Today is the day
For the first time in many months, it's been over 4 hours since I've woken up and not had a cigarette.
I wrote a post here last summer as I was attempting to quit smoking, it went well for about a week but unfortunately I broke down and started smoking again. I blamed it on the stress, the trading and all other sort of things. Like in Lethal Weapon it felt like "the wrong week to quit smoking" or something like that. Of course it was all just excuses really, but now I'm as determined as ever to give it another go and take a break from most things to see this through.
I started smoking when I was 20, we had a pretty chill class in highschool where only a couple students out of 30+ smoked so I never got introduced to it that way. I was one of the people who didn't understand what it meant to be addicted to smoking, it felt ridiculous to believe some people couldn't be without it. I started my military service and everyone started telling me that I will start smoking there because everyone does. The stress and being outside all the time will get you to smoke. I brushed it off as I was sure that wouldn't affect me and for the longest time it didn't.
I started smoking the last month of my military service out of boredom as we didn't have much to do at the end of it. How ironic is that, looking back now I almost wish I had started smoking earlier to relieve the stress. Ever since that last month I continued smoking and it's gotten to a point where it feels like it's affecting my health and way of life. Throughout the 8+ years I've attempted to quit many times and I recently read that only 6% of people that attempt quitting on their first time succeed. So I hope that percentage is greater now as I can't even recall the number of attempts.
To be able to ease my quitting I've decided to replace that addiction with another past addiction that I had, gaming. At the time where I could spend countless of hours just sitting in front of the PC and gaming I never thought about cigarettes, so I am hoping to get back into that mindset and being without smoking for a couple weeks until I feel confident again that I can stay smokefree.
This will be where I will spend most of my time in the coming weeks and hoping I can kick the habit of smoking.
I will be using nicotine gum to not make it too difficult, it will be more about the smoking habit at first and then moving away from the nicotine addiction by mixing it up with regular gum now and then and at one point quit nicotine as well.
My hands are somewhat shaking still as I am writing this and they have became really warm as have my feet as well.
I will be posting my gaming onto @dtube if you are interested in seeing an ex-pro player come back into the game and once I have a new PC I will look into streaming it on @dlive. Even if my PC could handle it I wouldn't feel comfortable streaming right now as I probably will get easily annoyed at stuff.
Will also be blogging about it now and then and I'm hoping that together with the community I can fight this through and finally be smoke-free again.
Thanks for reading!
Have you try e-cigarette people said that they are health and you can still enjoy cigarette
Good luck! It is actually not that bad if you have something to focus on that keeps you busy, playing video games will certainly work.
Having a drink always makes me want to smoke cigarettes.
Keep fighting the good fight. It can be tough to have relapses, but we're all human. Turning your attention to gaming is a good idea and will help you a lot. Don't give up and you will eventually reach your goal, which will be good for you, your family and friends. Good luck to you.
Hit the gym, swing come kettlebells, clock up some miles on the treadmill - let your lungs remind you why you really do not want to smoke. Plus it is an hour in an environment where you cannot smoke.
Plus most gyms have a lot of specials running this time of year - so it is great time to join if you have not already.
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I liked your advices....But How many times a man can fight good..?
Life is a marathon, not a sprint. Keep fighting as long as it takes brother.
i guess i lost my faith to this fight when i jump the gun.
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That's tough man, but I am sure you can do it. The key is changing habits. Which is easier said than done I guess. But maybe your gaming will work.
I was going to suggest Snus. I don't know if you have the same name in Finland ? But yea the tobacco that is in a pouch that you put under the lip. It's not supposed to be near as harmful as cigarettes. But still it would be replacing a bad habit with another bad habit so haha forget that - stick to the game plan ;)
My roommate has snus and offered me some to make it easier, but I think I'm going to stick to nico gum instead. Might use it a couple times if things get really tough.
