posted
As I've said before, I've stopped a few times with no problems. I stopped for 6 weeks this year, then another six weeks while I was working for a summer camp. I only started again at the end of the school year because I thought it would help me get through my senior projects, and maybe it did- I can't say.
But, I've been smoking again for about 6 weeks, and this past weekend, I went to Vegas with my college friends for a last adventure together, and we smoked almost continuously, until we all felt so sick and disgusting, we could barely look at each other. So that was it. I had a pack left over from the trip, and that lasted me three days, and now it's gone.
Today I got up and smoked a dried up old cigarette I found in my living room, and went to the Rite Aid and bought some off-brand Nicorette.
What else is going on? I am moving to Prague in a month. I'm going to an English teaching program there, and then I'm getting a teaching job either there, or in France, wherever I find the best work (probably Prague). I'm selling my car, as I've noted, and putting my other possessions in storage in my parent's garage. I plan to be gone for at least 2 years, but I have really made no plans beyond leaving. It's scary, but exciting too. I don't know what's in store for me there.
So, it's time to do one thing to prepare, and that's to be a "non-smoker" when I go. I don't know why exactly I decided this, but I just read David Sedaris's new book When You Are Engulfed in Flames, which is partly about his years of smoking, then quitting, and thought, why not? In all fairness, I've noticed the effect on my health, even though I don't smoke that much all the time, and I am starting to get the feeling that I can't do things, like I'm getting older, and I'm too young to feel that way.
So maybe this will be a little smoking blog, which is suggested as a means of quitting in my little nicorette pamphlet. Whoever designs those things is a genius- for 50 bucks, you get the feeling that you've already accomplished something: "So you've decided to quit smoking... congratulations, this is a big step."
I like smoking. I know people who don't smoke never really understand the allure, but I think it helps to be understanding of people who do, and understand that they aren't going to quit because "it's disgusting." Beer is disgusting, sex is disgusting, and vegetables are disgusting, to almost everyone at some point in their lives. When you start smoking, it's actually highly enjoyable. But, like in everything, there are consequences I'm really not ready to face. I'm not thinking I should enter my professional life with the label "smoker." I don't know if I want the next person I date to be "dating a smoker," and I don't know if I want my parents to have a son who "is a smoker."
And chicks dig guys that have had to quit things. No I'm making that up, but really, it's just better if I stop.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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I actually quit smoking about a month ago and it was the best decision I ever made. You are right Orincoro, most people won't quit because it's disgusting. I quit because I just didn't want to do it anymore. I found it cumbersome to have to find places to smoke, go outside of restaurants to have one, and constantly buy packs or cartons. I think quitting is all about self-discipline, your ability to say no to yourself will determine whether you are successful really, and I think that's important.
Posts: 457 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
Good for you man. I'll tell you the same thing I've told every one else I know who's quit smoking: say whatever you want; that extra money sure feels nice Posts: 349 | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
Orinoco, congratulations on deciding to quit smoking! I'm proud of you! Remember that your will is strong. You absolutely can do it. There will be forces that try to convince you that your will is weak, but it actually isn't. A Human Will is the strongest thing in the universe.
It takes only 100 times of telling yourself "no" to successfully quit smoking. When you quit for six weeks before, you proved that you can tell yourself "no" for the first fifty or so of those times. All you have to do is be aware and prepared for the sneak craving that hits you long after you think the cravings are gone.
Two things go on that help the sneak craving's attack. One is the element of surprise. You already consider yourself a nonsmoker by then, so you think you're past cravings, and you kind of even forget what they're like and how strong they are, so your guard is down. The second is that you feel safe now from smoking, so you think you can smoke just one or two and not start back. That's not true, of course. Your body is trying to trick you into being a nonsmoker who also gets to smoke. It tries to sneak by on semantics. =) Unfortunately, people who smoke are, in fact, smokers. And to be considered a nonsmoker, you have to actually not smoke.
