Author Topic: Stopping smoking: when?  (Read 68041 times)

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #150 on: 30 January, 2011, 03:27:40 pm »
I am certain that if I was still a drinker I'd have no chance of stopping smoking. One thing at a time bobb - in your situation, you can worry about the cigs some other time.

I can't recall the last time I smoked indoors. Back when I was still a drinker - the smoking ban came after I'd stopped. I don't smoke in my own flat and stand outside the back door. It's a measure of the power of the habit that when choosing a flat one of the factors in my choice was that it had a good smoking location  ::-)

I've swallowed today's Champix now.

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
  • Help me!
Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #151 on: 30 January, 2011, 04:01:38 pm »
I've swallowed today's Champix now.

Good luck.

I hope you've bought a packet of ginger nut biscuits.
If you don't understand that, you soon will.


Seriously, best of luck matey.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #152 on: 30 January, 2011, 06:11:32 pm »
Reading back through this from the start, there are so many good replies. A most excellent thread.

Clandy

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #153 on: 30 January, 2011, 06:15:49 pm »
I just sat down one day (May 20th 2000), figured out how much I was spending on smoking per month (£175 approx.), thought about all those mega-rich tobacco company owners living a life of luxury while I was voluntarily killing myself with their product, and stopped. Haven't smoked since. It was doubly hard because I also stopped a twenty year dope habit at the same time.

itsbruce

  • Lavender Bike Menace
Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #154 on: 31 January, 2011, 09:05:31 am »
It was doubly hard because I also stopped a twenty year dope habit at the same time.

Hookahs can be your friend ;)
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked: Allen Ginsberg
The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads: Jeff Hammerbacher

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #155 on: 31 January, 2011, 06:57:59 pm »
Good luck Pluck! You can do it.

Clandy

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #156 on: 31 January, 2011, 07:00:01 pm »
It was doubly hard because I also stopped a twenty year dope habit at the same time.

Hookahs can be your friend ;)


Only if you put nothing in the bowl.

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #157 on: 31 January, 2011, 07:22:50 pm »

I think I am sick of smoking. I'm not enjoying my cigarettes: I wolf them down. I smoke as soon as I wake in the morning. Even that first one is not doing much for me, it's just staving off a future lack of nicotine. Cigarettes are a waste of time for me as far as relaxation goes: the underlying knowledge of the actual and potential harm causes more stress than the cigarette can relieve. I am tired of "needing" cigarettes, and the "dependence", the need to ensure a constant supply.

I am starting my first dose of Champix today. I don't want to reveal my proposed quit date - it's not a special day, it is simply (as recommended) between a week and 2 weeks of starting the Champix.

This sounds like someone who's time to give up fags has come.  Keep these things to the front of your mind for the next few days/weeks and develop a bloody-minded stubbornness and you have every chance of success.  Remember, smoking has NO benefits - it's all bad.

I used to buy myself treats at the end of each week with the money I'd saved.  I also got through an enormous amount of boiled sweets!  Whatever it takes to get you through the initial period.

This could change your life, so it's worth giving it a serious go.  Good luck!
The sound of one pannier flapping

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #158 on: 16 February, 2011, 09:41:47 pm »
I don't have any cigarettes.

It is very very odd and I am not sure if I like it. I don't feel any physical need for a cigarette, but... hard to explain the feeling. Hole-like.

Clandy

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #159 on: 16 February, 2011, 09:45:12 pm »
I don't have any cigarettes.

It is very very odd and I am not sure if I like it. I don't feel any physical need for a cigarette, but... hard to explain the feeling. Hole-like.

Find something to occupy your hands. Much of what you're missing is the ritual.

jogler

  • mojo operandi
Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #160 on: 16 February, 2011, 09:46:45 pm »
 Clandy is correct
Fill that hole with saying to yourself
" I am not a smoker"
whilst fettling a bike/a woman or whatever
JFDI :thumbsup:

itsbruce

  • Lavender Bike Menace
Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #161 on: 16 February, 2011, 10:03:40 pm »
Try not to fill the gap with food.
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked: Allen Ginsberg
The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads: Jeff Hammerbacher

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #162 on: 18 February, 2011, 05:00:25 pm »
None yesterday, none today. Can't remember if I had one on Wednesday, if so it was only one in the morning.

I can't say that I am noticing very much at all physically (although the Champix may be a factor there). As mentioned above, it's the routine, the ritual, the habit that I am missing.

This really would be much easier if I somehow felt better.

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #163 on: 18 February, 2011, 05:01:17 pm »
Having said that, this (at 44) is the longest I have gone without a smoke for since I was 16 / 17.

