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I have just finished the Allen Carr book. I'm psych'd to see how it work's. As I was reading the book I found myself more and more repulsed by each cigarette I was smoking. I will keep updated 
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Aug 10, 2012 15:42
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I smoked for 18 years and made multiple attempts to quit. 2.5 years ago I quit cold turkey with the help of Allen Carr and his book. For those who are curious about quitting that way, I can speak about it a little bit. Hellbeard in this thread is a good example of a Carr-ite. Its funny, if you've read Carr and the topic of smoking comes up, you become a little cult-like in how you talk about it (which I'm recognizing from Hellbeard and other posters in this thread). But the reality is, if you get that mindset down, even if requires being a little dogmatic in your thinking, it will in fact make it very very easy for you to quit cold turkey. That's not to say its totally painless - I did gain weight, and I had major trouble focusing and concentrating for a month or so, both things with Carr glosses over. But that said, adopting the Carr mindset and attitude really helped smooth over the process of dealing with cravings and withdrawal, and rooting out the rationalizations you use to perpetuate the addiction. It made the mental game of quitting relatively easy and painless, and that in my opinion is the hardest part of the whole thing. Prior to quitting, I used nicotine lozenges extensively for about two years. I don't have any research to quote, just my experience, but I can say that for myself using NRT was unhelpful. I didn't quit, just smoked less, and when I quit cold turkey I still had to go through the withdrawal process. For me, quitting smoking was about more than health, it was about finding my way out of the maze of addiction. When I was using lozenges, I still was a slave to them. The lozenges were little islands of calm and focus between bouts of withdrawal anxiety and distractibility. Carr says, and this is very true, that the feeling of relief and focus that a smoker gets when he lights up - this is what the non-smoker feels all the time, because he does not live in a constant fog of withdrawal. Quitting smoking did a lot to free me from anxiety and lack of focus. This was the true benefit of quitting, above and beyond the health benefits, and it was not an experience available to me when I was prolonging my physical addiction through nicotine replacement therapy. In the end, quitting has been one of the best things I've ever done for myself. This is another Carr-ism that rings true - most of the things you'll do in your life are equivocal - its very easy to argue doing things a different way could have worked out fine. Quitting smoking is one of the few experiences I've had that was absolutely unequivocal - its ALL benefits and NO drawbacks. Good luck to all of you! MojoAZ fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Aug 10, 2012 |
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Aug 10, 2012 17:59
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I think there's also a bit (lot?) of a placebo effect going on with smoking and stress. Anything that let's you take a 'time out' and take deep breaths for a few minutes will likely relieve stress. I'm not sure that nicotine is the main factor.
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Aug 10, 2012 19:44
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MojoAZ posted:I smoked for 18 years and made multiple attempts to quit. 2.5 years ago I quit cold turkey with the help of Allen Carr and his book. For those who are curious about quitting that way, I can speak about it a little bit. Hellbeard in this thread is a good example of a Carr-ite. Its funny, if you've read Carr and the topic of smoking comes up, you become a little cult-like in how you talk about it (which I'm recognizing from Hellbeard and other posters in this thread). But the reality is, if you get that mindset down, even if requires being a little dogmatic in your thinking, it will in fact make it very very easy for you to quit cold turkey. That's not to say its totally painless - I did gain weight, and I had major trouble focusing and concentrating for a month or so, both things with Carr glosses over. But that said, adopting the Carr mindset and attitude really helped smooth over the process of dealing with cravings and withdrawal, and rooting out the rationalizations you use to perpetuate the addiction. It made the mental game of quitting relatively easy and painless, and that in my opinion is the hardest part of the whole thing. I guess I can be a little rabid. I think it's because I've come to accept it as the truth because the theories are congruent with my observations and it works.
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Aug 10, 2012 21:11
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Day...12? I haven't had a cigarette since last Monday. So almost two weeks now!  Honestly, it has gotten easier and easier. I can largely drink now without craving, though I do have a yearning for a smoke eveyr now and then. Hanging around with non-smokers or people who don't smoke very much has been a big help, as was spending the first week high off my loving rear end so I didn't really notice or care about the cravings. Now I'm already feeling more energetic, I've been coughing up a little extra tar and my chest hurts less. Keeping on keeping on! I am fearful that I may bum smokes off people if I end up going back out to the bar, but I figure, I just gotta go one day at a time...
