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I stopped...


BigDave

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One year ago yesterday was the last time I smoked a cigarette...

I'm posting this here under 'accomplishments', not because I think it is one, but most other people that know about it do. To me it is just something I'm doing.

I've reflected on the choices I've made regarding this habit, each second, minute, hour and day over the past year and a day, and I've come to some conclusions:

- if you want to stop, you can

- it is hard

- it is painful

- what you recover in physical health, you give up in mental health to some degree

- those around you think more highly of this than you ever will

Am I glad that I did [stop]? Yes and no.

I've picked up a new habit of cycling which I very much enjoy. I don't miss my clothes smelling like smoke. I don't miss my wife giving me grief with every flick of the lighter (but I'm glad that she cared enough to nag). I don't miss freaking out when I am out of cigarettes. I don't miss hearing from non-smokers what a bad person I was because of a decision I was making.

I do miss the social interaction and isolation that smoking brings. I miss the opportunities smoking gave me to pause, ponder and reflect. I miss the taste, when it tasted good (and yes, it did ;) ). I miss the sense of security it provided. I like the fact that I'm able to navigate run 'n gun field courses a bit better.

For those of you who still smoke and want to quit, believe me you can. Just like the decision you make to buy them and light them, you can make the decision not to. But, overall, it has to be your choice and own your own terms. Don't bother with patches, pills or gum. Use will. It is working for me. (I was at 1.5 packs/day when I quit)

For those of you don't smoke and never have, give us some rest. It is my assertion that many of us continue to smoke simply to spite folks like you. You are not better people because you decide not to partake, you just made different decisions. We all have deamons. We all have a vice. There are things about smoking that you simply cannot fathom and will never understand. If you wish to help, please do so with compasion. Imagine taking something you do everyday, often without thinking about it, and then stop doing it. Yeah, it's like that.

For those who still smoke and enjoy it: please have one for me, because I cannot ever again.

I still consider my self a smoker, I'm just not practicing. I think I'll always have to think of it and act this way. I can't go back, even though I want to very badly. I've accepted this.

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Good for you ;)

don't smoke, other than the occasional cigar, very infrequent, but I would like to give up some other things, ie: custom pistols, custom rifles, great wine, single malt scotch, hot rod cars, custom music systems, first edition books, hand carved decoys, and spoiling my kids and grandkids...

any suggestions on these, they are all too expensive.... :P

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Great post, Dave!

Yours is a new perspective on it.

I asked a friend how he was doing one morning expecting a usual, "Pretty good". He said, "Great! Every day is a gift! It's one more day in my new life." Turns out, he had quite a problem with several substances when he was younger. He probably still fights the wants every day, but he's winning each day on its own merits.

Liota

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BigDave,

You are so right. I've quit myself a bit over a year ago and I couldn't agree with you more on almost every point. I too miss smoking, and yes it tastes good. To all those that think we are crazy when we say it tastes good, you may want to think about why people smoke foods. I also miss the smoking/thinking breaks at work were I could go outside and walk around a bit. I haven't found anything to replace that.

Oddly, for all the non-smoking people that bitched to me about smoking, none of them really offered any support or recognition when I did quit, but I did get a lot of encourgment from fellow smokers.

Where I disagree with you is the quiting method. The same thing doesn't work for everyone. In my case the patch provided the extra help I need it. My wife still smokes so for the whole process there were cigs on the table, in the house, and smoke in the air. I needed the extra help.

What did work for me on a mental level was to keep on reminding myself why I am quiting. Every time I wanted a smoke I thought about the more then 2000 rounds of ammo worth of cash that I smoked every month. Every time I sat in front of my computer and noticed that pack my wife left on the desk, I thought about shooting that 1/2" group with my bolt gun and the breath control I need. You need to remind yourself why you are doing it.

Congratulations and keep it up. I finally got to the point where I don't try to sniff the smoke from the cigs of others. That was a hard one, its kinda like being on Atkins and not sniffing that fresh baked bread.

