[Shivanshu]

I want to quit smoking too. I used to smoke almost a pack of Ultra Milds everyday. I have reduced it to 10. But I would like to quit.

Reason for Quitting:
1. Want to be able to ride more and till the end of my Life Span.
2. Want to be able to drive down to any altitude and any age till the age last.
3. Stay healthy.

Kindly advice please.

[pgupta]

After having smoked for many many years, I was able to quit and am going strong for last 3-4 years. What has worked for me is constantly reminding myself about the risk of getting a bad disease, every time I started smoking. However it was not easy but it took almost 1 year to finally get rid of it. It has been a big confidence booster too that I could quit smoking once for all.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by carboy

That's my point - it's not binary. There are a lot of grey areas.

If you want to talk about the grey areas, why not start a thread about not quite giving up smoking, or maybe other ways to take nicotine.

On the other hand, if you have anything useful to say about giving it all up, carry on...

[bblost]

Mod Note:

This thread is about quitting smoking.
Its not about forming other habits to break a habit.

Please do not side track the discussion.

Thanks,
Support Team

[sudeep.pandya]

Okay so it will be 6 months/180 days on 21st sep (Method: cold turkey) Thinking of celebrating that by lighting just one stick and pull 3-4 puffs. Is this a good idea?

[Shashankjk]

Originally Posted by sudeep.pandya

Okay so it will be 6 months/180 days on 21st sep (Method: cold turkey) Thinking of celebrating that by lighting just one stick and pull 3-4 puffs. Is this a good idea?

Wrong. Never ever ever ever think of relaxing and going back, it's quick to pounce on your subconscious mind and become a habit again. Please continue to abstain unless you want to start again

[mayankk]

For the last 3 weeks, I have been planning to quit, but it has been a mouse's plan so far. Aft gone awry.
I was to take a trip which has been cancelled twice now, and it was to be my no smoking trip. I quit drinking the same way. Went to A&N, and left it there. Been 10 years, and never had an urge.
However, this feels different. The trip is for the 10th september. Howver, when it was cancelled the last two times, There was sense of relief, and a good long smoke on the morning of the day I was to leave. Followed immediately by a great sense of guilt at being such a slave!! How difficult will this be? Lets see.
Keeping my fingers crossed for the time being. To literally not be able to hold a cigarette.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by sudeep.pandya

Okay so it will be 6 months/180 days on 21st sep (Method: cold turkey) Thinking of celebrating that by lighting just one stick and pull 3-4 puffs. Is this a good idea?

You could hardly have a worse idea!

I have not smoked for over 24 years. One cigarette would burn my throat and hurt my lungs, but I fear that it would be followed by another (hey, smoked even when I had bronchitis ) and another and another.

You've given up, and congratulations on your first six months. Celebrate by not smoking a cigarette!

Originally Posted by mayankk

However, this feels different. The trip is for the 10th september. Howver, when it was cancelled the last two times, There was sense of relief, and a good long smoke on the morning of the day I was to leave.

This is my first law of giving up. Make it unconditional and irrevocable. You're becoming a non-smoker, and nothing that goes wrong, whether it is a broken heart or a cancelled trip is going to change that. Otherwise it will always, somehow, turn into "I picked the wrong day to quit smoking."

You can be a non-smoker by the time your trip happens!

[sudeep.pandya]

Originally Posted by Shashankjk

Wrong. Never ever ever ever think of relaxing and going back, it's quick to pounce on your subconscious mind and become a habit again. Please continue to abstain unless you want to start again

No I do not want to start again. The smoke still attracts me and I really have to stop myself after the occasional drink sessions with my friends who all are smokers.

I see occasional smokers, who light just 4-5 cigs a week. Even after trying I never managed to be an occasional smoker.

Of course, this 6 month smoke free period came after numerous futile attempts.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

You could hardly have a worse idea!



I have not smoked for over 24 years. One cigarette would burn my throat and hurt my lungs, but I fear that it would be followed by another (hey, smoked even when I had bronchitis ) and another and another.



You've given up, and congratulations on your first six months. Celebrate by not smoking a cigarette!

!

I promised myself that I will smoke a stick in the new year eve.

The smoke is so tempting that last week I entered into the smoking zone in an airport just to get some passive smoke as active smoke was out of question.

I never thought, even after 6 months I will have this strong urge to smoke a single cig.

I do not know if I should trust myself. I am afraid that 'one' cig might reinstate this bad habit.

[bblost]

I would be lying if I said that I have not missed a cigarette at least once a day in the past 2922 days.

But the negatives of smoking far outweigh anything else.

Celebrating 8 year since I quit smoking.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by sudeep.pandya

No I do not want to start again. The smoke still attracts me and I really have to stop myself after the occasional drink sessions with my friends who all are smokers.

24 years. Today, I imagined the smell of tobacco smoke on my skin (not possible, not even been out all day) and enjoyed it. They get less frequent, but there will be "flashbacks."

I see occasional smokers, who light just 4-5 cigs a week. Even after trying I never managed to be an occasional smoker.

Some people can be occasional smokers, like one or two every few months. The majority of us cannot.

Of course, this 6 month smoke free period came after numerous futile attempts.

