Riaan
...since I last smoked a real cigarette, I've been "smoking" a Twisp electronic cigarette ever since. That is soon to be stopped also.
IceCreamMan
good luck , i quit 2 years ago after smoking for 26 years ..best decision i ever made ...money i have saved sponsors my GAS habit.
I read a book by allan Carr ..book made me give up overnight.
Good luck and never ever light anything again .... cigar, hookah, j .... one drag and its back to 20 a day so rather not smoke anything.
Ray
IceCreamMan wrote
good luck , i quit 2 years ago after smoking for 26 years ..best decision i ever made ...money i have saved sponsors my GAS habit.
I read a book by allan Carr ..book made me give up overnight.
Good luck and never ever light anything again .... cigar, hookah, j .... one drag and its back to 20 a day so rather not smoke anything.
Hey nooit!!! Anything? !
I bought that book last year but havent read it. It's got some cd's in which I started to listen but they say dont listen until you read the book. I must do this thing man!
PeteM
Read the book - still battling to give up. :-[
So well done Riaan.
chris77
Hel, sterkte ouboet... I quit 3 years ago after smoking for ten. No books, patches, electronic ciggies, just decided its time to quit. Now I hate the smell of second hand smoke. That guy giving you the evil eye when he walks past you after you lit up, thats me. I do however still miss it at times, and never more than when I play guitar! Just something about the ritual pairing that felt right. Good times, good times.... Same with coffee. I now have my first cup at work, because the early morning coffee and Camel combo on the stoep is too much of a temptation.
ezietsman
I'm trying too. Its hard. B@$t@rd cigarettes! Should never have started. Anyway. I worked it out like this:
20 per day = ~ R26.50 per day
-> R9500 per year.
Thats almost a new premium guitar of your choosing. The health benefits are of course much more but those are difficult to show with numbers.
my 0.02 ZAR (or 9500 ZAR)
CDee
ezietsman wrote
I'm trying too. Its hard. B@$t@rd cigarettes! Should never have started. Anyway. I worked it out like this:
20 per day = ~ R26.50 per day
-> R9500 per year.
That's not even adding the savings on life policies etc...
You can save a lot of money if you stop smoking, so make sure to get your policies revised once you stopped!
IceCreamMan
ezietsman wrote
I'm trying too. Its hard. B@$t@rd cigarettes! Should never have started. Anyway. I worked it out like this:
20 per day = ~ R26.50 per day
-> R9500 per year.
Thats almost a new premium guitar of your choosing. The health benefits are of course much more but those are difficult to show with numbers.
my 0.02 ZAR (or 9500 ZAR)
in my case i would stop at a garage shop to get ciggies ...so not only a pack but a biltong stick or chocolate , magazine etc ...using this formula my ciggies were costing me 40 - 50 ront a day .... i reckon i was spending 15k a year on "ciggies"
Ray
Another thing to consider is that us smokers have sort of become 2nd class citizens. Where do you smoke at work. Either outside or they put you in a stuffy little chamber. And another thing is that it is really a damned stupid thing to do. I mean you take it in for what benefit? It doesnt even put you on a plak. But you know the feeling late at night when you havent catered for yourself sufficiently and there is big reason that you cant sleep because you got hassles with a database at work or something. You know that panic like what am I going to do? And you're trying to sort the problems out but what is on your mind? And you cant leave the problem because left unattended it compounds and the more you try and focus on it the more your mind tells you that you really have to have a cigarette (because I really do believe that it is mostly the mind hey). And you finally get the problem sorted and what do you do? At about 2am you go out and get cigarettes which is really not a good time to be buzzing up to the service station, ne?
Heath
I take my hat off to you guys that have quit . I have been trying for years . I recently quit alchol . And that has been bloody difficult . But 2 weeks sobber is an achievement in its own right . Smoking maybe next year .
WantzChas
I quit almost a year and a half back. Used Zyban, made me crazy as a peach orchard boar, but I stopped after 4days. Some of my friends also used Zyban, stopped for a month and then just started again. The cigar is a real killer.
inflames
I quite a week ago. It is so tough, but the best decision I have made!
Wizard
I smoked for 15 years ... have given up for 18.
Had many, many failed give up attempts.
Sudden quitting as a New Year's resolution is subconciously a "break" - your mind is just waiting for the sabbatical to be over so it can pick up where it left off.
Scaring yourself into quitting also doesn't work; whether this by thoughts of money savings; health risks or social acceptance.
Hell - every time I thought one of those thoughts I'd get so panic stricken I'd need a cigarette.
Eventually figured out the secret though.
You just have to get your head around the (terrifying) fact that you will never smoke another cigarette in your life again, ever.
Once you've accepted that - it's very easy.
Give yourself about 3 months of careful & thorough preparation to get your head around that.
Riaan-Combrink
Well done, Riaan!
Been six years since I quit. If you don't really want to, no product will actually work. It's all in the mind. Most products just wean you off the nicotine (which two weeks without smoking does anyway). The mental addiction is the one to beat. I still crave a cigarette every now and then - so it really is 'one day at a time'!
aubs1
Wow, well done and good luck Riaan! I smoked almost all my life as far as I can remember. Then stopped for 12 years........how I did it......
Instead of 10-15 a day, I cut down to 5, the the next day 4, then 3....until the last day only 1..... I kept that one for about 3 days and did not smoke it........threw it away after the third day..........wow, what a feeling......after two weeks I allowed all my smoking friends to smoke in my presence, no probs!!!! After 12 years I was picking up so much weight, said I'll only smoke again until I've lost X amount of wieght, that was 2 years ago.........BIG MISTAKE!!!! I AM NOW DESPERATELY trying to to it the way I did then, boy, what a struggle........I only smoke about 5 a day, but jeez, can't get back to 4,3,2,1 again.........what a bummer....... ☹ ☹
Gotta get my discipline and will-power back in gear very soon!!!!
lindsmuse
I smoked for 15 and have stopped about 18 - same as Wizard. The way I stopped - for the umpteenth time - was to read a book about heroin addiction (we needed the cover of the book as it had a poppy on it for some artwork or something). That kind of made it click into place. The addiction angle. That and sleeping at every chance!
Ray
OK only a week so far. Good and strong but full of shit I think. The people I live with have asked for me to spend minimum time at home but I said no so they waai somewhere at night which is good because they just arent reasonable people. Just like everyone on the roads and highways - why are they all such jerks and dont know how to drive and behave. And everyone fancies their chances and looks at you funny. So do they expect you to roll over and just leave be? Cant happen. I'm 52 started smoking twak at 11 and hell these waves of craves come thru thick and strong hey.
giggsy
I haven't smoke for about 3 years, 5 months, 13 days and maybe 2 hours. I still crave it. It gets easier - the cravings may only be about once a day, or once every 2 or 3 days, but still bad. The worst thing about giving up - which I did cold turkey (used a flight from the UK as the starting point) was the tricks your mind plays on you - conquer that and you are through the worst of it.
MikeM
On the topic of smoking, my parents who had quit for 10 years started again this year - think I need to write some blues ? Hhehhehh
giggsy
MikeM wrote
On the topic of smoking, my parents who had quit for 10 years started again this year - think I need to write some blues ? Hhehhehh
I actually had a friend whose New Years resolution it was to start smoking. ? He'd always been a social smoker and wanted to explore the habit fully! Fair play to the guy, he is still a regular smoker to this day and is proof that if you set your mind to it, you actually can follow through with your resolutions.