My husband started smoking when he was 14, and smoked until the day he moved to be closer to me when we were dating. He quit cold turkey, because he knew how much it meant to me. I will be honest when I say he’s the only person I have come across who did not resort back to smoking, but it took him a few years to ditch the immediate desire to smoke when around others who were smoking. For the last couple of years, he has been using snuss and likes it. Gives him that little taste of nicotine without chewing gum and a plus side of not smelling like other tobacco products. Like @gtrplayer said, keep fighting the good fight. One of the negatives of quitting smoking is trying to replace the oral habit- the actual movement of taking the cigarette out and bringing it to your mouth. Replacing that with chewing gum, straws, toothpick etc will help a lot with that desire. Gaming is awesome too to preoccupy your thoughts :) good luck!
I think you make the right decision, it's not a really sexy habit to snusa
I didn't use snus, but I used to chew. You don't want to get going on that stuff instead. better to cut it all out.
Props to you for realizing you had a problem with it and working through kicking it. Just work your way through those shakes and you'll pull through :). Its not easy by any means.
ALSO does this mean the new game now that Diablo is done is WoW?? Going from one Blizzard game to another I see...
Yes, I think it will be the best one to keep my mind on the game as much as possible. With FPS and Diablo I have this thing where after a couple hours I lose concentration and look for other things to do, but an MMORPG can be different. :)
Plus Diablo you can easily pause and stop... there's no pausing when you're in a 40 man raid that lasts a couple hours so you LITERALLY won't be able to go out for a smoke :). It actually is quite the perfect way to force yourself.
It took me a good 2-4 weeks before my cravings started really cooling off. It was hard for me to be around people smoking or to be able to turn down smoking when I drank, and that honestly waxed and waned for 6 months or so. Now that I'm on the other side of it I am sooooo happy to be done with it. It's so worth it, I promise. Check out Easy Way to Quit Smoking by Allen Carr. Reading that book when I was ready to quit really put things in perspective and strengthened my resolve in a big way. I think you can find a pdf of it for free.
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Hi), I once also tried to get rid of nicotine addiction after 17 years of continuous smoking, but all these attempts were reduced to zero, kept a maximum of 3 weeks and already began to think that I could never give up and almost despaired. I tried to replace cigarettes and nicotine gum and tablets and even cigarettes without nicotine, but none of the methods worked (and one day I came across a very interesting book by author Allen Carr, I started reading and for a long time I had the confidence that I could end withthis very bad habit, I read it very quickly because I really wanted to start a new life faster) and waking up on the morning of July 4, 2007, I experienced this unique feeling when you get rid of something that prevents you from living! It's been more than 10 years and I did not do one puff, as I advised reading this book 2 to my friends with a similar experience of smoking and it also worked for them)) So it's never too late to change your life for the better !!!
You can do it..
I totally understand the military thing bro, Thats why I started too! I mean, I started in my first tour to Iraq but its all the same... fucking military, lol..
I wanted to say ~Good luck bro~ I know you can do it! I quit one year ago now after smoking for over 15 years! If I can do it you can do it too! My trick was to just think about every negative thing I could everytime smoking would cross my mind. Like how stupid it was to pay for cancer, how bad it smelled, how expensive it was, how much it hurt my lungs, how I was a slave to it, how it sucked to go on a plane or to a movie without craving one. and I would go on and on until i was so disgusted I didn't even want it anymore.. the truth is we all know how bad it is to for our health to smoke, I mean there is a fucking warning on every pack you smoke! lol.
anyhow, you just need to retrain your brain to think about it negatively rather than positively. Now when I think about smoking I don't crave it at all, I just get pissed I willingly payed to poison myself for so long! Trust me, you will feel so much better it is ridiculous ;)
Hang in there, bro.
You can do it!
There's a great book you might try. I often send it to folks who are wanting to stop smoking. There's the key: STOPPING not quitting.
The book is, "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking", by Allen Carr (yes, a WEIRD similarity to my own name...).
If you are a quick reader, you'll be able to do it in a sitting. Alternately, if you NEED to take some time to let the ideas set in, the book allows for that too.
I JUST sent out our last copy before the New Year (by request- I ain't no crazy person shoving my beliefs on folk), but you can find it for a couple of bucks on HPB.com (Half Priced books).
The video game deterrent is excellent.
I wish you the best of luck and strongest of wills!
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out! :)
@acidyo
Stay healthy so you can enjoy your gazillions :D Best wishes