In my support for the GUS movement here at DKos, I’d like to share my story of how I quit smoking about two years – two and a half, now really – ago. I’m not saying this is how you can quit smoking. Everyone does it in their own way. Hopefully, however, some idea or other here might help someone else along their way.
There will be some personal history given here – I hope that doesn’t put anyone off. It seems necessary, however, for how this worked for me.
A disclaimer: all of the actual facts and events described here are true. I might get a bit... creative... now and then in how I describe them, but the narrative itself is accurate, to the best of my knowledge.
There will be some personal history given here – I hope that doesn’t put anyone off. It seems necessary, however, for how this worked for me.
A disclaimer: all of the actual facts and events described here are true. I might get a bit... creative... now and then in how I describe them, but the narrative itself is accurate, to the best of my knowledge.
- theatre goon's diary :: ::
A bit of background to begin with – some other background will appear as is necessary – I was a smoker for about two decades. At the end, two packs a day, sometimes a bit more. My wife and I moved out of the big city back to the country, and I had already decided that there was no way I was going to try and quit during a move, that’s just insane. We were first moving into a small rental property until we could get a house moved onto my family land – owned by my family since just after the Civil War. About eighty acres are still in family hands, so I now live near my parents. Often, too near.
My self-imposed deadline was that I would quit when we moved into our own house. Do deadlines ever really work...? That’s rhetorical. They hardly ever do.
Before we found a house, the state of Texas, in its infinite wisdom, put another two dollars a pack tax on smokes. I was unemployed at the time. So, I bought one last carton before the tax went into effect, and that was it. I haven’t smoked since I finished those.
But, I hear you asking, how did I actually quit? Cold turkey. No patches, no gums, none of the new pills (that work pretty well, so I hear, even if I can’t remember the name off-hand).
That, and the support of my wonderful, wonderful wife.
I’m not a huge fan of sweets, so I didn’t do gum or candy. I ate piles and piles of raw carrots and celery. For some reason, the crunch was extremely satisfying.
And here’s where you find out more about me than you might have wanted to know. I was a stagehand by trade for fifteen years (hence the nick, I just never got rid of it). I’m also a performer, a self-trained stage combat choreographer and combatant, and a historical re-enactor (mainly, that means I dress up as a pirate for fun and profit).
With no smoking to do, I wrote three full scripts for short stage shows – all of which included a lot of swordplay. I choreographed the swordplay, and my wife and I both fight and perform the shows now and then – to thunderous applause, of course.
I was a grumpy, grumpy bastard. I knew I was, and tried to control it as best I could. Rather than actually snapping at people, I told them that they were annoying the hell out of me, but it was not their fault, but to stop doing whatever they were doing anyway. They mostly didn’t, but said they understood where I was coming from. I became outraged over politics. Well, I was usually already outraged, but I became outraged-er.
I wanted a cigarette every minute of every day that I was awake, for a while. Cravings slowly went away. After a couple of weeks, I still wanted one, but not for the same reason. There was no need. It was just want. After enough time passed, I didn’t even really want one. I still, now and then, would like to have one, but it’s not compelling in the slightest. I’m not even sure exactly when that changed, I just know that it has.
The money I would have spent on cigarettes, I put away for several months. Well, I didn’t actually have it, but I kept a running tally. When I had the money to spare, I put it away. All along my quitting, I told myself that if I stayed quit for six months, I’d go buy myself something really, really cool with that money. If I had even one smoke, all that would go to... well, I dunno. Something else.
I bought that really cool thing. I won’t volunteer what it is here unless people really clamor for it, ‘cuz it could possibly start a side-argument that is unproductive here.
My wife helped. A lot. She put up with me. She... how to put this delicately... distracted me, sometimes, when I really needed a smoke. Take that how you like. We will have been married for thirteen years at the end of this month.
We’re in our own house now, for about two years. We got incredibly lucky and found a frighteningly cheap house that we had moved onto the family place. It needed lots and lots of work, which we’ve done – but you never really finish working on a place. I basically have three jobs, none of them really full-time, but they add up to one. More than one, but less than two. Usually.
I haven’t had a single cigarette since I quit. I still eat a lot of carrots and celery.
People tend to put on weight when they quit smoking. I did, I’ll admit it. I’m also turning forty this year, so that could be adding to it, also. I went from around 190 pounds to 210, and I’m in relatively good shape, so I can live with that. I thought of blaming my hair falling out to the quitting, but no, I have to blame that on my mother’s father. Or mother. Or however the genetics work out on that...
