Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've probably tried to quit dozens of times and am currently on day two of my latest. What gets me every time is the nostalgia that is associated with smoking. All of the best memories of my life have smoking associated with them in one way or another. What always happens when I quit is I will get nostalgic about the "good ole' days." I'll remember how exciting life was around the time I started smoking and I will buy a pack in attempt to relive those days. When I do that though, I quickly remember that cigarettes no longer do for me what they once did when I was in my early twenties. Nowadays, if I smoke I simply need one to ease withdrawal symptoms. They once gave me a buzz or head rush but these past few years, even my trusty morning cigarette no longer gives me that. If I am not at least getting that morning nicotine rush, why am I smoking again?
What I need to do is accept that smoking did in fact play a role in some of the best times of my life, but like many other things that have come and gone, it's time is passed. Continuing to smoke at this point brings no benefit, only the guarantee of an early death.
I've probably tried to quit dozens of times and am currently on day two of my latest. What gets me every time is the nostalgia that is associated with smoking. All of the best memories of my life have smoking associated with them in one way or another. What always happens when I quit is I will get nostalgic about the "good ole' days." I'll remember how exciting life was around the time I started smoking and I will buy a pack in attempt to relive those days. When I do that though, I quickly remember that cigarettes no longer do for me what they once did when I was in my early twenties. Nowadays, if I smoke I simply need one to ease withdrawal symptoms. They once gave me a buzz or head rush but these past few years, even my trusty morning cigarette no longer gives me that. If I am not at least getting that morning nicotine rush, why am I smoking again?
What I need to do is accept that smoking did in fact play a role in some of the best times of my life, but like many other things that have come and gone, it's time is passed. Continuing to smoke at this point brings no benefit, only the guarantee of an early death.
Yep, my grandkids' dad isn't around to talk about this, he left them at 55. Shocked everyone as he was indestructible so he thought.
For many, cigarettes are a companion, something that has been with you every hour of the day, more so than any person has been. They've accompanied you through good times and bad and there when you're bored or alone.
That is ignoring the fact of the sheer physical addiction part of it which is very strong, but, as most smokers know, doesn't account for all those times you light up when you know you really don't even want one.
Anything that you "always" do "when"...is hard to break. Some do it with soda or gum.
So there are three difficult components to make it difficult.
I quit 28 years ago after countless failed attempts and can still say it's the hardest won victory I ever experienced. Nicotine addiction is hard core. I remember countless times of going months without a cigarette and suddenly waking up one morning and craving one so bad I wanted to kill people. Literally going through entire days enraged. I also remember "romanticize get" them, e.g., whenever I went to a favorite place, finished a task, driving on a rainy day, all these scenarios where a cigarette was the icing on the cake. The only thing that worked for me was individual sessions with a hypnotist. Not one of those storefront hypnotists that advertises to the public their Stop Smoking clinics, but a hypnotherapist who could get to the root of my smoking. It's been 28 years and I never crave, romanticize or have ANY positive thought about smoking. But I sympathize with those battling it. Best of luck.
I quit five years ago. There's a guy not far away who does the ear thing, and however that worked, I quit that day after 35 years of Newports.
It is so good to be a non-smoker, but I understand what you're saying about associating smoking with good times. I sometimes hang with an old friend who still smokes, and she smokes inside her house. She has friends that smoke, and so one day a few months ago we all sat around having drinks and talking and laughing while four out of six of us there smoked liked chimneys. It was so much fun even though I reeked like cigs when I left and I probably breathed in a pack's worth.
The only time I felt a real craving to have a cig since I quit was when I had a beach house vacation last year. I was in North Carolina, and I saw a sign at a gas station for Newports for $5.01. FIVE BUCKS. I thought about getting a pack so I could have one each day with my coffee on the deck overlooking the ocean at sunrise and then a couple with my wine on the deck at sunset, and then just be done when I went home, but I knew in my heart it wouldn't work out that way.
Smoked age 14-29, 30 cents a pack in the machine in late '50s, early '60s.; 27-28 cents across the counter. And they were glamourized big time in movies, on TV, magazines.... No wonder so many of us were hooked. My biggest enjoyment was smoking while enjoying alcoholic drinks. A deadly combo. But I quit cold turkey 1/1/73.
