Quit smoking

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I started "smoking" when a buddy and I found you could smoke catalpa tree pods. corn silks and grape vines (talk about "bite").  I then moved up to my dad's Prince Albert cigarettes...yes cigarettes.  They came in a stack of two layers standing on end in a round tin of 100.  I thought I had found a gold mine because how would Dad know he was missing a few cigs...yeh, right.  When I "came out" in 1958 at age 16, I was working at a Safeway market and chose Lucky Strikes, non-filtered, of course and 10 cents a pack after I joined the Navy and went to sea.  A few years later I was a Marlboro man and finished up with Merits - with a many cigars, pipes, OP's (other peoples') and an occasional chew along the way.  I finally kicked it in 1998...40 years of puffing if you count grape vines, corn silks and catalpa pods.  Interestingly, I never did try marijuana.  Guess my midwest upbringing ruled that out.  Who knows?  I might try it yet now that it's becoming more "acceptible".
 
Tom said:
Here's one explanation: http://www.achooallergy.com/winter-asthma.asp

That is a good article.  I still wonder why it works the opposite for me.  I guess I'll just thank my lucky stars that I don't have Asthma.  And I do get quite a bit of exercise being outside during the Winter.  A plus.
 
Update:
I'm serious about this.  I haven't just brushed it off.  I haven't been able to get it out of my mind for the past week with the end of the year so close!  I'm nervous. 
 
Mark - I smoked cigarettes for 30 years. At the start of the new millennium my New Millennium Resolution was to quit smoking. It was easy. I haven't had a cigarette since then and I have no desire. I can sit right next to a smoker all day and it doesn't bother me. The secret to quitting is easy. You simply do not ever again buy a pack a cigarettes. So how hard can that be? Just stop buying the things.

There are many cool things about quitting smoking. First off you are saving $5 to $10 a day. Your sense of smell will return, your taste buds will taste things better than ever. Your breath won't smell like a forest fire. Your clothes won't stink, your car won't stink, your house won't stink. You won't have to stand outside freezing at your friends house because you are "dying" for a cigarette. You will live a longer and healthier life. That will give you more time to travel the USA and spend time with your grand kids. You won't end up breathing through a tube in your neck. You won't need an oxygen machine. You won't need an iron lung. You will no longer have to carry a lighter everywhere you go.

The interesting thing about quitting smoking is the first thing you find out is that there really isn't any reason at all to smoke. Nothing positive comes from it and there are tons of negatives and expenses.
 
What Tom Seiler said.  Exactly.  Except it was not easy for me.  It was very difficult, but still worth it.  I shudder remembering how everything must have smelled:  me, my breath, my clothes, my house, my car.  It's vey embarassing in retrospect.  :( 

Margi
 
Tom and Margi said:
What Tom Seiler said.  Exactly.  Except it was not easy for me.  It was very difficult, but still worth it.  I shudder remembering how everything must have smelled:  me, my breath, my clothes, my house, my car.  It's vey embarassing in retrospect.  :( 
The first day was not easy but every time I wanted a smoke I recited the list of reasons why smoking sucks. The urge went away promptly. And like Margi says, it is embarrassing to smell other smokers now from 10 feet away realizing that used to be me.
 
I'm absorbing everything I read here.  I know all of it is true.  It's like a prize fighter getting ready for the bout that wins him the championship belt.  That is what I am shooting for.
 
:eek: :eek: Mark: I am turned 61 in July, after almost losing my life the end of March; to artherserosis (stiffing arteries caused by smoking since sneaking Lucky Strikes when I was twelve.) Between that and chloresterol which severely clogged my arteries in my heart which required three stents. That was about the 4th 0r 5th time I quit. I will never again buy, take or bum any tobacco products. I have made up my mind to never smoke again.

    It has been 8 months without them and I have no cravings now. The first 2 weeks are the toughest, but you have plenty of support here. If you feel as though you are going to smoke one, get in touch with one of us first before you light it. You can do it; but you have to want to.
 
I remember one other trick I used that make it easier to quit smoking. Once I quit when ever the urge to light up would occur I would ask myself exactly what kind of cancer I was hoping to get. Lip cancer? Mouth cancer? Throat cancer? Lung cancer? How about emphysema? That always killed the desire.
 
SeilerBird said:
I remember one other trick I used that make it easier to quit smoking. Once I quit when ever the urge to light up would occur I would ask myself exactly what kind of cancer I was hoping to get. Lip cancer? Mouth cancer? Throat cancer? Lung cancer? How about emphysema? That always killed the desire.

I know you're a camera guy but you also do well at painting pictures.  :)
 
Irover said:
If you feel as though you are going to smoke one, get in touch with one of us first before you light it. You can do it; but you have to want to.

Thank you, my friend.  5 more days.  That is when I feel like the blade of the guillotine comes down.  Either the blade of my stupidity kills me, or maybe I can stop it somehow. 

Tonight will be a test.  A Winter storm coming up that is going to skirt the area I will have to drive in tonight.  Going to be tough.  I have been trying to cut back for a couple of weeks now gearing up for this.

Doing my best.
 
denmarc said:
1 more day.
Until you start your new, healthy life, and start counting UP until the day comes when you don't feel the need to count how many days you've been a non-smoker because you will be a non-smoker for the rest of your life.

Wendy
 
It's going to be a SOB for me, Margi!  I'm diving in with both feet!

Wendy, the day when I don't have to count the days up is when I know I accomplished my current goal.

Thank you both for the support!
 
We all had our little crutches while going through it.  Mine was unsalted popcorn and crossword puzzles.  Took care of hand-to-mouth habit and kept the brain thinking of something else (trying to, anyway).

Margi
 
Margi used popcorn, I used stick candy...her choice was much healthier than mine :) Best advice I can offer is to stay away from people who smoke and places where people smoke. And you will hit that day when you quit counting the days. You Can Do It.

Wendy
 
Another good thing is to enlist friends or family who are also smokers.  I told my friends to NEVER give me a cigarette no matter how much I begged them.  I had good friends.  Not a one ever gave in to me.  The good thing is I quit and sorry to say they didn't.

ArdraF
 
ArdraF said:
Another good thing is to enlist friends or family who are also smokers.  I told my friends to NEVER give me a cigarette no matter how much I begged them.  I had good friends.  Not a one ever gave in to me.  The good thing is I quit and sorry to say they didn't.
I just cannot picture Ardra with a cigarette in her mouth. :-\
 
Incentive?  I quit early in life.  One day my granddaughter and I decided to try to count all the money I had saved, I was 65 at the time.  It?s really hard to do because the price has gone up. the total we came up with  was $80,000 funny how you can pay some one to kill you
 
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