Kicking the Habit (Smoking)
Ok, inspired by the wildly off-topic and somewhat controversial threads recently, I thought I'd ask you guys for opinions, advice and suggestions on something entirely unrelated to game art.
I'm a smoker, have been for close to 12 years.
It's a disgusting habit, which I have really had enough of. Up until now I've always been like 'I kinda enjoy it, don't really have a desire to quit', but as I get older, the risk and damage I do to myself becomes scarier.
Then I made a strange but somewhat inspiring discovery (after buying a pack of cigarettes for £7.35).
If I gave up smoking, completely quit, I could pay for a brand new Audi or BMW. With just the money I saved. And of course all
the other wonderful benefits to my health, the fact I'll be able to taste food better, and the fact I won't stink horribly after I've had a cigarette.
That kinda brought home a financially scary reality of just how much I was spending.
So I did exactly that, sold my 11 year old car for £1500, and walked into an Audi dealership, dropped a deposit and now I'm waiting for delivery of my first brand new car ever, which is paid for entirely by kicking a morbid habit.
I also thought it might be a good incentive every time I feel the need to light up, just look out the window.
Anyway, I'm not expecting it to be that easy, I know it's regarded as one of the most difficult habits to kick. So I'm keen to hear thoughts and advice from any of you guys who've successfully quit?
I'm going the cold turkey route, simply because I kinda feel like nicotine substitutes is cheating a bit. I've cut my daily down from 12 smokes to 3 and intend to cut that to 0 once my car arrives.
I'm a smoker, have been for close to 12 years.
It's a disgusting habit, which I have really had enough of. Up until now I've always been like 'I kinda enjoy it, don't really have a desire to quit', but as I get older, the risk and damage I do to myself becomes scarier.
Then I made a strange but somewhat inspiring discovery (after buying a pack of cigarettes for £7.35).
If I gave up smoking, completely quit, I could pay for a brand new Audi or BMW. With just the money I saved. And of course all
the other wonderful benefits to my health, the fact I'll be able to taste food better, and the fact I won't stink horribly after I've had a cigarette.
That kinda brought home a financially scary reality of just how much I was spending.
So I did exactly that, sold my 11 year old car for £1500, and walked into an Audi dealership, dropped a deposit and now I'm waiting for delivery of my first brand new car ever, which is paid for entirely by kicking a morbid habit.
I also thought it might be a good incentive every time I feel the need to light up, just look out the window.
Anyway, I'm not expecting it to be that easy, I know it's regarded as one of the most difficult habits to kick. So I'm keen to hear thoughts and advice from any of you guys who've successfully quit?
I'm going the cold turkey route, simply because I kinda feel like nicotine substitutes is cheating a bit. I've cut my daily down from 12 smokes to 3 and intend to cut that to 0 once my car arrives.
Replies
I haven't smoked in 4 years now.
Thanks Ruz, good to hear it's possible!
Ok, first week is the hardest... noted!
Now the smell of cigarettes makes me want to Vomit. Even smelling someone smoking near me on the street just makes me feel terrible. I can't stand smoking. - I feel like this is a good reflex to have =P
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a good reinforcement would be "if I pick up smoking again, I will donate my new Audi to charity"
I've never been addicted to cigarettes, but recently quit drinking coffee. What did it for me is pretty similar to what you're expecting with the car - I just had to acknowledge the benefits gained on account of quitting the addiction. In my case, having a slight bodytype, I can now focus better and am less irritable, mind less abuzz.
... I know that kind of sounds like what cigarettes do for you - calm the mind, etc - but it's completely possible to achieve a relaxed state of mind without smoking a cigarette. So maybe the benefit for you, on top of saving money, will be knowing that you are no longer faux-reliant on a substance that is damaging to your health.
