoke ?
Current mood: AARRRGGGGHHHHH !!! #bollockstobrexit

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #15 on: 14 July, 2008, 11:05:21 pm »
Yes, I agree I made an error last time by talking about it and putting myself under pressure in advance.

Won't do that again.

Torslanda

  • Professional Gobshite
  • Just a tart for retro kit . . .
    • John's Bikes
Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #16 on: 14 July, 2008, 11:08:05 pm »
Me? Mr Torslanda hasn't smoked since March 13th.

This is deliberate BTW. Mr Torslanda has given up fags. It feels more detached yetr more secure, somehow.

J
VELOMANCER

Well that's the more blunt way of putting it but as usual he's dead right.

woollypigs

  • Mr Peli
    • woollypigs
Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #17 on: 14 July, 2008, 11:09:27 pm »
Good news Mr T though the question was aimed at Mr Pluck :)
Current mood: AARRRGGGGHHHHH !!! #bollockstobrexit

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #18 on: 14 July, 2008, 11:09:39 pm »


Anyway in the meantime tell me good things about not smoking. Will I get a girlfriend?
Hmm? OK, get laid even?

Yes obviously and Yes lots





Opinions expressed may contain truths or traces of truths
[Quote/]Adrian, you're living proof that bandwidth is far too cheap.[/Quote]

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #19 on: 14 July, 2008, 11:12:18 pm »
I think the fact that I've been able to shed some excess weight over the past several months has encouraged me to look at stopping smoking as an interesting exercise e exercise in control, rather than something to be done for any particular health related reason.

I'm not sure if that is a good way to think about it.

The promble is that to succeed I think I need short term rewards. And I think stopping smoking is more about long term rewards, but I am not good at those.

[Edit: Ta Adrian  ;D ]

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #20 on: 14 July, 2008, 11:18:41 pm »
I think I am at the stage where I can either stop soon or I might as well carry on for the rest of my days.

I keep hoping for some stand-out date but they all pass by in a haze of Marlboro smoke.

How did the ex-smokers among you pick a date for an attempt?

I gave it serious consideration when I was in the Ambulance connected to Oxygen and the Cardiac monitor.  I finally quit when the Cardiologist said If I carried on I'd not see 50 (I was 42).  Now 45 and not smoked since.

redshift

  • High Priestess of wires
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Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #21 on: 14 July, 2008, 11:22:11 pm »
I took a slightly different approach.  Early in 1998, I did a long stint at work, by which I mean I worked 10 14-hour days without a break (It's TV, that's only slightly worse than normal).  At the end of that, I came down with Something Nasty.  Something Nasty made a jolly nice home for itself in my chest and sinuses, and I went to bed for a couple of days, being tired and shagged out after a long squawk.  I awoke one morning, to find myself feeling a bit icky, and realised that Something Nasty had left me a present in the back of my throat.  *jump the spoiler if you are squeamish*
(click to show/hide)

I stopped that day, never smoked again so far, and never minded going into pubs, or sitting with people who smoked.  I just stopped wanting to do it there and then.
After 6 months, I bought a new camera and lens, and three years later I bought Speedy, neither of which would have happened without giving up smoking.
L
:)
Windcheetah No. 176
The all-round entertainer gets quite arsey,
They won't translate his lame shit into Farsi
Somehow to let it go would be more classy…

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #22 on: 14 July, 2008, 11:27:00 pm »
The promble is that to succeed I think I need short term rewards. And I think stopping smoking is more about long term rewards, but I am not good at those.

Save your cigarette pennies for a month and put them towards something (some piece of shiny bike kit?) you want but do not need, and can't really otherwise justify getting? Or towards a posh and frivolous meal?

Valiant

  • aka Sam
    • Radiance Audio
Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #23 on: 14 July, 2008, 11:37:32 pm »
I'm contemplating the same thing at the moment. Good luck Simon, I two am scared to think of how fast you'll be when you do stop. Eeek.
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Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #24 on: 15 July, 2008, 07:36:07 am »
The promble is that to succeed I think I need short term rewards. And I think stopping smoking is more about long term rewards, but I am not good at those.

Save your cigarette pennies for a month and put them towards something (some piece of shiny bike kit?) you want but do not need, and can't really otherwise justify getting? Or towards a posh and frivolous meal?

I did that over 20 years ago, I put the £1.00 per day :o in a draw at work.  I wanted to buy bits to "do up" my old Claud Butler 10 speed bike, and was skint.

A good piece of advice I was given FWIW

"The first few days are the worst, you will probably be proud of yourself Well done.  Promise yourself you do not want to go through that again.  the next days will become easier but the temptation to have just one becomes greater because you "have beaten it."  You are only kidding yourself. If you have just one puff after a few days you will be back smoking more than you were before.   Each day remind yourself how many days you have managed, and that if you smoke today you will have to go through it all again."

Watch out for other smokers!!!!  They secretly want you to fail it makes them feel better.  they will keep offering you cigarettes!  Avoid them if possible in the begining and situations where habit will remind you of your desire to smoke.

Good Luck

Personally I would just start today no big song and dance, just stop.  The more people who know you have stopped (you are not giving up!)the more you need to prove to them and yourself that you can do it.

Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world, I should know I've done it hundred of times - Mark Twain