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Aug 10, 2012 21:17
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Hellbeard posted:I don't believe nicotine relaxes anyone who has not ingested it earlier and is therefore only alleviating the desire for a fix. C'mon. Thats horsehit. Nicotine is a drug, with well documented physical effects on the body. Those effects can relieve stress. Does this make it a good stress reliver? No. Because it doesn't last long at all, and you get addicted. Which leads to everything else you said. Which I'd agree with. I'm on day four of quitting at the moment. As I mentioned in my post a few posts back, I started smoking to deal with stress, and it has ended up causing more in the long run. But when you start saying things like that, you start sounding like a Temperance party hack going on about the devil's brew.
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Aug 10, 2012 21:49
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Grayly Squirrel posted:C'mon. Thats horsehit. Having no money is stressful. Exposing your body to toxic chemicals puts additional stress on your body. This is stressful. Smoking reduces you ability to focus on things. This can be stressful. Worrying about you health is stressful. Your family also worries. This is stressful for them. Becoming impotent is also stressful (i would imagine). Not being able to work as much because you are more likely to be sick is stressful. Not being able to provide for your family is stressful. When you do get sick it takes longer for you to recover. Stressful. Going without healthful things because you spent your money on smoking is stressful. Accelarating the depreciation in value of your car because it stinks and you can't find a buyer or get a good price is stressful. At most I'd say that smoking just obscures the sources of stress, it does nothing to relieve it in any functional sense. KingEup fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Aug 11, 2012 |
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Aug 11, 2012 00:05
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KingEup posted:Having no money is stressful. Although you have a valid point, that all of those things can and are stressful, it does not disprove that "Nicotine is a drug, with well documented physical effects on the body. Those effects can relieve stress." What it does prove is that for short term a benefit is reduced stress but in the long run due to the highly addictive nature of nicotine, smoking really is not beneficial at all and though it could be to temporarily relieve stress it isn't due to the short duration and highly addictive nature. On another note I cannot stress enough how exercise makes quitting so much easier. If I lounge around I will get a thought about smoking but after exercising I really do not think about cigarettes for hours.
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Aug 11, 2012 03:40
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After multiple attempts to quit with absolutely no success (record is barely three days smoke-free) I've decided to take another shot at it. I've destroyed all the cigarettes in the house, which I just bought today, so hopefully the shame of my wasted paycheck will spur me to stay off the nicotine. However, I am concerned for my employment. I'm already an rear end in a top hat who hates everyone, and 35 hours stuck at a job I loathe while going through withdrawal will inevitably lead to me suddenly having a lot more free time. I can only hope my unavoidable withdrawal-fueled ragequit results in an awesome story to tell strangers.
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Aug 12, 2012 10:42
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Tarranon posted:If the only 'positive' benefits that came from smoking a cigarette were couple with the relief of nicotine addiction Oh look, it's me, six years ago! Cigarettes cause cancer. Why would you risk your life if you can just stop? By the way, you don't feel your addicition the way you imagine you will. The addiction, the mental part, IS that you "enjoy" your cigarettes. Everyone starts with a couple of cigarettes. It will ramp up eventually. It took me four years to start smoking because I was living at home and it was inconvenient. It takes time for things to settle in the brain. It really starts with "I enjoy this". If you could stop, why not do it? Some do, yes, but many don't. Then the frequency ramps up. Then all the different mantras begin. Enjoyment, stress relief, social stuff etc. Finally you can't really enjoy things without cigarettes, something is missing. And then, maybe, you start to feel physical addicted. This is literally what I thought a couple of years ago. 1:1. Maybe it will be different for you but I doubt it. It comes down to this: Life without cigarettes is literally a hundred times better, in the long and short run. If you disagree strongly with this, you are probably mentally addicted. Boner Slam fucked around with this message at 11:11 on Aug 12, 2012 |
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Aug 12, 2012 11:03
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Hellbeard posted:You asked and answered your own question: you have to work at getting hooked. Oh but it is very different for different people. They estimate that 5-10% of people can't get hooked on nicotine, therefore a considerable number of smokers report quitting as being incredibly easy. This causes others to look down on those who can't quit and downplay how much motivation it really takes to quit. Quit attempt number 700 for me. I recently moved and realized I had over 30 patches laying around. I'm going to go the route replacement therapy and see how it goes. My resolution is to try to stay completely nic'd up on anything that isn't hot fumes going down my throat. Nicotine itself doesn't cause me much trouble, as long as I'm not withdrawing. Yeah I could have a stroke in 40 years but that's not a main concern. The main concern is the dozen or so health issues I'm having right now due to the constant daily inhalation of smoke. I have the patch on and I'm going to get some snus from the corner store in a bit. I may buck up and buy another e-cigarette if I can find a place that'll sell one. I ordered one from the internet before and despite being a highly recommended e-cig I had all sorts of mechanical trouble with it. Before I drop that much cash on one I want to try it out. I've seen a lot of people use them and they never seem to have all the issues I had with mine. Gum and lozenges make me sick. I have to be really careful with Snus or it will too. Basically if I swallow any nicotine it fucks me up pretty bad and I have to try not to vomit for five minutes. Snus is the most "dry" I guess. I know its still horrible for you but right now I'm having to not smoke by any means necessary.
