[ad3952n]

Hi all, I never knew our forum also had a thread based on such a nice topic. Actually, to begin with, my Paa was a chain smoker since his college days in Roorkee. He smoked like a chimney till July 1994. But, on his birthday in July 1994 he gave it up because of me and till date he has never touched it again. I vouch for his will-power to control his habit for almost 2 decades now.

However, I started to smoke not as an addict; rather it is circumstantial due to many rough and emotionally draining phases in my life. But, I have promised to myself that the day I get settled in my life with the one I am waiting for since a couple of years; I will quit it and never touch it again.

Thanks

AD

[abhinav.gupta88]

Originally Posted by ad3952n

Hi all, I never knew our forum also had a thread based on such a nice topic. Actually, to begin with, my Paa was a chain smoker since his college days in Roorkee. He smoked like a chimney till July 1994. But, on his birthday in July 1994 he gave it up because of me and till date he has never touched it again. I vouch for his will-power to control his habit for almost 2 decades now.

However, I started to smoke not as an addict; rather it is circumstantial due to many rough and emotionally draining phases in my life. But, I have promised to myself that the day I get settled in my life with the one I am waiting for since a couple of years; I will quit it and never touch it again.

Thanks

AD

You should not wait for it till the day it happens.

You should always do it now and wish that the thing you are waiting happens sooner.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Absolutely. "I'll give up when..." just means not giving up, ever.

[vu2pmc]

I used to smoke about 5 or 6 cigarettes a day for the last twenty years. I am now 42, and discovered diabetes about 12 years ago. Recently I started pains in the lower calf muscles if I walked for over a km and reading about this suggested to PAD ( peripheral Artery disease). The more I read, the more I got worried. The management was quitting smoking and walking daily despite the pain.
For once I genuinely wished I gave up smoking. I have not smoked for the last 45 days. I hope and wish I stayed thus for ever.
PAD is not widely known to smokers. It can indeed cripple your day to day life.

[Ketan]

Originally Posted by ad3952n

Hi all, I never knew our forum also had a thread based on such a nice topic. Actually, to begin with, my Paa was a chain smoker since his college days in Roorkee. He smoked like a chimney till July 1994. But, on his birthday in July 1994 he gave it up because of me and till date he has never touched it again. I vouch for his will-power to control his habit for almost 2 decades now.

However, I started to smoke not as an addict; rather it is circumstantial due to many rough and emotionally draining phases in my life. But, I have promised to myself that the day I get settled in my life with the one I am waiting for since a couple of years; I will quit it and never touch it again.

Thanks

AD

my advice, don't link those two things. Continue to enjoy your smoke whenever you feel like and continue to enjoy the pain until 'that' moment is back in your life. Not telling you to stop smoking right away, but if you can keep these two things separate, just DO that.

[fine69]

I was one of those who smoked 20+ cigarettes a day. I has asthma and was 17 when I started smoking.

I quit on 10 Aug'06 when I married my then-gf and now-wife and had never touched another cigarette until Dec'13. I had a big fight with my wife and decided that the only way to express my anger was to start smoking again.

I did and this was probably the worst mistake of my life. I tried to quit several times in the last 3-4 months knowing the harm its doing my body but I just couldn't. Until I realized about 2 days back that what had made me quit the last time that I did.

If you wish to quit, just quit. There are no ifs/buts/I will when...attached to it.

When I had quit last time I didn't think of anything at all, I just quit and never picked it up, until now.

And I'm at the same juncture again where I've simply decided to quit, not associating any conditions that I will quit when....or anything like that. I had put up my body through enough harm before and its only idiotic to do it again. So I quit and that's that!

Been sober since 2 days, today being the 3rd day. The only thing I'm really looking forward is breaking Thad E Ginathom's record! Game on!!

I wish to update this thread everyday for the rest of my life so that all of my smoker friends know that there are people who can quit and can get motivated to kick this fatal habit. How do I call myself man enough if I let a small stick decide the fate of my life?!

Kick this habit in the rear, for it will kick your rear soon enough otherwise!

[Thad E Ginathom]

My non-smoking record is helped by my age: if you want to be 60-plus, then you too can have 20 years as a non-smoker easily

Give up at 20, and you can have that by 40.

I'm sure there are people here who break my record easily.

As to the other poison, I gave that up easily, albeit long after tobacco, because, in the end, all it did was give me a headache. No point in paying for a headache!

[fine69]

I'd also like to add that the ads that featured in between the movies played a big role in me accepting that whatever I was doing was very very very bad for my body. Lately there's an ad on TV showing some stuff coming out of one's artery, that was it for me. I mean I never thought it was THAT bad.

While I used to get irritated by these ads for the period I was an absolute non-smoker but I realized this in the last 3-4 months that these ads are a wake-up call for folks like me. Looking at the damage I was doing to my lungs and other organs wasn't a pleasant sight.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by fine69

I'd also like to add that the ads that featured in between the movies .... ad on TV showing some stuff coming out of one's artery, .... lungs and other organs wasn't a pleasant sight.