Scroll back for the standard joke about this

I promised myself that I will smoke a stick in the new year eve.

Why on earth would you do that? This is a promise you have to break: no smoking means no smoking. I know someone who said that she hadn't given up smoking, but wasn't going to have the next one until she was 60. That is not the same as within a years time. And she never did anyway.

The smoke is so tempting that last week I entered into the smoking zone in an airport just to get some passive smoke as active smoke was out of question.

The timing is different for all of us. For a few weeks, I did some passive smoking. I think that, by about 6 months, I was hating smokers, and wondering, in disbelief, how, as a reasonably considerate guy, I too, only a short time ago, had been doing this awful, careless, inconsiderate thing!

I never thought, even after 6 months I will have this strong urge to smoke a single cig.

It is not an urge to smoke a single cigarette, because that is not how it will work out.

The problem is that, until your lungs recover from smoking and it starts to hurt again, you will love that single cigarette so much that the next one will be irresistible. That single cig will give you such a rush you might even suspect someone had spiked it with something else! I hope I'm not tempting you here! It is how so many of my efforts failed.

I do not know if I should trust myself. I am afraid that 'one' cig might reinstate this bad habit.

Here's the bottom line: Smoke a cigarette and you have to start giving up all over again. Give yourself that shot of nicotine, and all the old cravings will double and triple.

You feel like this now not because you gave up smoking, but because you did smoke. Literally: get over it. You will. In time. If you stick it out.

Wishing you all the best. It can be a tough struggle.

Originally Posted by bblost

I would be lying if I said that I have not missed a cigarette at least once a day in the past 2922 days.

But the negatives of smoking far outweigh anything else.

Celebrating 8 year since I quit smoking.

Congratulations: keep up the good work.

Here's one of the weirder things that happened to me. In the first year or two, I would regularly dream about cigarettes. In one dream, I was telling a friend that I had given up. They, pointing to the lit cigarette in my hand, said, "What's that, then?" Embarrassed, I quickly put it out.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

It is not an urge to smoke a single cigarette, because that is not how it will work out.

The problem is that, until your lungs recover from smoking and it starts to hurt again, you will love that single cigarette so much that the next one will be irresistible. That single cig will give you such a rush you might even suspect someone had spiked it with something else! I hope I'm not tempting you here!

You wrote all that and expect readers to not get tempted? :-P I'm glad its 2.22 AM else I'd have walked right to the nearest boxy-shop-o-goodies and ordered 2 myself. Anyway I'm happy I've kept off for a few weeks, now. Trying hard to make the occasional smoking into none at all. Stocks from tobacco manufacturers might not be such a bad idea, though.. given their grip on the customers and the Rs.1/- price hikes every month.

Sometimes the mind wanders this early in the morning and when one is running on fumes (oh another reference).. enough babbling from me.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by sudeep.pandya

I see occasional smokers, who light just 4-5 cigs a week. Even after trying I never managed to be an occasional smoker.

Yes that's how it is for most of us. In fact even the few people I come across who claim to be occasional smokers I sometimes wonder: Are they really? Because it sounds so incredible!

I promised myself that I will smoke a stick in the new year eve.

The smoke is so tempting that last week I entered into the smoking zone in an airport just to get some passive smoke as active smoke was out of question.

I never thought, even after 6 months I will have this strong urge to smoke a single cig.

Around about the same time after my quit I was at a party where most everyone was smoking. I did one worse than you- held the lit end of a cigarette an inch or two from my nose to partake the second hand smoke! My friends told me if I was that desperate I should just take a drag. But I braved the laughter and held firm.

Today I can afford to laugh at myself. Those days are long gone but it taught me an important lesson. Smoking *is* pleasurable. No amount of indoctrination or convincing can alter than simple fact. You need to accept that you will never experience that warm feeling on a rainy day or after a nice meal (my biggest triggers). And that you are consciously NOT smoking because that is who you choose to be. It's not easy at all. But it can be done.

I do not know if I should trust myself. I am afraid that 'one' cig might reinstate this bad habit.

It will. Stay away!

[humyum]

So in total of 5 months, I have manged to smoke like 15 ciggis in total. Sister came and we ended up reminiscing old times when I used to live in Bangalore and how we used to smoke together, a couple went down that road in a few days till she was here, an office party landed me with one more smoke.

But what I am happy to report is that the urge to do that 1 everyday that I used to smoke is gone, its part of my everyday cycle and lifestyle. Is this good enough? I don't know.

I am trying to keep away from it as much as possible, but does that occasional say 2 to 3 ciggis a month hurt so much?

[sudeep.pandya]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

.

Here's the bottom line: Smoke a cigarette and you have to start giving up all over again. Give yourself that shot of nicotine, and all the old cravings will double and triple.

Here's one of the weirder things that happened to me. In the first year or two, I would regularly dream about cigarettes. In one dream, I was telling a friend that I had given up. They, pointing to the lit cigarette in my hand, said, "What's that, then?" Embarrassed, I quickly put it out.[/quote]


Yes you are right. Majority of us find it difficult to maintain the gap. The thought of 'I will never be smoking throughout my life' saddens me a bit. I don't know but may be someday I may just pull one (this is certainly not happening this year)

I hope I quote you after an year to report a smoke free news.