I think quitting varies between people, I have a very addictive personality and quitting was a huge pain in the ass for me. I went cold turkey and after seeing my friends success with the mints or w/e I wish i had given some supplements a try.
the money rolling in is a good incentive, but my grandfather told me something that i'll never forget in regards to smoking. he was a smoker for like a million years and he finally quit through a strange combo of eating oranges (peels and all) and wife apathy.
he told me "as long as you smoke, you'll never be as strong as you're supposed to be." I don't even know how i was supposed to take that but it stuck so that's saying something.
best of luck!
The first week to two weeks is the hardest, no doubt. But, even past that... since you've been smoking for so long, be prepared for your body to throw a fit, past just cravings. You'll start coughing, might have some sinus, throat, chest irritations. It's helpful to keep in mind that this is just your body getting used to being healthy again, and detoxing itself.
I think the major thing that will never make me smoke again is knowing how SHIT it is to go through the physical withdrawals when you decide to quit again.
Good luck!
(wish we never started, right?)
Yeah the incentive thing with the car is very material, and selfish I suppose, but infinitely less selfish than pretty much killing myself which is what I've come to realise I'm doing. But regardless, it's a big incentive and really the one that opened my eyes.
Jouste that's a great quote. I think the belief that I need a chemical substance to 'relax' or even 'get through the day' is a huge weakness, and when I can rid myself of that, it'll be a big deal.
Again, thanks for the support guys, if anyones currently quitting, feel free to PM me for moral support and we can yell e-Obscenities at each other.
You really have to be in the right mindset, and I think you definitely are. I would recommend not doing the "I'm cutting back, will be at 0 tomorrow," route - and just stop completely. If you have a pack of smokes left - smoke them all in one sitting. It sounds gross, but force yourself to do it. When you're out - toss it, every lighter, ashtray, tobacco pouch, etc and be done. Wash your sheets, pillowcases, clothes, favorite jacket, cut your nails, whiten your teeth, etc, etc - everything to completely remove them and focus on moving forward.
I tried quitting using Chantix and one other pill - they scared the shit out of me, because they fuck with your brain chemistry, but I wanted to try. It worked... but turned me into a crazy person, and I started smoking again so I didn't feel crazy (bad idea). Personally, I would not recommend them - and i believe you're on the right path - quit naturally, strengthen your self mentally on your own way.
Good luck, know you can do it - by your post you sound very committed, and will succeed
Like Ruz said, it is super tough.
I've tried cold turkey, gum, sunflower seeds, Nicorette, and even Chantix.
Chantix worked the best and I had quit for a little over half a year and then like an idiot, picked it back up.
I've cut back a lot than what I used to. Was 2 packs, then 1 pack, now it's less than 1/2 a pack most days.
It will be one of the hardest things you will ever do in your entire life if you've been smoking as long as you have.
It can be done. It takes a lot of determination, and imo, a lot of personal distraction. Every craving you get, you have to turn it into something else and realize that the urge will go away.
My biggest issue is that my wife smokes as well, and it makes it more difficult to quit whilst she does not care to. To her, it is her "vice", her way of relaxing, which to me is a cop out to admitting she's addicted like everyone else that smokes, like myself.
I need to quit as well C22. Don't think I could buy an Audi, but maybe some new software I've been wanting. Gotta talk to the wife and get her motivated, or get her pregnant.
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Getting your sense of taste and smell back are pretty awesome, but then you find out you stunk the while time, just really badly after a cigarette.
Every time I sit on my couch I get the urge to smoke... that's funny because every time anyone else sits on your couch they want to go take a shower...
HEY I swear I washed this shirt 3 times yet it still stinks like stale smoke, what gives it never did that before... oh right... I can smell again...
Yeah my fiance is a smoker too, with an addiction level similar to mine. She says she's not 'ready to quit' which means there's little point in me attempting to convince her.
I'm hoping that my quitting may encourage her to reconsider, but of course it'll make things more difficult for me. Fortunately we have never smoked inside the house anyway, so she'll be going outside to smoke on her own!