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #164 on: 18 February, 2011, 05:02:54 pm »
This really would be much easier if I somehow felt better.

It'll come, took me about two weeks before I really noticed how much better (or less shit) I was feeling.

Some bits of the routine never leave you. On getting on to a platform at a train station I'll sometimes instinctively pat my trouser pockets to see which one I'd put my ciggies in, despite it being more than 4 years since I last smoked.

Keep up the good work.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

jogler

  • mojo operandi
Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #165 on: 18 February, 2011, 05:11:40 pm »
Keep on with the keeping on :thumbsup:


Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #166 on: 18 February, 2011, 10:16:37 pm »
Go Pluck, go Pluck, go Pluck!  :thumbsup:

It was very nice to see you this evening, and for you not to bring a smell of fags in with you.

Chris S

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #167 on: 18 February, 2011, 10:19:00 pm »
Keep reading the threads here that have made a difference to you. Keep it going!

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #168 on: 21 February, 2011, 06:42:59 pm »
Lapsed after 4 days. Arse.

Another try tomorrow.

I guess it served a purpose. One reason for the lapse is that I "forgot" why I'd stopped. Another is that I somehow felt that I should just check again to see if I liked smoking. I'll put the first reason down to the tricky ways of Nick O'Teen. The second was useful in that it showed me that I just wasn't getting anything out of it any more.

Bah.

F**king arse.

Chris S

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #169 on: 21 February, 2011, 06:47:32 pm »
Lapsed after 4 days. Arse.

Another try tomorrow.

I guess it served a purpose. One reason for the lapse is that I "forgot" why I'd stopped. Another is that I somehow felt that I should just check again to see if I liked smoking. I'll put the first reason down to the tricky ways of Nick O'Teen. The second was useful in that it showed me that I just wasn't getting anything out of it any more.

Bah.

Fucking arse.

It's a process - not an event. Pick yourself up - watch out for that trap next time, and carry on with the process.

I went through lots of different phases before I found the right combination of magic spells to make it stick.

Keep at it - you WILL get there.

Clandy

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #170 on: 21 February, 2011, 06:53:02 pm »
Lapsed after 4 days. Arse.

Another try tomorrow.

I guess it served a purpose. One reason for the lapse is that I "forgot" why I'd stopped. Another is that I somehow felt that I should just check again to see if I liked smoking. I'll put the first reason down to the tricky ways of Nick O'Teen. The second was useful in that it showed me that I just wasn't getting anything out of it any more.

Bah.

Fucking arse.

Look on it as a matter of personal pride. Every time you decide not to light up you are saying 'Fuck you!' to those stinking rich tobacco company owners as they lounge on their mansion sundecks in absolute luxury, knowing it was all paid for from the money of millions of people killing themselves with their product.

jogler

  • mojo operandi
Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #171 on: 21 February, 2011, 07:03:13 pm »
As you say it's a lapse,not the end  result.
You may have lost one battle but keep on persevering:that is the way to win a war.

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #172 on: 21 February, 2011, 07:29:31 pm »
I wouldn't worry too much about lapsing. I did that too, but in between I was learning to go 2, 3, 9 etc. days without one, breaking up the routine. After a while it stuck.

Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #173 on: 21 February, 2011, 11:34:36 pm »
It's a process - not an event. Pick yourself up - watch out for that trap next time, and carry on with the process.

I went through lots of different phases before I found the right combination of magic spells to make it stick.

Yes, I think I saw it the same way - a process rather than an event. Took me a while to get there. It's been over 10 yrs now.

I had some bizzare attempts. I remember one such occasion where I ceremoniously chucked all my fags in a public litter bin, walked about a mile to the pub, got pretty spannered, vaunted all night how virtuous I was to have finally packed up, walked home, walked up to the litter bin, rummaged through the junk, found my fags, went home and smoked them! Just crazy.

I am a firm believer that regardless of how you get help - patchs, support groups, pills, hypnosis or whatever - at the end of the day you really have to want to pack up at a deep level in your mind to succeed. At least that's what I found. You really have to get to the point where you know the game's up. The party's over.  And it has to be genuine. Unfortunately finding that place of finality in your mentality can be a bit allusive sometimes.

All the best.
Garry Broad

jogler

  • mojo operandi
Re: Stopping smoking: when?
« Reply #174 on: 22 February, 2011, 12:01:38 am »
at the end of the day you really have to want to pack up at a deep level in your mind to succeed. At least that's what I found. You really have to get to the point where you know the game's up. The party's over.  And it has to be genuine. Unfortunately finding that place of finality in your mentality can be a bit allusive sometimes.



I'd agree with all that:plus you need an incentive.
A cancer diagnosis on your partner is a powerfull motivator