So, is this a self-indulgent diary? Probably. I like to talk about myself, from time to time. I hope, though, that some little bit or idea here might help someone quitting to do so. Or maybe it just distracted you from actually having a cigarette for a few minutes. If it annoyed you in any way, hopefully that annoyance distracted you from wanting a cigarette for a few minutes.
Happy to answer any questions, and I’ll try to monitor the comments as well as I can...
Source
This is a very great story for those who want to Stop and Quit Smoking with the use of Quit Smoking Hypnotherapy Courses, methods and aids with the help of hypnotherapists.
My self-imposed deadline was that I would quit when we moved into our own house. Do deadlines ever really work...? That’s rhetorical. They hardly ever do.
Before we found a house, the state of Texas, in its infinite wisdom, put another two dollars a pack tax on smokes. I was unemployed at the time. So, I bought one last carton before the tax went into effect, and that was it. I haven’t smoked since I finished those.
But, I hear you asking, how did I actually quit? Cold turkey. No patches, no gums, none of the new pills (that work pretty well, so I hear, even if I can’t remember the name off-hand).
That, and the support of my wonderful, wonderful wife.
I’m not a huge fan of sweets, so I didn’t do gum or candy. I ate piles and piles of raw carrots and celery. For some reason, the crunch was extremely satisfying.
And here’s where you find out more about me than you might have wanted to know. I was a stagehand by trade for fifteen years (hence the nick, I just never got rid of it). I’m also a performer, a self-trained stage combat choreographer and combatant, and a historical re-enactor (mainly, that means I dress up as a pirate for fun and profit).
With no smoking to do, I wrote three full scripts for short stage shows – all of which included a lot of swordplay. I choreographed the swordplay, and my wife and I both fight and perform the shows now and then – to thunderous applause, of course.
I was a grumpy, grumpy bastard. I knew I was, and tried to control it as best I could. Rather than actually snapping at people, I told them that they were annoying the hell out of me, but it was not their fault, but to stop doing whatever they were doing anyway. They mostly didn’t, but said they understood where I was coming from. I became outraged over politics. Well, I was usually already outraged, but I became outraged-er.
I wanted a cigarette every minute of every day that I was awake, for a while. Cravings slowly went away. After a couple of weeks, I still wanted one, but not for the same reason. There was no need. It was just want. After enough time passed, I didn’t even really want one. I still, now and then, would like to have one, but it’s not compelling in the slightest. I’m not even sure exactly when that changed, I just know that it has.
The money I would have spent on cigarettes, I put away for several months. Well, I didn’t actually have it, but I kept a running tally. When I had the money to spare, I put it away. All along my quitting, I told myself that if I stayed quit for six months, I’d go buy myself something really, really cool with that money. If I had even one smoke, all that would go to... well, I dunno. Something else.
I bought that really cool thing. I won’t volunteer what it is here unless people really clamor for it, ‘cuz it could possibly start a side-argument that is unproductive here.
My wife helped. A lot. She put up with me. She... how to put this delicately... distracted me, sometimes, when I really needed a smoke. Take that how you like. We will have been married for thirteen years at the end of this month.
We’re in our own house now, for about two years. We got incredibly lucky and found a frighteningly cheap house that we had moved onto the family place. It needed lots and lots of work, which we’ve done – but you never really finish working on a place. I basically have three jobs, none of them really full-time, but they add up to one. More than one, but less than two. Usually.
I haven’t had a single cigarette since I quit. I still eat a lot of carrots and celery.
People tend to put on weight when they quit smoking. I did, I’ll admit it. I’m also turning forty this year, so that could be adding to it, also. I went from around 190 pounds to 210, and I’m in relatively good shape, so I can live with that. I thought of blaming my hair falling out to the quitting, but no, I have to blame that on my mother’s father. Or mother. Or however the genetics work out on that...
So, is this a self-indulgent diary? Probably. I like to talk about myself, from time to time. I hope, though, that some little bit or idea here might help someone quitting to do so. Or maybe it just distracted you from actually having a cigarette for a few minutes. If it annoyed you in any way, hopefully that annoyance distracted you from wanting a cigarette for a few minutes.
Happy to answer any questions, and I’ll try to monitor the comments as well as I can...
Source
This is a very great story for those who want to Stop and Quit Smoking with the use of Quit Smoking Hypnotherapy Courses, methods and aids with the help of hypnotherapists.
SAVE YOUR LIFE NOW! GRAB YOUR HOW TO QUIT SMOKING IN A WEEK FLAT BOOK NOW!
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