[bblost]

@noopster: kinda reminds you of exactly how strong an adversary nicotine is, right.

Glad you won this round and am sure you will win all of them in the future as well.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Well done, noopster. You may find the temptation coming back months, and even years in the future.

But people who do succumb to that pressure to have just one should remember this: just one is bad, yes, but it doesn't mean you have given up giving up. Just... don't have another.

kinda reminds you of exactly how strong an adversary nicotine is, right.

Exactly, which is why having had just one, the pressure to just have another would be far more, and the old mental tricks start up... had one, may as well have another; looks like I'm a smoker again; I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed it; and the rest.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by bblost

@noopster: kinda reminds you of exactly how strong an adversary nicotine is, right.

Glad you won this round and am sure you will win all of them in the future as well.

Inshallah yes! It feels good to talk about this. I shared this with my friends at work as well, and I'm still suffused in the glow.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Well done, noopster. You may find the temptation coming back months, and even years in the future.

But people who do succumb to that pressure to have just one should remember this: just one is bad, yes, but it doesn't mean you have given up giving up. Just... don't have another.

Great advice. This incident was a wake-up call to me, since it was the fist time in nearly 6 months that I actually *wanted* to smoke. I have been through stressful situations, parties where everyone around me was puffing away etc. and sailed through with aplomb. I guess the demon doesn't announce his arrival!

[pratap007]

A smoker never really quits...just waits

[noopster]

Originally Posted by pratap007

A smoker never really quits...just waits

That reminds me of the quote from some creepy Robin Williams flick "You can't ever quit. You're either a smoker or you're not. Pick one... and stick with it."

Well I've made my choice . So regardless of what the cynics and skeptics say, this choice empowers me and I'm better off for it.

[bblost]

Another good reason to quit smoking.

Giving up smoking - Times of India

[roadie_swift]

Ok, just an update - Me and My Wife both quit on December 21.

Now, fingers crossed, we wait. Pray for us.

Cheers,
R_S

[YaeJay]

I think I must be the only one here that quit without any sort of a plan or new year resolution. I was someone who used to smoke anything between 30 to 80 a day. Once I moved back with my folks and started working from home I started to feel the pinch. Time. Couldn't smoke at home during the day, couldn't go to the local Shop and light up like when I used to years back. ( Most of my friends kids are in their 12th or go to college! Can never be a bad example ). Drive/ ride for a few kms, smoke, have a cup of tea or cool drink, wash hands an mouth, pop in a few mints! Now, that got it down to about 2 a day. Then I really got bored into doing it and quit without realizing i quit. I know this must be the worst example for guys that want to quit. I have smoked half a pack this year after about 4 years, an that was because i wanted to. And Haven't thought about a smoke since then. I will have a few sometime during the course of my life!

I think the Key is not having a plan, not thinking you are going to miss something, because when one does that then its always on the mind! Its the first week then a few months then You cant even take the smell I suppose. They do say don't stick around folks that smoke. That almost never works. Just get bored, think of the time you loose!

I do think I am lucky!

[YaeJay]

Hmm as an after thought, I guess its fair to share what it feels like after all these years of quitting.

I guess I have done enough damage already. Bad eyes.

I've never had a cold during the days I used to smoke, could get soaked in the rain ride for hours in the rain (bliss). Pollution? what pollution? stuff like that.

These days, I catch a cold very often, can't ride a bike (pollution). I mostly stay indoors, but for the few hours. I guess I haven't seen great results, what I do feel if you have been doing it for years on the end, cut it down, Perhaps you have already done the damage, quitting may cause problems I face? Only the Docs can clarify. I can only speak of what I feel about myself.

P.S ( I used to have a very healthy/active lifestyle which involved about 4 hours of intensive workouts till I started working, I did feel the drop in stamina once i started smoking on a regular basis much later, I haven't been working out much for the past few years.For the first time I am having new year resolutions, thanks to T-bhp, since I can't multitask I realized I have to get enough sleep and cut down on work to enjoy the forum.The fitness follows! )

[Thad E Ginathom]

roadie_swift: congratulations. Do remember that it is not crossed fingers but your will that will get you through.

YaeJay: there are varying levels of physical addiction: it depends on the person. Some may suffer badly, others may hardly feel a thing. There are rare creatures who can smoke once in a while.

When I look back on giving up, perhaps it wasn't really that bad --- but it seemed like it at the time!

Just after I gave up, I was chatting to a fellow passenger on a train, abd we got to comparing "addict notes." His wasn't tobacco, he was an ex-alcoholic, and had been in a very bad state. He managed to get himself to that vital, "I have a problem" point, and started looking into the cures, the detox clinics, this, that, until he woke up one day and thought, "why bother with all that: I'll just stop. Now". I'm still inspired by that guy's story, after eighteen years. Tobacco may not be as life-destroying (until it destroys your life itself) but it is just as tough an addiction to challenge and beat.

Two guys on a train: both had given up something, something entirely different, but we recognised and respected each other's win in the battle.

(Got carried away there... anyway...)

YaeJay, I doubt if your health problems are because of not smoking, although it is true that it desensitises us to some stuff like pollution. We may never be able to fix all the damage that smoking caused, but, apparently, we do start recovering almost as soon as we give up.

[roadie_swift]

If you have seen the Australian movie "Candy" starring Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish, there is a fantastic line delivered by Geoffrey Rush -

"When you can stop, you don't want to;
And when you want to, you just can't..."

[Gansan]

or is it?

At the risk of sounding like a MCP, I would like to mention that I find the occasional sightings of Indian women smoking the most disturbing. The boys start due to "cool" factor and may be peer pressure. I don't know why the women start. May be they feel like liberated souls initially, and then the addiction takes over!

[filcord]

Originally Posted by pratap007

A smoker never really quits...just waits

Sorry, I don't agree.
I smoked for about 15 years, until the age of 32. I quit for about a year when I was 27, and lapsed. Perhaps that adage applies for the first few years after you quit. But now, it's been twenty-odd years that I don't smoke, and I find the smell of tobacco revolting, increasingly so over the last ten years or so. Haven't had the faintest of desires to smoke after the the initial year or so.

You just have to go cold-turkey, have a reliable friend or spouse to support you, wait out the first two years one day at a time, then there's no looking back.

[Thad E Ginathom]

it's been twenty-odd years that I don't smoke, and I find the smell of tobacco revolting, increasingly so over the last ten years or so.

Much the same for me, although it's only been eighteen years. Tobacco smoke actually hurts my lungs.

I am still, however, very wary of any tobacco product. Whilst I know that if I smoked a cigarette now it would be absolutely horrible and painful --- I suspect that it would lead to another one an hour later, and twenty the next day.

I have no clue how they measure these things, but I've heard it said that nicotine is more addictive than heroin.

Thing is, of course, there is absolutely no reason why I should ever have that cigarette. I am certainly long past seeing them with any sense of temptation.

[nandans2005]

I find the smell of tobacco revolting, increasingly so over the last ten years or so. Haven't had the faintest of desires to smoke after the the initial year or so.

Filcord,

I agree with you fully. You are absolutely right on this. I too feel the same.

I did smoke 17 years about 7 to 8 per day. The count used to go up when i used to travel.

I just called it quits when, one evening my son complained about the bad stink of me & my clothes.

I have not seen back after this day. It was very difficult to stay off smoking after 17 years. But i did it successfully & after 6 years, i am a happy and healthier. I just can't tolerate the smoke anymore.

I am also very happy that i left smoking with good memories about it.

It just calls for a little will power & you have to play well with your mind to come out successful.

All the best to all, who are making an attempt to quit.