Stopped smoking

I normally get through 40 Dunhill International's a day.

As I wasn't well last Wednesday I stopped smoking for the day. I
didn't have any cigarettes on Thursday either.

Friday I still felt ill from whatever bug I'd caught, but I felt like
I had energy again, I could breathe and get up stairs without feeling
weight. I had two fags on Saturday, three on Sunday and two on Monday
and then gave the last couple of fags to a non-smoking colleague and
said that I wasn't smoking anymore.

I suppose I'm fortunate in that I seem to be able to just stop smoking
without really cutting down. Getting through 280 in a week (Or over
400 in a bad week) and then just stopping... I didn't think it would
be this easy.

I don't appear to be craving cigarettes but I do realize that when
I've got nothing to do I 'notice' that I'm not smoking. 10 minute
tea-breaks and lunchtime (and before I've started and after I've
finished but haven't left yet) at work have caused me to try and find
other things to do to fill my time, like tidy my desk, do some admin
or have a natter to fill up the time.

I think I'm doing fine. I feel fine, and I don't have to keep
repeating it to myself either. People do keep offering me fags and
saying "I've got 200 Superkings, yours for £20" and stuff like that
and I do think "Ooh, that's quite good value" but that's as far as
it's gone so far. Is this normal? Am I likely to come up against any
horrid situation in a few days time (Apart from Derby, obviously) that
I should deal with in a certain way relating to smoking?

 

Before you know it you'll be able to taste food and sexual organ
flavours again!

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, BGN

That means it's time.

I quit twenty odd years ago from a forty-a-day habit to zero. And I
never really missed it. It was just time.

Like most people, I'd given up many times and hated it. When I was
ready, I was ready.

If you want to know about the psychological hold the fucking stuff has
on you, about once a year I get a dream that I've started again. I wake
up thinking "what a *fucking idiot*!", then realise it was the dream.

Good luck with it. BOSM will be a danger time, but if people don't act
like complete cunts, you'll be fine.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - To stay young requires unceasing cultivation of
the ability to unlearn old falsehoods.

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
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Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha GTS1000

 

Gyp said...

That's precisely the reason I keep smoking. I cut down so I could
appreciate food more.

 

Oh dear. I think it's best if I bought another five thousand Dunhills
Internationals.

 

Take it one day at a time. I've never smoked as heavily as you but
there will be a key time in the day where your body really expects a
cigarette - for me it was just before going to bed. Once you can get
through the trigger times with reasonable ease then it will get easier
but don't fool yourself into saying it is easy.

Provided you can get your mind away from the "notice" stage each time it
happens you should be OK.

As per WUN's post the real issue is the completely unexpected stray
thought where your mind goes "I really fancy a cigarette" and before you
know it you're walking out of the corner shop with pack in hand even if
you haven't had a smoke for a year! It's happened to me a couple of
times since I gave up - bloody stupid really but it just goes to show
that the temptation / craving is always there. The other really obvious
thing is some traumatic event where you suddenly need "a crutch" and
it's so easy to fall back "on old friends".

I think you will be on your guard for the weekend and I'm sure you'll do
fine. If nothing else you'll soon start to notice the difference
financially if you were getting through 40 a day - that must be £70 a
week, £280 a month? Ooh new bike time!

 

Maaan, you must munch some serious rug. Why not try licking *clean* sex
organs next time and stay of the fags (!)

 

It's not. You haven't stopped yet, just taking a break.....

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
Alfa 116 Giulietta 3.0l (Really) Sprint 1.7 75 TS 156 TS S2
Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

I can foresee times like breaks and lunch at work but at home, like
now, when I'm blubbering on usenet I would normally open the window
and have a cigarette while leaning out of it. I'm sure I would could
quite easily light up right now if I had any in the house and still
not feel guilty.

Colleagues have told me of this happening before. One filled up her
car with petrol, went into the station to pay and came out with 20
Marlborough Red's and a lighter and didn't notice until she got back
to the car where she promptly burst into tears. She just forgot that
she didn't smoke anymore. I suppose it's like setting the dining
table for one too many people years after a relative has died.

And most of my close friends are also smokers. If I had to deal with
something and felt that I needed to speak to friends I'd end up
seeking them in the smoking room at work and as I'm well known (and
liked, for some reason) it would be seconds before I had about fifty
offers of 'Oh, have one of mine, do you need a lighter?'

Yesterday I went into the smoking room at lunchtime as I always do to
meet up with friends to do the Guardian's Crusader Crossword and then
pass around photocopies of the Sudoku to complete. I went in the
smoking room with my lunch and helped complete the crossword while
munching on my (now 'smoked') ham sarnie but thankfully everyone was
too busy trying to make up words for the crossword to notice I was
without a fag in my hand. It felt quite odd.

As I work in Travel and Tourism I get a return ticket on the ferry for
the bike and however many people I can strap to the back for £8
return. I live 8 miles from the port and Ardinkirk in Belgium is just
a few stops down the motorway from France so a pack of 200 costs about
£20-£25. One can fit 3,000 in a Cargo Expander Tankbag without issue.
Or one can buy a sixty-year supply of Golden Virginia for £20.

20 Dunhill International are sold for about £5.87 here so there are
benefits of living here on the coast.

 

Oooh, hang on. THis is a quiz innit? Are you a troll?
--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
Alfa 116 Giulietta 3.0l (Really) Sprint 1.7 75 TS 156 TS S2
Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

You think I should stop smoking and turn straight. Are you mad?

 

Good, innit when that mental switch flips

6 months down the road from 50 / day here

 

Uh, you nob blokes & breathe smoke fumes for fun. YOU are fikkin mad!

 

When I stopped smoking, I just stopped. No patches or anything, I just
didn't have another smoke. That was over 10 years ago now, and I've got
no intent of starting again.

You'll be fine.

 

Not necessarily, shitforbrains.

 

Schweet. Well done.

FWIW, I used to smoke cigars. Maybe ive a day. I gave up nearly 20 years
ago, when The Doctor suggeste dit as a New Year reolution, and I was
delighted to find out that whatever cigars contain, an addictive
substance seems to be absent.

Wand with the dosh you'll save, you can buy a new Gixxer Thou instead of
an early grave.

Er...

(Oh, I'm in Rye tomorrow night - beer?)

 

<scratches every chance of BGN giving up>

 

Yup.

 

You are right but why the insult old guy?

 

Good for you, seriously. I really hope you succeed in it - for one thing,
think of all that nice dosh to spend on decent wine!

good luck - Ali