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Aug 13, 2012 17:49
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Years ago I was a social smoker and it never became a problem for me; I'd smoke a cigarette or two when drinking with friends and I wouldn't have the urge to smoke again for days or weeks. This past winter I got involved with Occupy and started camping out in a park, and being the only non-smoker in the group I hung out with most often, I started again pretty quickly. Based on my past experience I didn't think it'd become an issue, but before long I found myself bumming cigarettes whenever my friends were smoking, and not long after that I started buying my own and I could smoke whenever I wanted, which quickly became almost all the time. (Yes, I'm fully aware of the irony of becoming a slave to big tobacco while railing against corporate control of our government.) Now I'm at the point where I'm smoking a dozen or more a day, and I do it even as a break from other things I enjoy, like watching movies or playing video games. Whenever I think "Man, I could go for a cigarette right now," and then remember that I have some, it's like a mini-Christmas. I've heard people say that you can only quit if you really want to, and I'm worried that I don't really want to because I enjoy it so much. I hate what it represents and I hate what it says about me, but when the flame hits the tip of that stoge I'm the happiest man alive. The thing that's really pushing me to take quitting seriously this time (as opposed to all the other dozens of times) is that my best friend who's smoked since she was like 14 is also quitting. We know that if we don't both quit at the same time, neither of us will since we'll just give each other cigarettes when asked, but if we share the same goal and heap verbal abuse on each other when one of us expresses a desire for a cigarette, hopefully we can loving beat this.
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Aug 13, 2012 21:06
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moms pubis posted:Years ago I was a social smoker and it never became a problem for me; I'd smoke a cigarette or two when drinking with friends and I wouldn't have the urge to smoke again for days or weeks. This past winter I got involved with Occupy and started camping out in a park, and being the only non-smoker in the group I hung out with most often, I started again pretty quickly. Based on my past experience I didn't think it'd become an issue, but before long I found myself bumming cigarettes whenever my friends were smoking, and not long after that I started buying my own and I could smoke whenever I wanted, which quickly became almost all the time. (Yes, I'm fully aware of the irony of becoming a slave to big tobacco while railing against corporate control of our government.) Now I'm at the point where I'm smoking a dozen or more a day, and I do it even as a break from other things I enjoy, like watching movies or playing video games. Whenever I think "Man, I could go for a cigarette right now," and then remember that I have some, it's like a mini-Christmas. I've heard people say that you can only quit if you really want to, and I'm worried that I don't really want to because I enjoy it so much. I hate what it represents and I hate what it says about me, but when the flame hits the tip of that stoge I'm the happiest man alive. The thing that's really pushing me to take quitting seriously this time (as opposed to all the other dozens of times) is that my best friend who's smoked since she was like 14 is also quitting. We know that if we don't both quit at the same time, neither of us will since we'll just give each other cigarettes when asked, but if we share the same goal and heap verbal abuse on each other when one of us expresses a desire for a cigarette, hopefully we can loving beat this. There was a brief period where smoking was awesome for me too. Then it went from something I enjoyed to simply something I had to do. I guess its kinda like any new thing in your life, except when you try to move on the addiction won't let you stop. What I tell myself to help me through withdrawals is that I don't have to quit for a lifetime, I just need to get back into some good health and take advantage of the opportunities available to me right now. Six months from now, if life truly isn't worth living without smoking, then I'll start smoking again. I really doubt I'll ever go back to smoking once the addiction has run its course, but its just so much easier to rationalize it that way instead of telling myself that I can never take another drag for the rest of my life.
