Quitting Smoking is Hard
Two weeks ago I decided to quit smoking.
In the last two weeks I have felt stressed, happy, angry, tired and like I was saying goodbye to my best friend. I have smoked since I was 18, my 'cool' brother offered me my first smoke. I think I kept smoking to be 'cool' as well. I couldn't have been more wrong. Smoking did not bring me a status of being cool. It gave me a status of having a lot less money than I could have had being a non smoker, it gave me less time to live, less time in the day and it gave me the opportunity to hear people say - "eww, what's that smell?" With this all in mind, I still absolutely loved smoking. It felt like a great stress reliever, it gave me something to do if I was early for an appointment and it gave me something to do when socialising with other smokers.
Source
The price of smokes have increased an incredible amount in Australia over the last few years. When I first started I am pretty sure the price of a packet of 25 cigarettes was around the $15.00 - $16.00 mark, now they are sitting at around $25.50 at my local super market. The government has essentially priced me out of smoking. Which to be honest is probably a good thing. I am a relatively new father and I feel bad that my eight month old would be smelling cigarette on me.
The first week felt pretty easy to be honest. I wouldn't think about smoking at work and when I got home I was distracted enough to pass through any cravings that came my way.
The second week is where I started to unravel. My partner and I thought we were doing really well however were still having cravings. We spoke to each other and decided that we could have one a day and enjoy a smoke without going back to buying a pack a day to share because well, look how well we did the first week!
Well they did, we are back to smoking. Not how we were with 15+ a day. We are having maybe three our four a day which is better but still not what I want. We have decided to quit smoking again as of 08/01/2018. Well I have any way.
I would love your support
I am not trying to ask you to up-vote the post or share it with all of your friends. All I ask is that when/if I post an update about my journey through quitting smoking, you leave a word of inspiration or a share an experience to help drive me towards the right thing.Thank you very much for reading Steemian, you are the best!
If you want some social time without other people smoking around you making it harder, you know you can hit up me and @holoz0r to hang.
You can't smoke all the time when you're a smoker.
Due to work commitments, I'd spend at least 2 hours a day hanging out for my next smoke, even when I was smoking a pack a day.
A month after I quit, I was only hankering for a gasper for half an hour a day, max.
I realised I was spending substantially less time missing nicotine as a non-smoker than when I was smoking full time.
Kind of sealed the deal for me. Now I'll go months without thinking about it.
Alan Carr's 'Easy way to stop smoking' is really good. Helped a lot.
I will have to look that up, thanks for your support mate!
The money I'm saving from not smoking is legit paying for my new lease car. Maybe force saving the $$ as of the 8th will be a good driver for you. Think holiday, car, house?
Always remember that smoking is a displacement activity, meaning, it is designed to take you away from your present moment.
So fight it with another, rather harmless activity I learned from two former smokers:
All of these activities will change the way your brain responds to the physiological craving for smoking. Eating or drinking something harmless will replace the need to put something in the mouth, and carrot sticks and water are about as harmless as you can get.
Calling someone replaces the psychological dependence on cigarettes. Instead of being dependent on cigarettes for comfort, you can just talk to someone about that urge. That will provide you with compassion, camaraderie and conversation.
There is more, but that is a start.
Awesome ideas there and thanks for the support. I have heard of the carrot sticks before as well and think I will definitely give that a shot. Also, if I am using the water idea as well not only am I beating a craving I’m also making sure I’m well hydrated!
You can do it @necromortis I know it's hard but quitting tobacco was one of the best decisions I ever made, it's full of chemicals, if your going to relapse smoke some organic tobacco like american spirit as it's the lesser evil.
Good luck on your journey!
Thanks for your support mate, appreciate it!
Quitting smoking is definitely a hard thing to do~ I have tried many times, some I stayed a non-smoker for some time others not so long. Just keep going, and as long as you want to be a non-smoker, you will be!
Thanks for the support! That may be the problem, I kind of don't want to quit but I know that I have to. Maybe my brain is just telling me that I don't want to due to being an addict.
that could be! I was told it takes 3 weeks to retrain our brains to get rid of a habit, so maybe over the next 21 days you can tell yourself, and you know what its practice what you preach right, well here I go, over the next 21 days I will retrain my brain by posting an affirmation on why we are better off non smokers, I will send you these affirmations for you also. so here we are January 5th by January 26th we will indeed be non-smokers. You have inspired me to quit!
You have taken the first step!
I quit 3 years ago next week and it was the best decision I ever made.
My recommendation is use the money you would have spent on cigarettes and either invest or treat yourself as motivation.
What about getting a money box for your son and putting the money away for him?
If ever feel like you need to have a smoke, pour a glass of water and keep drinking until you are full.
That's what helped me in the beginning :)
Dude, congratulations that is awesome. Maybe I’ll have to invest the money in crypto for Harvey. Thanks for the advice as well :)
It's hard to quit man, just cutting down with greatly improve your health and make future quit attempts easier. They also saw every quit attempt makes it easier the next time, so just keep at it.
a great effort already choosing healthy living.
Do it for your boy. He wants you around a long time. It is not easy, but then again nothing that is worth doing really is.
I worked with a guy who smoked for over 40 years. His office was next to mine and everyday he would go into these hacking fits and at first I thought he was going to die and was scrambling to figure out what I should do. He was the last guy on earth that I thought would/could quit. He has not smoked in over 5 years now. If he can do it so can you.
Wow, yeah that kind puts it into perspective. If he can, I can! Thanks for sharing.
Just remember, you can accomplish anything you put your mind to. Overcoming challenges makes you stronger and future challenges become easier. You can do it and as long as you are committed the community here will support you through the tough times.