How I stopped smoking

1. I decided that I really wanted to. I had been smoking for about 20 years, mostly roll-ups. My daughter was born and I thought "I really want to see you grow up, dance with you at your wedding, see your children etc". I was 38 at the time and realized that I may not be around and if I was then I might be the sad old guy who couldn't walk, sitting in the corner.

2. I bought strong nicotine gum (took her with me in the pushchair, which was sort of symbolic). I figured that it cost the same as smoking so even if I got addicted to that who cares. I chewed that gum when I needed to and normal gum at other times.

3. I avoided situations / things where I would normally smoke. The coffee in the morning, tea after dinner, down the pub.

4. A couple of weeks later I moved on to the weaker nicotine gum, but carried on with the same regime of avoiding times / places when I would be tempted to smoke.

5. I then gave up the nicotine gum, but kept using normal gum. I also only went to places like pubs when I was with people who would not give me a cigarette if I asked for one. Sadly a lot of smokers try to encourage people to take it up again, when you have been drinking it is all too easy to succumb. I have some good mates who I was an arse to, after having made them promise not to give me a cigarette. A few next day apologies, taken in the right spirit. I am eternally thankful to these chaps, they know who they are

6. On one occassion during that 7 years I smoked, in a pub, with a guy who encouraged me to smoke. I was disgusted with myself and it hardened my resolve to keep going, that was several years ago. It would have been all too easy to have taken it up again, which is why I am sure the addiction stays.

I now do not give the terrible example of smoking to my children and have greatly increased the chance of actually getting that dance at the wedding. Life is good.

Don't get me wrong, giving up smoking is feckin' difficult. It's one of the hardest things you can ever do. However if a weak willed bar steward like me, who did it for 20 years, can do it (so far so good) so can any of you chaps.

You know it makes sense.

well done u managed to stop smoking :)

but u shouldnt smoke in the 1st place :cry:

i'm smoking right now:dabs:

although it is a jazz cigarette:01:

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Originally Posted by Proper Bo

i'm smoking right now:dabs:

although it is a jazz cigarette:01:

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:huh: want a medal for shortening ur life?

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Originally Posted by crysmileyguy!

well done u managed to stop smoking :)

but u shouldnt smoke in the 1st place :cry:

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I totally agree.

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Originally Posted by crysmileyguy!

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Originally Posted by Proper Bo

i'm smoking right now:dabs:

although it is a jazz cigarette:01:

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:huh: want a medal for shortening ur life?

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they say one takes off 5 minutes of life, so i'll just drive somewhere faster than normal to make up for it:rolleyes:

a long time ago, a good friend of mine quit smoking cold turkey out of the blue, and didn't relapse. curious to know his secret, I asked him how he did it. he looked me right in the eye with a straight face and said "you just gotta not do it". needless to say, I wondered for a long time what he meant.

JPaul.....thanks for sharing your experience with quitting.

I have quit many times for six months and even a year at a time.

Would you have found quitting a much harder thing to do if your wife smoked and had no interest in quitting?

How would you have dealt with that?

How I stopped smoking.

I watched my mother go through a protracted and difficult time quitting, with many relapses, much like JP.

It is because I was witness to this process that I never bothered to smoke cigarette one.

I stopped by never starting.

My mother is a strong woman, so I honestly congratulate anyone who quits, because I know it is a tough habit to break.

So Jp, although you can never unstart, I imagine your battle and continued abstinence will keep your daughter as disinterested in smoking as I was.

May be hard for you to appreciate right now, but the idea of smoking a cigarette to me seems as enjoyable as sucking on rocks. Why would I want to do that?

Good news, though. My mother has become, over time, as completely disinterested in cigarettes as I am and there is no nagging urge to relapse.

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Originally Posted by Proper Bo

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Originally Posted by crysmileyguy!

:huh: want a medal for shortening ur life?

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they say one takes off 5 minutes of life, so i'll just drive somewhere faster than normal to make up for it:rolleyes:

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:lol: :lol:

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Originally Posted by Proper Bo

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Originally Posted by crysmileyguy!

:huh: want a medal for shortening ur life?

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they say one takes off 5 minutes of life, so i'll just drive somewhere faster than normal to make up for it:rolleyes:

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:P yea and hopefuly ull crash, feckin asswhipe :cry:

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Originally Posted by Everose

Would you have found quitting a much harder thing to do if your wife smoked and had no interest in quitting?

How would you have dealt with that?

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I almost certainly couldn't have done it. Mrs JP had stopped previously, but had she still been smoking I think I would have been too weak to do it on my own.

Anyway, part of what I did involved not having any in the house. That way if I wanted I could have a small apple at home, then when I felt like a cigarette there were none available (unlike being with smoking chums). There isn't a shop in reasonable walking distance (well there is, but I'm a lazy bar steward, especially when drinking) so no acess = no smoking, even when one wants to.

I think that's the thing, there's no point in trying to stop but keeping some in the house. That's just preparing to fail.

In an attempt to be more helpfull than my last, let me explain what happened when Mrs JP stopped.

I acted as if I had stopped as well. She knew I hadn't but everything was as if I had.

I didn't smoke in her company, I never smoked in the house anyway (for the kids). I didn't go outside for a cigarette when she was about. Basically I did nothing in her sight / smell which indicated that I was smoking.

I think that's the least anyone can do when their partner is trying to stop smoking.

I just thought, perhaps that helped me when I stopped myself.