A resolution

[pcolbeck]

This week I am 45 which is some kind of milestone.
I have decided that I must stop smoking again (managed 5 years last time been smoking a couple of years since I started again). Simultaneously I think I will go tee total or very nearly so as I think I have been drinking too much recently, not huge amounts but more than normal for me and it's made me gain weight which is starting to bring back my sleep apnoea (seems directly related to collar size with me).
Posting this because unless I record it somewhere and draw a line in the sand it isn't going to happen.
I am away working this week so won't be celebrating my birthday until the weekend (just a few beers with friends) so I start a week today. My coffee consumption will drop drastically as well (coffee goes with a fag) and my tea consumption will rise to take up the slack (I find tea calming).
Quite looking forward to it in a weird way.

[clarion]

Good luck with it.

*another 45yo teetotal coffee-free non-smoker*

[MercuryKev]

You should definitely go for it.  The best two things I've ever done were stopping smoking (6 years ago) and stopping drinking (2 years ago). 

The only downside is that when you tell people that you don't drink most people think that you are either a recovering alcoholic or religious - I'm neither.

[itsbruce]

When I stopped smoking (12 years ago), it took a long time for coffee or alchohol to seem normal without a cigarette.  That was an issue long after all other cravings had stopped and a good enough reason by itself to cut back.

[hellymedic]

Good luck and Happy Birthday!
There is life without fags'n'booze.

[Zoidburg]

There is life without fags'n'booze.

Prove it!

 

[hellymedic]

There is life without fags'n'booze.

Prove it!

 

Not sure I can, after all.
 
The Corpse.

[Zoidburg]

Sorry my dear but I am going to remain as willfully stupid as a creationist on this issue for the near future.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Good resolution, good luck with it, and happy birthday in advance.

[Sergeant Pluck]

All the best for this pcolbeck.

I was advised to give up only one thing at a time. I gave up alcohol 4 years ago - the rationale for doing that first might be "you'll never resist the cigs if you are rat-arsed". On the other hand, 4 years later, I still smoke 

[pcolbeck]

The alcohol wont be to difficult. Until the last 6 moths I was just having two or three pints one night at the weekend and possibly a bottle of wine spilt over a couple of nights (Saturday and Sunday usually with Friday being pub night). Nothing during the week. Have dropped the wine and its been four or five pints Friday and Saturday with a couple on Sunday and a couple another few nights during the week. Not a huge amount by a lot of peoples standard but too much for me.  Want to reign it back in. A couple of weeks t total will help. Will make stopping smoking easier too as I always want one with a drink.

[oncemore]

Good Luck - and Happy Birthday!

[Pedaldog.]

How hangeth it?
I'm a 48 year old Smoker and coffee addict!  I'm, sort of, lucky that I hardly ever drink as I don't actually like the taste of most stuff and I suffer the Hangover from hell after a double Whiskey or more!  I can't drink Tea but I do drink a ridiculous amount of coffee.  I'm used to not associating coffee with smoking as I'm with my brother, Ex Smoker, most days and I don't like putting people in the smell of tabs. I do give up, lousy phrase as it sounds like you're letting something positive go, smoking once or twice every month and sometimes manage a whole day of no tabs.
I've been given a Stern Talking to by brothers, nephews and friends that I am GOING TO STOP SMOKING THIS WEEK! 
Scares the hell out of me but as of Midnight on Friday night. Saturday morning I am going to try and be an EX SMOKER!  Down from 45 to 60 a day is going to be a shock to the system but it has to be.
Are you using any strategies in your quest? I know people are always good at advising others but smoking is such a serious killer that I think taking note of every bit of advice is worth doing.

If all is working to plan you'll be about a week in the clear now so what's the score.. Are you in charge of it?
Good luck.

[Ashaman42]

Something my Mum did that helped her stick with gving up was noting in her diary at the end of each week how much she would normally have spent that week and keeping a running total.

Can't remember how long it took but it was decided that our month long holdiay to Australia for four was basically 'free'.

[pcolbeck]

Not drinking going OK. Not smoking hasn't happened (some personal things have intervened). Will reset start date to tuesday.

[Pedaldog.]

Good start in one of them at least.
Tuesday end or beginning of the day?

[pcolbeck]

Beginning.

[Tonyg]

good luck
the only way I gave up smoking was to give up drinking.
That was 15 years ago still not smoking, but can now enjoy a drink without craving a smoke.

[Pedaldog.]

Going to bed now and, at 01-15am on Saturday, I am ready to light what I intend to be the last cigarette I smoke!
I'll be wibbling by Tuesday morning so it means you don't need to, I'll wibble for the Both of us!

[itsbruce]

Find ways to keep busy - preferably ones which don't involve eating.  Smokers tend to punctuate idle time with a quick smoke; I can remember what it felt like when I'd stopped smoking and had an hour to kill while waiting for X to happen.  Murder.

[oncemore]

Quitting fags sounds very difficult - too difficult for me!

Good luck (again).

[Pedaldog.]

  Well, I managed a few days but late last night/ early this morning I had to wander out to the 24 hour petrol station and bought a packet of tabs!  I've made a good job of destroying them by burning them.. oh, hang on I'm going to try again tonight. How is it going for you Pc?

[Deano]

Quitting fags is damn hard - I had about 7 or 8 tries before I succeeded, and I was hell to be around for a lot of that. 

Treat it as a trial, learn what you can from it, and try again.  Just cos you've had a few doesn't mean you're starting again, forever.  Best of luck!

[Chris S]

First off - you haven't "quit" anything. I hate the term "quitting". You have regained something. After all - none of us were smokers when we were tots.

Stopping smoking (as I prefer to view it) is a process - not an event. It took me several years of occasional attempts, and frequent nights of pacing around the house berating myself and my shit lifestyle.

I had to reinvent myself in order to leave that behind. Maybe you don't need to - we are all different.

I couldn't take on board that "I will never be a smoker again" thing. I was a smoker through and through (2 packs a day, 25 years) and such a concept was just beyond me.

I took it in small steps. I didn't smoke for a morning. Then an afternoon. Then a whole day. I started a game - a dare contest with myself. "Well, if you managed a day - how about another day..." and so on. Soon it was "If you can manage a week - can you manage a fortnight?"

The rest is history. It's 8 years and 5 months since I last smoked. I'm still a smoker - it's just a very long time since I last smoked.

Oh - and not a day goes past when I don't (a) give thanks for stopping and (b) give thanks and love to those around me who gave me the space to reinvent myself, still loved me afterwards, and put up with me being the most miserable fucker imaginable for 6 months. Trust me. Learning that one's kids used to ask their mum's permission to speak to me, was never going to be a winner for the ol' self esteem.

Stick at it PD. IT IS WORTH IT.

[clarion]

That is a brilliant post, Chris.  Thanks.