The Positive Things You Did When You Became a Non-Smoker

[Silverbirch]

I'm struggling quite badly right now with giving up cigarettes but know I have to, especially since I had a recent recurrence of carcinoma (which is treatable if detected early, but docs have told me I MUST give up due to chances of it turning very nasty or developing another more invasive form of cancer).

 

I've given up twice in the past - once for 9 months and once for 3 months. I beat myself over the head about this. Doc tells me that he has had many patients like me, and it has taken some of them 6 or 7 attempts, but eventually, they have stopped and stayed stopped.

 

He'd tells me that I need to change my thinking and my way of life, developing new habits and new healthier obsessions.He especially recommends exercise. I recall that when I gave up the first time for 9 months, I took up knitting to keep myself busy during semi-idle moments. I can't do this anymore due to carpal tunnel syndrome, but maybe I can find something else. Also, I recall that I stopped drinking coffee (which was when I usually smoked). Instead, I would have an orange and often a glass of water to go with it. This seemed to help a lot.

 

I already know about a lot of the benefits I will have by becoming a non-smoker, but I wondered what other positive habits other people had developed to help stop. So far, I have mostly focused on the addictive thought of "losing my best friend" (the cigarette) in giving up rather than what I can gain.

 

To a non-smoker, I know this will all seem ridiculous. I have begun waking through the night with chest and stomach aches, stressing about smoking. Doctor wants me to come back soon, and I will likely go back on Champix and set a date from whence there will be no cigarettes. I want to set myself up for success though, and trying to prepare myself mentally for a life without cigarettes.

 

Thank you.

[Angler]

I am a non-smoker, but I watched my dad quit successfully after 35 years of heavy smoking (age 14-49). 1-2 packs a day.

 

He did it cold turkey. It has been 13 years now, and he says he STILL has cravings, and dreams where he is smoking. He has to smell his hands when he wakes up to make sure he didn't smoke.

 

For motivation, he put his daily cigarette money in a jar. After two months he bought a nice chainsaw that he wanted, then a new TV, then a downpayment on a new car.... And the jar paid the monthly payments in full with money to spare.

 

Good luck. Quitting is worth it in every way possible.

[Silverbirch]

Thanks Angler,

I've definitely been thinking about how much money I will be saving. There is so much about smoking I hate. One of the things I hate is the smell on my clothing, my body and hair. Man in my life is the most anti-smoking person I have ever known and he can detect the smell from a mile off.

 

I know 2 women at work who gave up in the last couple of months. One is an older woman, and I think she looks a lot younger since she stopped (although she did recently come back from long service leave so is looking very rested). She had smoked for many, many years. She seemed to give up without too many probs. The other woman used to smoke rollies and she gave up with hypnotherapy although both women say they were very motivated to give up. The woman who had the hypnotherapy said that the main benefit of the hypnotherapy was that the therapist gave her the relaxation techniques to resist the cravings. She says it was a 2 hours session and she thinks it worthwhile.

 

My younger sister was a heavier smoker than I am, and she gave up around 20 years ago after a couple of attempts. My father was a very, very heavy smoker, and he gave up after he was diagnosed with lung cancer, but unfortunately, in his case, it was too late. Everybody was amazed when he gave up. He told me that the first day he gave up was terrible and he ended up driving through the night and then saw the sun rise, and then he was much better. Even when he found out that he wasn't going to make it, he didn't pick up a cigarette.

 

Something else I plan on doing very soon is giving my car a big, big clean out and shampooing the upholstery and carpet, and won't ever have cigarettes in there again - from me or anyone else.

 

Today I HAVE felt a shift in my thinking - that for the first time since I can remember, I actually have belief that I CAN do it.

[journeynow]

Giving this a bump. How's it going Silverbirch? Are you increasingly smoke-free? I don't smoke, but I like the notion of thinking of it as "gaining" something rather than giving something up. You're gaining fresh air. Would you rather live in the country than a smoggy sooty congested city? Imagine that you're "going country" with your lungs, and all your cells are, too.

 

It's probably a good idea to give your hands something to do.What about having some straws on hand, and try breathing through them when you get the urge to smoke? There's no nicotine, but it would be a practice of focused breathing, and that's a good thing. Or blow soap bubbles?

 

I smoked only very briefly in college. I gave it up, and later while in college I took up yoga, and found the breathing exercises very powerful and rejuvenating. It made me think that some of the appeal of smoking may be the deep slow breathing. If we all got in the habit of breathing breaks, to replace smoking breaks, where people gather outside together in a designated area to relax and breath deep and chat, wouldn't that be great? Even non-smokers would most likely be healthier, and have less stress. If there's something positive that you associate with smoking, try to pinpoint what it is (relaxing? socializing? gazing at your surroundings? slowing your thoughts?) and find a way to keep that while cleaning your lungs and gaining some spending money.

[itsallgrand]

I smoked for many years. It took several attempts, heart breaking! attempts, to stop. But I really wanted it.

 

Positive habits to replace the old? Well it was a big overhaul. I found that I was using smoking to stuff down a lot of my needs and feelings. Do you know what you are using smoking for? Besides the fact that it is so highly addictive, and this is an addiction you are dealing with, how have you changed your life in order to accommodate this addiction?

 

It was a huge wake up call for me when I quit, and started to get out of the fog, and realized all I was giving up by being a smoker! At first, my anxiety was high (and yes, you need to look at how to manage stress and anxiety, big time! and really stick to it). But rather quickly, I became so much calmer as a non-smoker. That was a HUGE pay off for me.

 

The biggest thing, out of what I learned? Take care of your needs. Really listen, and really be willing to "work it".

 

I don't know about these people who say they had an easy time of it, I assume they are either just omitting details or full of it , because it's NOT easy. But it's not half as hard as we set into our minds that it will be. That's the fear that gets into the brain when we are addicted, that if we stop, something bad MUST happen. But it doesn't....it only exposes the damage smoking has been doing to us.

 

Whenever things got bad, I reminded myself of that. That it isn't stopping that is making me feel poorly in the moment, but the smoking. So by staying away from it, I make things better ever day.

 

It only gets better and better, new rewards, the longer you stay quit. YOu can do it.

[Seraphim]

I think a big wake up alert is the medical issues it causes as you certainly know. My dad smoked from the time he was 15 until he was 39. Then he had his first heart attack. he quit cold turkey and never went back. He did go on to have 2 more heart attacks and 2 open heart surgeries in the past years. My dad will be 67 on Tuesday. But overall it did him a HUGE deal of good to give it up.

 

I smoked for a year or so when I was young. 18-19 ish. One morning I woke up and was coughing and gacking and lit up and just felt so gross. So I gave it up. I did smoke socially over the years when I was out with friends and I will probably always crave it even though I think it is the most disgusting habit ever.My son and my husband are allergic to it and I HATE it with a passion and won't let my son anywhere near smoke. ( I am strange I know considering I did smoke at one time and do crave it sometimes when I smell it.)

 

It is a nasty addiction really as all addictions are. With help you CAN do it. I think they say it is harder for women to give up smoking than men. As you know with other attempts if you can do it for 9 months you CAN do ti!! Take it one minute, one day at a time. My mother has a saying, " you can take ANYTHING for 8 hours" Just stretch that out day after day.

 

You can do it honey!!