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Old 08-25-2009, 09:45 AM   #6 (permalink)
kramus
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Location: my Lady's manor
Excuse the long post, but . . .

I see myself as a smoker who chooses not to smoke. For going on 5 years, last count. Before that I had quit sometime in my early 40's for a few years but picked the habit up again around the time of my separation. Probably spent close to 25 years smoking 15 - 20 cigarettes a day. More or less.

Smoking I see as a series of choices. Said this elsewhere a time or two. Every cigarette is a choice. What you do is become aware of and present to the choice each time you make it. Don't let the habit take control, you take control by choosing to either pull out a cigarette and light up, or to leave the pack in your pocket, in the car, or to not even buy it. That being said, the first time I quit I would have a social cigarette once every month or few, just to say yes I can. Because at the end of the day I enjoyed smoking. I never wanted to be one of those born-again asshats who ride smokers because they themselves once quit - and it is easy to avoid that attitude if you have a smoke now and again. But my Lady would find me smoking an occasional cigarette a deal breaker, so with no pain but the occasional urge to light up I have left them alone for going on 5 years now.

It is easier to make the choice not to smoke stronger than the smoking habit by changing your patterns. If you have a habit of lighting up before your first coffee - don't have a coffee. Have ice water and go for a walk around the block. Actually water helps flush some of the crap built up in your system, and eases the transition to nicotine-free a bit. Avoid social situations where cigarettes are part of the culture. I would take work breaks by myself for the first few weeks after I quit. Just make it easier, is all. Actually didn't have a coffee for about 3 or 4 weeks as well

Things I noticed - I had greasy sweat that I wanted to shower off 2 or 3 times a day for the first few days. Also I started to break wind almost continuously for a couple of days. So I would be sweating and greasy and windy and my chest was gurgling and my hands were on a mission to pick up a smoke all the time. I spent a lot of time thinking about not having a cigarette. Sometimes I was making the choice to not smoke every 30 seconds for hours on end.

Thing is, that passes. Time passes. Eventually you notice you don't smell. Your car and your house don't smell. You have more free cash in your pocket for the little things. You stop budgeting time for smokes, for buying and smoking and cleaning up and messing around with them. No worries about how long till the next smoke break, or will you run out before the next smoke run, or will the fellow beside you bum yet another one of your cigarettes. Smokes become something other people deal with.

Good luck

edit to add: Carry tissues. Carry them for about 4 months. It is amazing how long the lungs hang on to the crap you suck into them. I was coughing up tar stained muck for a long time after I quit. Big wads of gross, clotted, foamy, grey-brown goo. Having a tissue handy to catch and clean up and dispose of your excreta is a social plus for you and those around you. Sorry to be so explicit, but it is a consideration I felt ought to be shared.
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Last edited by kramus; 08-25-2009 at 09:52 AM.. Reason: addendum re tissues
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