But during the 2nd gas crisis, 1979, we were rural by then, living 30 miles from work; no public transportation out-in-the sticks. This induced extreme anxiety and, you got it, I resumed smoking, age 35. The gas crisis eased but smoking continued until age 41, 1985, again cold turkey.
I have not long ago fallen off the wagon after the best quit attempt I'd managed in a long while. I got a cheap vape pen, did not want to be one of these people who make vaping into this big hobby, nor did I want to replace one habit with another that way. I just wanted SOMETHING that I could reach for anytime I felt the panicky feeling, to prevent me from relapsing.
I got by from August of last year, until May of this year, doing that, and had even gotten to the point where I had stopped vaping...maybe I still needed to taper off the nic, but I was having sinus trouble that seemed to get worse when I vaped, so I stopped. Then predictably, sometime last May, life tossed a couple curve-balls of stressful crap at me from a few different directions. I played that little game, bummed one here, bummed one there..."I'm not a smoker again, if I don't buy them." Then eventually was bumming them frequently enough to feel guilty for it, and just bought a pack. All downhill from there.
I am so angry, I'm going to have to do all the work again to quit, and I was doing so well before. *sigh*
I remember when I was younger, I started when I was 15, and I always thought, "I can quit anytime, easy, I just don't want to." And now it's the opposite. "I want to quit, anytime now, but it's not easy and I feel like I can't."
For many, cigarettes are a companion, something that has been with you every hour of the day, more so than any person has been. They've accompanied you through good times and bad and there when you're bored or alone.
That is ignoring the fact of the sheer physical addiction part of it which is very strong, but, as most smokers know, doesn't account for all those times you light up when you know you really don't even want one.
Anything that you "always" do "when"...is hard to break. Some do it with soda or gum.
So there are three difficult components to make it difficult.
I'm sorry if the MIND is willing so is everything else. We can break all negative habits. The cig is NOT your friend, friends like that who needs enemies.
I quit 28 years ago after countless failed attempts and can still say it's the hardest won victory I ever experienced. Nicotine addiction is hard core. I remember countless times of going months without a cigarette and suddenly waking up one morning and craving one so bad I wanted to kill people. Literally going through entire days enraged. I also remember "romanticize get" them, e.g., whenever I went to a favorite place, finished a task, driving on a rainy day, all these scenarios where a cigarette was the icing on the cake. The only thing that worked for me was individual sessions with a hypnotist. Not one of those storefront hypnotists that advertises to the public their Stop Smoking clinics, but a hypnotherapist who could get to the root of my smoking. It's been 28 years and I never crave, romanticize or have ANY positive thought about smoking. But I sympathize with those battling it. Best of luck.
Boy THAT industry sure did a job on the people and their loves ones etc etc etc. I never smoked and neither did parents and both lived into 90's and dad did his share and more of alcohol but did NOT inhale so I truly believed that saved him. MOST of his friends who drank also smoked and they all went much earlier. He was along when he left at 96....friends in smokers heaven.
And to think how doctors were on TV endorsing smoking decades back. grrrrrrrrrrr
I quit five years ago. There's a guy not far away who does the ear thing, and however that worked, I quit that day after 35 years of Newports.
It is so good to be a non-smoker, but I understand what you're saying about associating smoking with good times. I sometimes hang with an old friend who still smokes, and she smokes inside her house. She has friends that smoke, and so one day a few months ago we all sat around having drinks and talking and laughing while four out of six of us there smoked liked chimneys. It was so much fun even though I reeked like cigs when I left and I probably breathed in a pack's worth.
The only time I felt a real craving to have a cig since I quit was when I had a beach house vacation last year. I was in North Carolina, and I saw a sign at a gas station for Newports for $5.01. FIVE BUCKS. I thought about getting a pack so I could have one each day with my coffee on the deck overlooking the ocean at sunrise and then a couple with my wine on the deck at sunset, and then just be done when I went home, but I knew in my heart it wouldn't work out that way.
Freedom from that albatross choking you...I feel that with alcohol and bread eating.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
