I have been off smoking for 26 years an don't miss it at all. Trying to quit was the most difficult thing I ever tried to do. I tried it alll without success, group therapy, individual hypnosis, gum, et. Going into the hospital for a prostate surgical procedure and having to be there for four days with out smoking did the trick.
Not easy to be honest and admit a thing like that @Lon Tanner. You must have been a heavy smoker I am thinking to have gone thru all that trouble to kick the habit. You can thank your dicky prostate I suppose. I was luckier than you in that I was never more than a packet a day man so recovery was easier. A week of patches and will power and I had licked it.
Yup, I quit about 30 years ago then I quit again about 20 years ago etc, etc. Six years clean was my limit so far. Nicotine patches are pretty much off the list as far as practicality goes. I have them but having to change out 2 or 3 times a day isn’t financially plausible so there they sit on the shelf as proof of my intentions. Why the change? I workout, a lot, and elevated heart rates and patches are not very good bedfellows. The bottom line though is that I like cigarettes and a pipe even more but if I wish to progress much further with my workouts, I will have to quit. Even though it doesn’t seem to be a problem yet, it’s hard to build muscle mass without adequate oxygen. X-rays say my lungs are clear and my last checkup was good but still, it’s time. I have been telling myself recently that when I get out of bed, I need to go to my home gym, work about a half hour on the lat bar and go straight for the protein shake instead of having coffee. Coffee for me is like alcohol for other people. Having coffee in the morning is just not complete without a cigarette so if I really work on it and negate the coffee catalyst, I am pretty sure I can quit cigarettes. Problem is, I dislike nearly everything until I have that first cup of coffee in the morning and coffee simply has to have a cigarette burning next to it or the whole ceremony involved with waking up isn’t complete. I do suppose though, that the best way for me to quit smoking is to quit buying them......... Don’t know about the store though since I am the only person who smokes my brand and they stock them especially for me. I guess I’ll either have to get cold hearted and leave them with some stock they’ll never sell or tell them to quit stocking them.
I was just about one and a half packs Craig. I liked and enjoyed smoking but not the fact that I could not control it.
I've not smoked since 1988 which was the second time that I was able to quit. In 1964, I had planned as a New Years resolution to quite smoking. However my mom, may she rest in piece, gave me a beautiful Ronson lighter. I told her that I would honor her gift by smoking for 1 additional year. So there I am in the fall of 1975 about to go away with my wife for the weekend, and what arrives in the mail but a complimentary box of some mini cigars. I used to love having a cigar after Sunday dinner. Long story short by January of 1976, I was smoking about 15 of the minis and decided to go back to the smaller nails. In the late 70s I tried all kinds of things to cut back and finally decided to just go cold turkey.
When I see posts like this I can't help but think of my son in law who never saw his 2 kids graduate and go on to college as they are now. He picked up his first cig at 10 and quit when his first child was born, but not soon enough. Once found on his lung, he was gone in 6 months. A man who had so much control but not over this one. He was 55. Neither of his kids smoke/drink as they watched their dad die.
It wasn't hard for me to quit smoking, but it was somewhat hard to quit using "chew" aka "dip". A lot of folks think that either chewing Red Man or "dipping" Snuff aka Copenhagen or Skoal, is awful and even worse than smoking, but I've been around numerous men and even a few women that used Snuff. Men and women that worked around and with livestock.
Oh, my friends young son who played baseball in high school and on chew and ended up with mouth cancer. He died at about 50. Great stuff, huh....
Guess, like cigarettes, depends on how much a person uses. My farrier could go thru an entire can of Copenhagen in a day. Copenhagen and Red Man are pretty hefty compared to the Skoal that I used. My Skoal would last me at least a week or more. Most of the time, the snuff in the can would dry up before I could use it all. Was glad that I was able to stop using.
I have posted this before But - I guarantee you if you get sick enough you will quit. After my first CHF in Dec 2017---after 50 years of smoking I have not smoked since. I have had numerous family die of cancer. I had tried eight times in my lifetime to stop before 2017. The bottom line is this...If yu have ever smoked any length of time, stoping is in your best intrest- however that does not mean you won't get sick - because the damage was done years ago. My husband still smokes - outside, and pains me , but also know nagging, shaming and etc. will not change anything. I enjoyed my smokes- - I enjoy not smoking even more .
50 yrs??? I'm sure people enjoy their smokes as they are addicted and just so thanksful neither of my parents smoked, as I believe that is where it starts.
I was raised on a tobacco farm and both my parents smoked. I never even tried smoking though I'm sure I got plenty of "2nd hand smoke" as a kid. My husband is 64 and he has smoked for over 40 years. Like Gloria's husband he only smokes outside and has no plans to stop. I wish he would but it's not my choice to make.
@Gloria Mitchell As one who has never experienced the effect of nicotine, it's always been difficult for me to understand why people begin smoking in the first place, and why is it so seemingly difficult to quit. My remark to a potential "quitter" has always been: there was a long period in your life when you did not smoke, perhaps your first 16 years or so, thus it is not "impossible" for you to not smoke. My sister, 12 years older than I, began sneaking cigarettes after the 8th. grade; she refused to stop, despite pleas from our parents, even the kindly old family doctor. It killed her at age 65, about 5 years after she finally quit. I tell anyone caring to listen that, had I smoked during my lifetime, I would have been dead long ago. Frank