Semi-cool side effects of starting the patch, the WACKIEST dreams you can think of. Seriously weird out there, vivid as hell dreams. I could only do that for a week though, then they started keeping me up at night, and I had to take the patch off about an hour before sleep time. Also, bursts of energy. Good thing to pick up exercising while quitting. I gained 40 pounds before I knew it, and 60 all together at the end. So EXERCISE!!
Personally, I think this is the kind of vicious that have strong emotional influence, more than chemical. It's like people who has compulsion for food. Like I had. I couldn't resist, I was always eating. Pasta, chocolate, candies. Even when the stomach was full and almost bursting.
The best solution I found was replace this addiction with sports. I started jogging, and after some time, I started running. Running is addictive too, but in a good way. It causes on you a sensation of ccmpletion, motivation. And you feel more motivated to avoid things that can ruin your activity. I know some people that stopped smoking and drinking by running. It killed my compulsion too, and lost a lot of weight. More than 20kg.
Today my health is much better, and I feel much more happy and disciplined. I'm going to gym too. I think it could be a good start for you too.
Anyway, good luck on your jouney!
30-40 a day, wow.
I smoke 5-7 a day, and I want to stop smoking anyway.
First off, you have to really want it. It's hard - hard like training for a marathon hard. Like learning art hard. You have to want to do it (at least if you've an addictive personality like I do), or it's not going to work. Quitting for someone else doesn't work. Make a commitment to yourself and understand that you're going to be better off for this.
Second, cold turkey. There's a lot of studies that have shown that the long term success rate for anything else is almost zero. There's two parts to smoking addiction: physical and psychological. The physical is your addiction to nicotine. An interesting and helpful fact I learned while quitting was that all the nicotine leaves your system in about 4-5 days. If you can get past that you're not physically addicted to cigs anymore, just the mental aspect. Those 4-5 days are really hard, because your brain is constantly pinging the rest of your body about being staved for nic. You HAVE to find a distraction...take a walk, chew some gum, go to sleep, watch a movie, work on some art. Whatever distracts you. You just have to grin and bear it, but it'll be over soon.
Lastly, if you get past the physical, you're left with the psychological. That's the 'habit' part. What Mark said is dead on - I found out I smoked the most when I was in the car and on the phone. Those two things were really weird/hard for the first couple weeks after quitting. I'd gotten so used to lighting up when I did them that my brain wanted to remind me 'hey, we're missing something here' when I wasn't smoking. Getting past it is just like forming/unforming any other habit, like writing in cursive, getting up early/late or whatever. It's all about repetition. For me, it was mainly about not knowing what to do with my mouth and hands. I bought two big bags of hard candy (butterscotches and cinnamon) and a big-ass bag of sunflower seeds. I needed to do something with myself that didn't involve putting nicotine in my system. The last part was staying away from places I used to drink, mainly bars and clubs.
Every week is easier. Just take it a step at a time. First 4-5 days, first two weeks. First two months. After that, everything's easy compared to what came before.
http://whyquit.com/whyquit/A_Benefits_Time_Table.html
This gave me a preview and some motivation during it. Rock on.
After 10 years of smoking I quit almost 2 years ago, had a 2 week smoking hitch last year but still continue to be smoke free.
I think what will help you the most, is to remember that if you mess up and accidentally smoke, don't use it as an excuse to keep smoking, just try again.
We helped and it was a 2 day job, on day 2 I expected to walk in and find two bodies...
One thought that helped me was that one of these cigarettes was going to be the one that kills me.
Avoid trigger spots such as bars, post meal cig, commute cig, etc... Try to fill that time with something else.
I traded in smoking for working out. It didn't take at first but I've been working out for over 10 years now. Weights 4 days a week and yoga twice a week.
Don't depend on anyone else to help you quit. You'll fail. The crap you'll suffer will make you better for it.
If you do quit things in your life will change in more ways than just not smoking.You'll reflect back on it as a positive life experience change.