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Aug 13, 2012 22:50
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Esroc posted:After multiple attempts to quit with absolutely no success (record is barely three days smoke-free) I've decided to take another shot at it. I've destroyed all the cigarettes in the house, which I just bought today, so hopefully the shame of my wasted paycheck will spur me to stay off the nicotine. My most prevalent current
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Aug 14, 2012 08:17
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109 days cigarette free! Do I get a prize?
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Aug 17, 2012 21:51
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nerdzrool posted:109 days cigarette free! Do I get a prize? Yep! You get hundreds of dollars! And as an added bonus, several extra years on your life and a decreased risk of heart and lung disease! But seriously dude way to go. 
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Aug 17, 2012 22:56
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Today marks 190 days free!  Even though I'm done with the quitting process for the most part, I still like to check my phone app (I used QuitNow, it's free) that keeps track of how many days/dollars saved/skipped cigarettes it's been so far. And apparently my risk of heart disease is down by 50% already!
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Aug 18, 2012 00:18
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So many ex-smokers and those struggling...what an awesome thread and congrats to those who've quit I've been smoking for .....a long loving time, about 17 years. I've never actually tried to absolutely quit. Only the past couple of years have I really wanted to, and I bought Allen Carr's book (I am completely anti-self help books, but was curious due to the high success rate) which I've seen mentioned in here. I've tried reading the book twice and haven't managed to finish it, because I keep stopping literally 4 or 5 chapters before the ending (just kind of abandoning the book), and I'm having a major block because I think part of me realizes it's working and starts to panic then stops reading  Anyway. The truth is, I don't care much for his lingo but as soon as I stopped reading both times, I realized that I was actually smoking half the amount I usually smoke, even though I am not even aware of it, as I was not trying to cut down at all (I was paying a lot of attention to the act of smoking though as I read). I went from a full pack a day to half a pack while reading but over the months I build myself back up to almost a full pack again. Truth is, I also feel scared of gaining weight as I am not a big exercise person and hate gyms, but that's just a bullshit excuse, know. So I am vowing to start re-reading the book AGAIN from page one and vow to complete it all the way to the end and we shall see. I come from a long line of smokers, both my mother and grandmother were bad asses that quit cold turkey and never looked back, same with my father, although they were well into their 40s when they quit and I don't want to get that far.
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Aug 18, 2012 04:48
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MadSparkle posted:So many ex-smokers and those struggling...what an awesome thread and congrats to those who've quit Choose a weekend to quit, and the night before just smoke til you are sick. Then when you sleep have a friend or a S/O throw away all tobacco items. The next day every time you get your urge just remember that sick feeling and sleep off the urge if you can - this will get you through 2 out of the three days of actual physical withdrawal, and if you need to call out sick for the third day. Once you get to the third day you just have the mental withdrawals to contend with and that's when you use a toothpick or I just closed my eyes and took deep breaths until the urge went away. My biggest thing post quitting now is exercising I bought a bike and I ride it every day because the rush from exercising really helps me to forget about any cravings I may have for awhile. After two weeks the only time I really get urges now are late at night when I am tired but now I just go to sleep and sleep better than before.
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Aug 18, 2012 05:57
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Going to echo Alkaline here, I cannot stress how helpful exercising has been for me personally in staying off cigarettes. Not only did it help me ditch the cravings when they got bad, but the gains I made in my exercise regimen after I stopped are also wonderful positive reinforcement. Start running now, and if you're not completely out of shape at the moment, you can easily jump up to two miles after a week or two after having quit smoking. I know you said you hate exercising, but it doesn't have to be horrible, I swear!