Vlad

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Good show Dave,

Smoked my last cancer stick in early November last year. I had been smoking for over 30 years up to that point. I had stopped and re-started half a dozen times, once for over two years. But this is the first time I actually “Quit” smoking, the rest of the times I really wasn’t done smoking yet so I wasn’t able to stay away from it. It was still “my little friend” and I still enjoyed it. Once I no longer considered it a treat, a reward, something to look forward to as much as you look forward to good meal, then and only then was I able to say I do not want to smoke, so I will not smoke.

Every other time I stopped, I still had desires for the nicotine, still missed the familiar ritual and the comfort of having something to turn to that made no demands of you other than to enjoy. Basically the cigarette becomes a little womb that you can crawl into for a few minutes, so you do. As long as you actually enjoy it, you will keep doing it.

The realization I made one day after lighting one and not really liking the taste was that I was finally done smoking. I really did not like it anymore and I could finally be an ex-smoker who had done all he needed to do. It had less to do with physical revulsion, than with mental revulsion at being a slave to something I no longer enjoyed doing.

BTW, buying a treadmill helped me quite a lot. Best thousand bucks I ever spent. Instead of smoking when I wanted a treat, I walked on the tread mill and dry-fired my pistol and long guns. The treat I get now is something that I get to keep.

Good luck to everyone in finding a path that is better for you, no matter what it is.

--

Regards,

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George. what great discipline.

Dave congrats on your one year non-smoking anniversary. I'm sure there are many other factors involved, but I have seen your IPSC match scores improve dramatically in the last year.

For me, the little pills helped get me over the rough spots and I've stayed smoke free for a little over two years now.

TomB

Curiously, I just remembered a fellow shooter who told me about a year before I quit how his vision improved after quitting. I can't recall ever seeing this fellow again...

(that was supposed to amuse, but it is also true).

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WAY TO GO!!! Quitting a pack and a half a day habbit is a huge accomplishment. I quit the same way. Started mountain biking and realized that I just couldn't catch my breath. I just kept riding more and more and never missed the little cancer sticks again. Next year will be 10 years of riding and no smokes. The more you ride the better you will feel and the less you will think about starting again. The first year was hard, all of my friends still smoked, but it keeps getting easier. After the second year I stopped thinking about it all together. 20 years ago I guess that I was too busy trying to be cool to think about what I was doing. I wish that I had thought to ride in the first place.

Keep the faith.

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Congrats to all of you recovering cigarette smokers. m y mom smoked until i was about 8 i know how hard the battle is from watching her... and how have asthma because of it and an allergy to 2nd hand smoke.

you are doing yourelf and everyone around you a great favor.

Thanks!!! :-) keep up the dedication guys!

Steve

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  • 11 months later...

Congratulations to BigDave & all you other addiction fighters because that is what it is, an addiction. Cigarette smoking is as hard to stop as heroin addiction or being an alcoholic. There is no such thing as 'I think I'll try 1'. There is no time limit built into stopping smoking, it is like an alcoholic if you have 1 then you WILL go back to the level you were when you last stopped.

For those of you who have not stopped, I understand your frustration with all the negative comments about smoking. There are certain people in this world who need something to complain about. They tried prohabition and that didn't work. So what are Sothern Congressmen going to do for the tobacco farmers when they start going out of business, add them to the welfare list.

Let's give them something else to lobby against, why is a 24oz can of beer selling for the same price as a 16oz can of Pepsi. Does this mean that Pepsi is more harmful than beer. Because there is a tax imposed on alcohol so maybe we need a tax on Pepsi.

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May 28, 1992. :D

And you will enjoy the benefit to your cycling. When I was 20 years younger and a smoker, I could do, at most 30 miles on flat land before I got totally winded. Now I can do almost 2x that. That is until my ass, knees, etc give out. :angry:

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// thread drift//

For you cyclists, there was a ride between Missoula, MT and Great Falls, MT which is 160 miles that varies from 3200 ft at Missoula to 5620 ft at Rogers Pass to 3700 ft at Great Falls. Temperature ranged from 80 to the low 90's with humidity in the 10-20's.

I drove and passed about 40 cyclists on what is mostly a crooked 2 lane road.

//thread drift off//

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