giving up smoking tonight

I’m 43 years old.. Have smoked since I was 9

I gave up when my oldest was born 8 years ago, but mistakenly and somewhat over confidently fell into that trap of thinking I could have an occasional evening on the fags..
This all went tits up a few years back when I separated from my kid’s mum and I have been smoking like a trooper ever since..

Tonight is the night… It’s been planned for a couple of months
I have zero obligations over the next five days, my partner is working all weekend..
I have beer in the fridge, therapeutic valium in the medicine cabinet and am about to go out and order some chinese..

My strategy is this (worked last time) stay munted and pampered and self indulgent enough over the next 72 hours that I don’t crave nicotine, after which time all traces of that **** insidious chemical will have left my bloodstream and I will then just have to battle with the habit psychologically..

I’m bored of being a slave to something, I’m bored of the limited lung capacity, I’m ashamed of setting a bad example to my kids, I’m missing the time spent thinking about smoking that could be spent doing more positive things and I’m fed up of burning money

I am going to channel all the hatred and irritation that I will undoubtedly experience over the next few days into my furious battle against such a destructive and pathetic habit..

errr I guess that I’m just asking for a few best wishes and I’ll see you all on the other side

go yunki, go yunki, go yunki – sorry can’t provide cheerleaders to go with the sentiment 😕

Wow. Extreme technique. Good luck.

Just remember the cravings are the tobacco companies trying to charge you to kill yourself?

I quit and I never looked back. Go kill the habit. 🙂

I had an image of the Phillip Morris marketing team meeting, and how they were taking the piss out of me as an addicted smoker.
Something on the lines of:
“OK guys, what’s the plan for the new marketing campaign?”
“Well nothing boss, these suckers are hooked, we don’t need to do anything.”
“Well done chaps, have another pay rise. Right, who’s coming to the boozer?”

I wasn’t their monkey.

Good luck.

My parents took me to France on holiday with a brother (we were going anyway) and didn’t let me smoke anything for 2 weeks. I had my own ‘stash’ to be honest, but I wanted to quit – and I did, with the odd slip up during those 2 weeks.

If you want to you’ll manage it having quit already before…

just think of the money you’ll save. And your health of course!

I gave up on the 9th October. I’d been thinking about it and wanting to for a while.
So far it’s going well. Although I find I get the notion for it at the oddest of times. For example, I was brushing my teeth this morning and all I could think was “I wish I had a fag right now”… Weird!

I got an app which tells me various things about my health getting better etc but really the one I look at is the ‘cash saved’. It’s quite a lot already!

Best of luck. The last one is sooooo good as well haha!

I found having a mantra to repeat to myself whenever I wanted a fag helped. Mine was:
‘I’m giving up smoking so I don’t stink and I don’t die early from cancer.’

I also found having something to stick in my mouth helped, care for a chupachup?
Good luck buddy.

Oh **** it – I’m going to join you brother. Been meaning to quit for ages. First one to have a fag has to touch a poo.

‘like’ button

Finding something to fiddle with (‘fnar’) could be helpful, I ended up playing my guitars a lot, and then felt amiss getting a lift with my dad and realised I was missing something to do with my hands.

Good luck fella! Oh…. and get an e-cig. They’re brilliant! I was a militant smoker until I got an exit and knocked the fags on the head.

18 months off them now and I know I will never have another. In true ‘born again’ fashion I think they’re mingin’!

Good luck to you all, too effort.

Oh…. and if you need a bit more encouragement, the money I didn’t spend on fags bought This instead

😀

and get an e-cig

Whereas I’d say don’t. If you’re gonna quit do it for reals.

It was a piece of piss for me as I’d got to a point where I hated it; sounds like you’ve got a real desire to shake it off too.

Go Yunks!!

All the best, yunki! And hebdencyclist, too.

I’ve been toying with the idea of meditation (I’m a regular practioner) and trying to think nice thoughts….
But I know what this is gonna get like so my mantra is ‘I will **** BEAT you you little bastard’

Go on hebdencyclist… we can do this
We are free men to do as we please on this earth and will not be held slaves to the mistakes of our past

Great decision yunki, now all you have to do is make it stick

Get stuck in !