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Aug 18, 2012 06:29
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Over a year ago I had the random idea to never smoke while in my car. It just didn't make sense to struggle with smoking a cigarette while driving a manual. Besides, I'd be where I was going in 20 minutes or less and could smoke as soon as I got out if I wanted. Over the past couple days I've been wearing the patch to work and I've developed a similar way of thinking. Smoking keeps me from my job, costs me money in tips not earned and tables not sharked, and pisses my management off when I'm not helping out. Also i stink when I come back inside. I can smoke after work without having to chief it down so I can get back inside and make sure no one is angry over my absence. I know the patch is helping a ton but its an amazing mental turnaround for me. All my coworkers go out to smoke constantly and it seems like much more of a hassle than an enjoyable activity already. Just imagine if all of your coworkers were required to go outside and do twenty pushups every hour or two, and you had a free pass from it. Thats how it feels to me. Hopefully it sticks. I guess a small advantage for me is I don't get jealous when I see other people smoke. I see them as an addict and tell myself that others see me as a lovely addict when they see me smoke. I actually feel guilty smoking and almost always have 
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Aug 18, 2012 07:34
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AlkalinePunk posted:Choose a weekend to quit, and the night before just smoke til you are sick. Then when you sleep have a friend or a S/O throw away all tobacco items. The next day every time you get your urge just remember that sick feeling and sleep off the urge if you can - this will get you through 2 out of the three days of actual physical withdrawal, and if you need to call out sick for the third day. That's a good idea about smoking until feeling ill and choosing a weekend. I am sure my fiance will have zero problems throwing out my smokes  A friend of mine locked herself away in a room for three days with a fuckload of cake and ate with her hands every time the urge came on, and she's not smoked in 6 months. For her the textural sensation of eating with her hands somehow helped her cope. Not really a fan of sweets in general but the concept cracked me up. I do have massive problems sleeping, and staying up late runs in my family, but I push myself even when I am tired and cigarettes tend to keep me awake as well, so I am glad you mentioned that because I think my biggest amount of smoking comes from late nights. I can go almost a whole day not smoking or having maybe one or two.Then 10 o'clock comes and I'll go through almost a whole pack!
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Aug 18, 2012 07:42
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Black Cat posted:Just imagine if all of your coworkers were required to go outside and do twenty pushups every hour or two You should actually try this (just as an experiment). I mean, you're in the habit of taking time out to smoke, why not use capitalise on this habit and use the breaks for healthy stuff? You'd look like batman within a month. Here's are a few exercise mantras I've been using recently: "I’ve never regretted a workout." (I've never regretted not smoking - no one as ever looked back over their life and thought "I wish I'd smoked more") "The pain is temporary - the gain is permanent." (same is true of not smoking) "I don't stop when I'm tired I stop when I'm done" "A body at rest wants to stay at rest. A body in motion wants to stay in motion." "You know your limit and this is NOT it" "Pain is weakness leaving the body." KingEup fucked around with this message at 08:18 on Aug 18, 2012 |
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Aug 18, 2012 07:55
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252 days smoke free ^__^ just bought a house and I'm going on a 14 days hiking holiday to Sicily in two weeks time. I feel great!
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Aug 18, 2012 09:27
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AlkalinePunk posted:Choose a weekend to quit, and the night before just smoke til you are sick. Then when you sleep have a friend or a S/O throw away all tobacco items. The next day every time you get your urge just remember that sick feeling and sleep off the urge if you can - this will get you through 2 out of the three days of actual physical withdrawal, and if you need to call out sick for the third day. I have smoked for fourteen years. I don't think that I could make myself sick with cigarettes.
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Aug 18, 2012 12:48
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Mr.Bob posted:I have smoked for fourteen years. I don't think that I could make myself sick with cigarettes. Oh, you can. It involves smoking a lot of them very quickly. If you know how to roll your own, and directly inhale, not hold it in your mouth, do this over and over again till you puke. It helps if you are smoking something strong, like Drum tobacco or the like.
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Aug 18, 2012 23:31
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Mr.Bob posted:I have smoked for fourteen years. I don't think that I could make myself sick with cigarettes. I smoked for 16 and I did  Nicotine is highly poisonous - before I decided to go cold turkey I actually thought about doing the whole e-cig thing and the "juice" is deadly if swallowed due to the nicotine - by smoking a lot in a short time you can really begin to feel ill and by holding onto that feeling and relating it to smoking helped me get by those first couple days.
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Aug 19, 2012 05:19
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I smoked on and off from 15-18, then a pack a day from age 18-21. At 21 I moved cities and completely rebooted my life. I decided to stop smoking during this time. Without friends or really any personal expectations it was really easy to firewall myself from smokers and live the lie that I was a non-smoker until it stuck. I started dating a girl that was very adamantly against smoking, so that also made it much easier. The occasional cravings stayed around in lesser forms until about the 2 year mark. At 4 years smoke free now, I can't imagine smoking a cigarette again. I know when I first considered quitting it seemed as though cravings would be a life long annoyance. I imagine it might be different for many longer term smokers, but the cravings one day will cease. Denying cigarettes will be an automatic response instead of a painfully considered issue. Here's to not smoking ever again. (Ever)
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Aug 19, 2012 08:39
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I'm in to quit. Going on 22 hours right now with the help of Listerene strip-like nicotine replacement and the motivation of the QuitNow app. I turn 28 on Saturday, and I realized I told myself I was going to quit when I was done with undergrad, when I finished grad school and again when I was 25. Ten years was plenty, I'll make it this time.