Lastly, don't believe the crap people tell you that you will always crave a cigarette the rest of your life. It's a lie.
Quitting is an individual experience like learning art, working out, etc... You'll figure out your own way.
Best of success.
Things like that should not be habits. They should be occasional treats.
(or else you stop appreciating them)
Cigs should be quit altogether though. Kick that shit to the curb!
It's not hard at all... no cravings, it's all in your head. Now I can smoke one randomly without being addicted to it again and wanting more.
@Jungsik... it's not that expensive lol. What.. are you buying DuMaurier or Belmonts or something?
nicotine is physically addicting
I smoked for 10 years..I had to give up drinking coffee in the morning when I quit...It's rough for the first 2 weeks...gum helped..and having someone to quit with you is a plus
Said to myself... Don't need it. Maybe I'm just strong minded or something?
I don't drink beer (or any type of alcohol), and I don't smoke cigarettes. By smoking one randomly I mean like at a weeding or if a friend had a baby and he wants to have a cigar or have a smoke.
I was just brought up in a different environment that 98% of the people here. The power of the mind is never underestimated.
I use to smoke a lot too. I even started buying a lot of them just so I never run out
Sports help a lot too. If you do sports you can feel it immediately when you stop smoking. If you dont now is the best time to start.
Good luck man
I do need to find something to do 'instead' of smoking, exercising sounds like a good idea. I have a pretty healthy relationship with my other vices, love coffee but never drink it excessively, and I haven't drank alcohol in about 10 years, not for any particular reason, just never really took to it and prefer a cold cola to a cold beer!
Exercise sounds good, I could do with getting into shape, but I have a question for you guys who turned to fitness and working out. Is the weight gain inevitable? Problem is, I'm a skinny guy as it is, despite eating a decent amount, and not particularly doing much in the way of exercise, I just never seem to put on much weight. So I'm concerned if I start working out like crazy then I'm gonna lose even more weight!
In fact, gaining weight would actually be a good thing, but I would like to improve fitness.
Then you can mix working out days with "sport" days. Me, I like going to the gym 3 times a week, then alternate with 2 days of rock climb and 1 of snowboard if I can... week done
the more you push, the more your body is gonna kick you out of a chair to move you'll see man! and so nicotine wont have place you'll feel that you dont want to lose all your effort with that... thats what happen to me at least! good luck!
ps: Just keep in mind to eat right..... At first I was hesitant to eat 5 times a day as people suggested, but now I find it really easy to have a couple stuff here and there to snack, fruit, nuts, fish whatever. If you eat a lot at once you ll have more chances to gain wait than if you eat more often but less.
Bastard. Call that a problem? I'll give you a problem! Just kidding. Kind of....
I quit one week ago (again), after twenty a day for fourteen years. I'd tried everything in the past; hypnotherapy (which did work for six months or so, my failure not the treatment), patches (+ 1 to the wacky nightmares, which I'm presently enjoying right now) and cold turkey, which didn't work at all.
Using patches etc. isn't 'cheating' - cheating is going for three days without one, then sneaking one thinking 'but I've been so good...'
I don't know if you're some kind of iron-willed discipline powerhouse, but I'd advise against going cold-turkey. I've got to admit, all these people that said 'oh yeah, I just stopped after ten years no problem', I'm so tempted to call bullshit, either on the extent of their habit or how easy it was to stop.
Going cold turkey is one of the most fiendishly difficult things to do (unless you do genuinely happen to be the aforementioned powerhouse), so maximize your chances and patch it up real nice, I say. Plus, the dreams / nightmares really are fucking wild.
Then again, I heard a story of how Rommel quit heroin cold turkey through sheer willpower alone. If the Desert Fox could do it, then so can I! Or you, or whoever else feels like it...
I hear ya here, my fiance is the same way - sometimes to the magnitude of 2-3x more than I smoke a day (20-25 a day to her 40-60). With this, I will strongly advise doing your best to stay off of it. When I started again, she felt really bad because she felt like she made me start smoking again, and was failing me. Had to reassure her it wasn't that at all, and it was my own conscious choice and had nothing to do with her smoking.