(read that old stopping smoking thread – by the time you come round, you’ll have quit days ago 😀 )

I kicked smack, crack and a few others and nicotine was, without doubt, the hardest drug to kick if for no other reason than it’s still socially acceptable and widely available and although they’ve tucked away the packets, you can still sense their presence when passing. 🙂

For the same reasons I would hate to be an alcoholic.

I hope you succeed, Yunki. Stay away from newsagents etc.

Edit : And you, Hebden.

Good luck Yunki, be strong!

Nice one. Tough thing to do but still the best thing I ever did. When i did it i saw a massive increase in fitness over about 4 or 5 weeks which was a good motivator. Staying muntered also sounds like a plan!

Don’t be put off by folk saying it’s a hard habit to kick. It isn’t.

You just need some determination. And a little bit of willpower.

Been there. Done it. Would never light a fag again.

But good luck anyway 🙂

Crack on! Been there, done that. **** mingin habit and bastard expensive.

Knock it on the head, never look back.

Done.

Good man.

other half just pointed out that I will be ‘strong like an ox’ in the erectile performance department too 8)

Good luck to both of you.

This is the thread that led to me knocking it on the head

And I possess a pathetic lack of willpower. You can do it! Just think of how smug you’ll feel 🙂

I found this point of Allen Carr’s to be a great help –

Referring to it as ‘giving up’ immediately implies that you’re somehow sacrificing something – you’re not, you’re doing yourself the greatest favour you ever can.
Referring to it simply as ‘stopping’ seems to make quite a big psychological difference, well it did for me anyway.

Hope it works out for you.

freeing myself of oppression is my take on it

And personally I wouldn’t pick a date to quit. I avoided New Years’s Day, etc as it becomes more of a milestone that you’re counting from.

I woke up one day and thought no more tabs. Forgot about the exact date and just carried on life doing my best to avoid temptation, and it certainly gets easier. I still get the occasional urge, don’t get me wrong, but that passes after a few minutes.

there is a theory that a craving lasts no longer than 4 seconds if you are willing and able to breathe through it

that’s not exactly hard is it?

All the best.I gave it up at 32 after yet another minor cold had dragged out to 3 months & I was sleeping on the sofa hacking up my lungs up into a bowl to prevent waking my girlfriend.
I had a moment of clarify that night.

First one to have a fag has to touch a poo.

That made me laugh way harder than it should have. Think I need some sleep

oh, and photos of course. Brilliant idea. Sheep poo doesn’t count unless you eat it

A lot of its psychological, something to do with your hands, 5 minute break outside work, nice thing to do after food etc. Within 18 months it will seem minging and alien

Don’t be put off by folk saying it’s a hard habit to kick. It isn’t.

🙂

Edit : Though having smirked at that remark, I actually tried to quit on a number of occasions. The second time was really easy – decided no more, stuck to it and kept myself occupied. A week later someone lit up in front of me and it smelled so poisonous. About a month later a friend offered me a ciggie and I thought

“That was so easy I could probably just have this one and be done…”

Fail…!

Gave up 4 years ago and it is the best thing i have ever done!

Used an ecig where I started on the highest nicotine liquid and every month reduced the nicotine content until I was “vaping” 0% nicotine. Took a year but was easy in the end and that was from a 30 a day habit.

Only other thing I did was to go healthy. Had a fixed fitness plan that i stuck too and could see the tangible benefits every month which motivated me. Found clean eating really helped as well.

Good luck and it does get easier..

I’ll give you guys a Whoop Whoop and wish you the best of luck.

Don’t be put off by folk saying it’s a hard habit to kick. It isn’t.

Of course it’s not hard, 🙄 I gave up loads of times 😆 Staying stopped is the hard part.

Best of luck:-) Hope you manage to quit.

Staying stopped is the hard part.

No it’s not. The highest craving is just after putting the fag out, the longer you wait the less the craving. Staying off is the easy bit. The hardest bit is choosing the day and making the decision to stop.
It’s all in the mind. 😀

I’ve stopped and failed on many occasions. It becomes more difficult when you declare you’re intentions. Just stop quietly when you want to quit and take one day at a time. But just don’t listen to folk saying how hard it *might* be. That will just put you off and accept defeat at the first hurdle.

Oh shit, pantomime time!

🙂