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Aug 23, 2012 15:35
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129 days, 2580 smokes, $1444.80. Numbers that I find fascinating. All thanks to a severely broken leg.
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Aug 23, 2012 17:48
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Last night marked a week free after six years of pack a day smoking. I feel loving fantastic and I wholeheartedly endorse using exercise to help quit. As a fat former smoker, I see a huge change coming quickly on my horizon!
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Aug 25, 2012 20:51
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I was anywhere between 10 and 15 smokes a day. Then I saw my Grandfather on his death bed. He had neve smoked but had cancer. Initially I walked past his bed as I didn't recognise him, he was that emaciated and ill. Since then I have had one drag on a smoke, and thats it. That was about 2 years ago. It's not good and I doubt anyone would want to see a loved one that ill, but it certainly worked for me. On a side note, folks always say you will save so much money, but I'm still skint.
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Aug 26, 2012 17:03
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So today begins quitting attempt #3 for me. Last one went reasonably well - only six cigarettes over the course of a month, but the stress of moving across the country took its toll. I'd weaned my way down to about 3-4 per day (after 8 years at at least a half pack, this was an accomplishment in and of itself) and just passed the 24 hour mark this morning. It sucks, of course. It sucks a lot. Still contemplating the e-cig route but I'm just seeing how long I can tough it out first.
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Aug 26, 2012 17:12
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I'm a pack a day smoker (7 years now) who gets chronic bronchitis from it (have it right now), and I read Allen Carr's book this afternoon. I've been wanting to quit, but just kept making excuses. Not today. I had my last cigarette (it honestly tasted disgusting, I couldn't even finish it). I went for a walk listening to some nice music on a pleasant day, and just felt very positive. I'll keep updates coming on how it's going. Already had two meals today and didn't even want a smoke after.
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Aug 26, 2012 23:02
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Omnikin posted:Last night marked a week free after six years of pack a day smoking. I feel loving fantastic and I wholeheartedly endorse using exercise to help quit. As a fat former smoker, I see a huge change coming quickly on my horizon! Nice going broheim, keep it up! I'm just past my month anniversary on smoking, and when I came home from the gym and saw my roommate's smokes on the counter instead of feeling vaguely tempted I just felt sick.
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Aug 26, 2012 23:22
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Its been 4 day since I smoked a cigarette. I'm on wellbutrin and it is helping a lot. I am also using an e-cigarette with a low nic level to help get through the really bad spots. All in all its going pretty good so far. Good luck to all of you quitting no matter what method you are using!
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Aug 27, 2012 02:37
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I'm quitting.
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Aug 27, 2012 05:45
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Been like 3 or 4 weeks for me now, I've lost count. Still haven't so much as touched a smoke. Haven't even thought about them much and can trust myself at the convenience store counter now.
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Aug 27, 2012 08:39
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To you guys who are about to, or just quit, and who might be struggling or feeling like the days drag on and its an effort to just take your mind off it for a few minutes... Last Friday was 2 years for me. I cant remember the last time I thought about it and totally missed the actual anniversary by days. Even then it was the only reason I thought about it at all. I remember it being hard work, but you do get past it. Being around other smokers, having a drink, after meals... all those triggers or associations that seem so hard to break, arent even a subconscious thought any more. Youll get there BTW, theres an anti-smoking ad on telly here that basically says 'quitting is exercising your quit muscle' in that even if you fail, it makes it that little bit easier on your next effort. I think its pretty true. It took me 3 or 4 serious efforts, so even if you bust, its not the end of the world!
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Aug 27, 2012 11:41
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I am about to take the plunge tomorrow. Doing it with the patch this time. I planned to do this a week in advance, so here's to attempt #3. I managed to quite for an entire couple of months once about 7 years ago... did it with losenges. Tried again a couple years ago with them, but by that time I found it too easy just to spit them out and wait a couple hours before lighting up. I'm hoping that with the patch—they're so damned expensive—that I won't just rip it off if I really feel a craving. I can deal fine with the reduced even-keel nicotine... it's just the habitual part that's always the problem. That and hanging out with other smokers. Thankfully, nobody at my work smokes, and I have several other friends who don't... so I'm going to concentrate on doing that and just trying to keep myself busy to pass the time to keep the habit at bay. I always find it easy to not think about smoking by being too busy to think about smoking. Kinda zen, right? Wish me luck!
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Aug 28, 2012 06:57
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