It did get annoying here & there when she was smoking and I wasn't, where she'd sneak off when we were out on the town for 10-15 minutes at a time usually leaving me alone. Best thing was to just communicate about it, and stay cool like the fonz
setting an example and being brave & doing it could be the motivation she needs! However, I'm a firm believer in the "being ready" to quit smoking idea - if someone isn't, don't force it, it will only make shit worse.
Lol Dan, sorry, I didn't mean to call it a 'problem'! But I do look in the mirror sometimes and think 'man I'm too skinny', just like many people do the same but say 'man I'm too fat'.
I'm actually quite excited now, it's starting to seem like a 'challenge' which I'm looking forward to tackling.
I started again about 7 or 8 yeasr later, but found it much easier to quit.
but yeah it was cold turkey, no bullshit mate. Its like any habit , the less you do it, the less of a habit it becomes. (In the same way smoking becomes a habit if you do it long enough)
i was a casual smoker for about 5 years, but then got really addicted after that.
Me and the wife both smoked red marlboroughs and even camel sometimes:/
My grandad used to smoke 60-70 a day, but just quit one day. He didn't drink either.
i don't even drink much these days as my priorites have changed. I have a daughter and don't want to die aged 50.
BUT anyway don't spend too long reading about cigarettes or you will start to want one
No need to apologize, Tom, t'was merely jesting.
But seriously, you can eat whatever you want and not gain weight? You're a fucking hero, and an inspiration to us all.
Good luck, mate - be strong, and keep thinking about that Audi.
I don't doubt it really, Mike, just trying to make myself feel better about what a weak-willed wretch I am when I comes to cigarettes.
In fact, never mind hats off, for managing to do that it should be fucking pants off, as a mark of respect and in keeping with certain polycount 'traditions'.
Imagine finding out you have cancer in your mouth and you have all your teeth pulled out and tongue cut in half. Unable to speak properly for the rest of your life. Then you develop a lump in your throat that stops you from swallowing and eating and then eventually dying of a combination of old age, lack of nutrition / liquids and the agony of cancer growing within your body. All of this at the slowest most dragged out time possible.
Sorry for that deep description but that's what smoking can do to you if you let it. I haven't experienced addiction so I can't really say much but I hope my story at least scares you a little into stopping.
This has been a factor for sure, I'm 26 now, and when you're pre-20, it's easy to turn round to people who scare you with the health issues and just ignore them, but I'm getting closer to that age where it's actually not wildly unheard of for people to get smoking related conditions. I really don't want to do that to myself, and especially not to my family.
I don't have kids yet either but when I do, I'd rather see them into their 20s at least, and run round the park with them without needing to take a break every few steps.
Anyway, can we get back to the positive encouragement rather than the morbid stories!
I still like a drink though, which was always more of a vice with me, but I have cut down to sensible levels these days
anyway creationtwentytwo, seriously don't read this thread too much, just try and take your mind off it instead by doing something else.
Will do.
Thanks again everyone, I think it might be best if admin close this thread and leave it here.
There's some great advice and encouraging stories, but I don't want it to turn into a 'scare tactics' or 'I hate smoking because' thread, so maybe best to end it here?
Also, it is rather off topic.
In any case, thanks a lot to all who chimed in, means a lot and it's given me a lot of extra motivation.
You don't have the distractions of a spouse or kids so you can focus. This is a great time for you to quit. Sorry but those who have people around them that smoke will make it extremely difficult to quit. As it has been said people quit when they are ready.
I gained some weight but you'll end up losing it once you get over the oral fixation. It's been said it takes 3 months for a habit to become permanent.
So the last cigarette I had was at about 10PM last night, and then around 12 I decided that was it, enough is enough!
So, 16 hours in and I'm feeling good.