So be prepared and determined not to be beaten by those two sneak attacks, and your Will will prevail. Keep count of the times you have to tell yourself "no", and realize in advance that it's less than 100. It is a finite struggle, and you're strong enough to win it.
I've gone 15 years now and have quit even having dreams in which I smoke. I've almost forgotten that I ever smoked, and when I look back I almost can't believe it. It doesn't even seem like something I would have done.
Good luck! Let us know how it's going. =)
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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quote:I know people who don't smoke never really understand the allure, but I think it helps to be understanding of people who do,
My empathy runs dry when the smell of smoke invades my living space. I've already had to instruct a couple of my neighbors not to put my open windows 'downwind' of their smoke. The good news is, they were sympathetic to my desire not to have smoke in my apartment and so far, they've been noticeably careful about the drift of the smoke. If only everyone were so considerate! Posts: 1813 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
I quit smoking in the middle of July. They say that one of the healthiest things you can do is to quit smoking.
I really ought not to take that as encouragement to start again, so that I can have another opportunity to do something really healthy.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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I also seethe banner add is offering some cheap Nicorette as well, I wonder if it could offer some other options.
Does anyone know if the patch is available over the counter anywhere? I know it is in Europe, but the US?
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
Good luck O. It's tough but worth it. The real test comes when you get a major stress and really "need" that cigarette. Push through it. I have a half a pack in the garage that hasn't been touched in a year. There are times that I think I need one, but I don't. I've thought about throwing it away, but I kinda like having it there and not feel like I "have" to have it.
Good luck with the job too. That sounds like a great gig.
Posts: 1766 | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
I quit smoking pot years ago. Now when I try it, it just doesn't agree with me at all. I haven't even tried it in a year.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
i'm in a similar boat as you guys. i would say about half of my friends are smokers, and that same half were people i smoked pot with back in the day. i think only a couple of them smoke pot anymore, though i can't be sure of it. mostof us quit around the time we finished college and entered the "real world."
I was never a big smoker, but i did enjoy it. It used to be a few minutes of daydreaming and personal reflection time. thinking up lists of priorities for my day and week. i've quit now and its been a few months. Having my friends also not smoke or slow down their habit has helped me a lot. Quitting has also made me wantto try other challenges in my life and I'm exercising and playing tennis again. I'm feeling much better.
Posts: 813 | Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
I'm more interested in your trip to Prague. How'd you swing that one? Is it that your going into a program to learn how to teach English? What are the other languages in your repertoire? Let us hear more.
Congrats on quitting as well though. You will no longer be sexy, thin, and cool, but you'll be in Prague so it levels out.
Posts: 247 | Registered: Jun 2008
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posted
Haha, well I don't know who would describe me as sexy, or thin, or cool for that matter. If you've ever seen a picture of me, like the newspaper article I posted a while back, I'm kind of a gentle giant.
The program in Prague is the Tesol ESL certification, which is a teaching cert recognized worldwide. I'll find a job in Prague at the end of the course, and already have an apartment reserved in the Muzeum area, which is downtown, as far as I know. I'll have to find another apartment in the city in the next few months, and a way to pay the bills, but living in Prague relatively cheap compared to western Europe, and I am selling my car to offset some of the cost.
My only langauges are English and Spanish, my Spanish having once been fairly fluent, if flawed. I do intend to live in Spain at some point, or in Buenos Aires where my sister lives currently, also teaching. My older sister lived in Peru for a few years and speaks both Spanish and Quechua, and some Russian, and my younger sister, the one in BA, speaks Spanish with that damnable Argentine accent, and Italian. I want to learn French and Spanish first, maybe Italian, if I end up working there. I don't think I'll be fluent in Czech soon, as it is a very difficult language to learn and speak.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
Is there a high demand for Tesols? Is this a lucrative venture or just a good way to see the world? What are the requirements to get into such a program?
Sorry for the questions.
Posts: 247 | Registered: Jun 2008
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