Good that you have stopped smoking, but bumping into these ads while having dinner...gosh...I feel like

[fine69]

Originally Posted by saket77

Good that you have stopped smoking, but bumping into these ads while having dinner...gosh...I feel like

Hahahahahah

I know the feeling mate, trust me I do! For the gap of 7 years that I did not smoke, everything related to this kind of warning irritated me. I was like, why would somebody stop smoking just because you keep on bringing a ticker that says its harmful. People who are going to smoke would continue smoking, these ads aren't going to stop them!!

But I can speak for myself, that looking at these tickers and ads increased the guilt feeling. I mean everytime it would pop-up I would get frustrated because I knew the damage it was doing to my body and yet I wasn't able to give it up. I guess sensitization works at times!

[noopster]

Originally Posted by fine69

I quit on 10 Aug'06 when I married my then-gf and now-wife and had never touched another cigarette until Dec'13. I had a big fight with my wife and decided that the only way to express my anger was to start smoking again.

I want to thank you for reminding all of us here that the demon never goes away. AA has a philosophy, you never say "I was an alcoholic", it is always "I am an alcoholic", the implication being that all it takes is one slip to go back to your old ways. It holds equally true for smoking.

Just curious- did your gf/wife put pressure on you to quit? I am asking because it seems that way from the reason you have given for starting again. A close friend of mine has been quit 12 years+ because an ex of his told him to quit. He thankfully never went back to smoking even after they broke up!

[fine69]

Originally Posted by noopster

Just curious- did your gf/wife put pressure on you to quit? I am asking because it seems that way from the reason you have given for starting again. A close friend of mine has been quit 12 years+ because an ex of his told him to quit. He thankfully never went back to smoking even after they broke up!

We met in 2001, I started smoking around 2002 and smoked like a chimney by the time it was 2003 (20+ cigarettes a day).

2004 onwards my gf started nagging me to quit but I didn't. I always used to get away saying that I'll quit the day we get married. We did on 10 Aug'06 and the last sms that we exchanged was - "You said you'd quit once we get married" and I replied "I just did".

That day onwards it was my moral duty to never resort to smoking as I had vowed not to take it up ever. However, the day we had this big fight, I thought the only way to really put my message across would be to do the unthinkable.

I felt immense pride in saying 'I quit' whenever someone offered me a cigarette and I never thought I'd go back to it again but I did. However, what changed this time was that earlier I did it because I promised. I was scared of breaking that promise more than anything else. This time, I'm more worried about myself, my body and the other unplesant things smoking brings along.

Not to mention that when one smokes, their lifestyle changes totally. I would be ready to step out of the house at every chance I got just because that was an opportunity to smoke, I would skip lunches but never an opportunity to smoke. I compromised on various other things just so that I could smoke. And I could feel that my body was becoming more lethargic, I wasn't feeling fresh and most importantly (the feeling that really killed me) the guilt after having smoked each of the cigarettes that I did. There have been phases in my life when I've drank everyday for months at a stretch. But I would still call smoking a deadlier habit than drinking. Drinking is a little easy to give up, smoking not so and that's why it makes me proud again having kicked this habit for good!

PS: Why we exchanged an SMS on the night of our marriage, well if you've seen Saathiya (hindi movie) you'd understand, else go watch the film

[ad3952n]

Originally Posted by fine69

I would still call smoking a deadlier habit than drinking. Drinking is a little easy to give up, smoking not so!

Agree with you on this mate, I gave up drinks in October 2012 and since then never touched it. However, I cant say the same for my smoking habit.

Whenever I re-collect my past life and what all personally I have faced in my relationships I just light up one! Till I am single I dont think this habit of mine shall end as I feel this is the temporary way to suppress my pain. However, the day I get married to the one I love and vomit out the pain and sorrows of my heart; that day I will quit smoking.

Thanks

AD

[noopster]

Originally Posted by ad3952n

Till I am single I dont think this habit of mine shall end as I feel this is the temporary way to suppress my pain. However, the day I get married to the one I love and vomit out the pain and sorrows of my heart; that day I will quit smoking.

No you won't. Sorry if this is harsh but it's true.

Simple fact is that every statement that goes "I will do XXX the day YYY" is self-defeating. The only successful quit is in the past tense.

Trust me on this: I did it for years. "I will quit after I get my dream job", "...after I get married", "...after I turn 30" "...after I have a child", "...after New Year's" etc. etc.

The only time it has worked (so far) is in June 2010 when I told myself, "OK, I'm done" and didn't touch another cigarette after that. Simple.

[fine69]

Originally Posted by noopster

No you won't. Sorry if this is harsh but it's true.

Bang on!

I will quit when....just doesn't work!

There's a reason why its called addiction. Had it been that easy, it wouldn't qualify as an addiction.

Addicts never want to man up and accept that they are addicted and would come up with all possible lame excuses to continue smoking/drinking (heck, even I did that for a long time). They'd simply say, I'm only waiting for the right moment to quit. You are addicted to this fatal habit and that's pretty much it. You aren't fooling anyone when you say you'd quit once the time is right. There's only one right time to kick a bad habit, and its NOW!

Otherwise my friend, you are an addict and that's pretty much all there is to it.