I almost started smoking again yesterday.

[LuckyCharms]

A lot of shit went wrong yesterday.

Had a fleeting thought of "fuck a cigarette would taste pretty good right now".

I quit 5 years ago.

Strange how that craving works.

I didn't do it.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Good for you for resisting the cigarette.

Here's another way to think about it: Things are awful so I'll deliberately undertake things that will set up COPD and lung cancer and heart disease and emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Those things are trivial, right?

As someone who never smoked, I understand I don't get the sweet seduction of smoking, but what I also don't get is why anyone since the Surgeon General's Report in 1964 would have ever started smoking.

I will admit to being a bit hardcore on this topic.

[BigBearJohn]

2. Remember: "A puff away from a pack a day!"

[tymorial]

4. Dont I know that

[Arkansas Granny]

3. I know the feeling. I quit over 7 years ago and still have a hankering now and then.

It passes pretty quickly and I haven't succumbed so far. Keep hanging in there.

[edbermac]

5. Jazz cigarettes?

Might as well have good laugh to take your mind off your troubles.

[zanana1]

6. Congratulations!

As a former smoker, I know the feeling. It can be very strong, but you overcame the urge. Pat yourself on the back and have some ice cream. You done good.

[FailureToCommunicate]

7. Well done. The Force is strong with you.

[TreasonousBastard]

8. I quit 10 years ago and still get those feelings, but they pass quickly...

and over 10 bucks a pack around here helps them pass.

I once said that if I make it to 70 I might start again since I'm on borrowed time anyway, but there's still that 10 bucks a pack...

[Glamrock]

9. Don't do it baby! Don't do it!

I hate that I smoke, but I love it too. I'm weak man.

Sorry you had a shit day. That sucks. But stay strong with the smokes.

[rurallib]

10. Be honest - a cigarette never tastes good

it tastes more like a bird crapped in your mouth.

I had about half of a smoke after having quit for 3 months. I was never so high in my life. Never understood how strong nicotine was til then.
Had to wait for the room to stop spinning before I tried to drive. Spooky.

Take ten really deep breaths when you have the urge - it will go away, I promise.

[RobinA]

23. I Quit

4 1/2 years ago. About a year in I decided I didn't like cigarettes anymore. Didn't like the taste, didn't like the taste in my mouth afterwards, didn't like the smell on my hands. I thought that was a good thing. Which it would have been if it had lasted. Unfortunately, it didn't. About three years in I was travelling in Scotland and figured I had to sample the European product, so I bought a pack and sat myself down along the River Ness to watch the water go by and have a a smoke. At that point I realized how much I missed that pause that refreshes. I have maintained my quit, but not without some cravings that I thought were gone and a cheat every three months or so.

That said, a cigarette craving lasts about three minutes. If you can weather that you'll have moved on for awhile.

[moreland01]

11. Your will power is stronger

than your desire. Good for you! My vice is chocolate.

[aka-chmeee]

12. It's been almost 20 years,

And I'm still sometimes amazed and disappointed to find my shirt pocket empty.

[yuiyoshida]

13. Good, if you are in a legal state

SMOKE WEED EVERY DAY!

[PatrickforO]

14. Well, that's good. I'm an ex smoker, too. I've been off the death-sticks for

some years now, and seldom, if at all, think about smoking. But when the craving does hit, it can be pretty strong, but then I think about how disastrous to my health even one puff would be, and I'm able to fight it off.

I don't anticipate ever having a cigarette or any tobacco product again.

[Moostache]

15. I am now at 10 years since I quit cold turkey...

The day I received a diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma. My youngest was barely a year old that morning, she is now 11...the same age my oldest was on that fateful day.

It was a miracle for me that I got food poisoning and ended up in an ER where an attentive lab tech noted a small distortion on my film that needed an immediate follow-up exam. I was able to undergo a surgical ablation and complete removal of a Stage 1 encapsulated tumor. Without that diagnosis, I have zero doubt that I would still be smoking today - if that tumor had not already metastasized and killed me.

Stay strong and know that the cravings are never, ever gone, but that you are stronger than they are! Good luck and I hope you have a much better day today!!

[panader0]

16. 37 days here---I smoked non-filters for 50 plus years,

although I had it down to about three a day for the last few years.

[samnsara]

17. nope dont do it.....

….dont give in. I...in a moment of nutritional weakness....had a strawberry-marshmallow malted. I lived on these 50 yrs ago.

I gobbled it down but couldn't keep it down.

[mountain grammy]

18. 15 years for me and these days, I'd love to have a smoke.

[OriginalGeek]

33. 15 years for me too

i get a pretty strong urge at least 3 or 4 times a week still.

Especially if I'm at a concert (I go to shows that are almost all held in small clubs that still allow smoking nearby if not inside even)

Most of my friends are pretty good about telling me NO but I sneak one in every now and then. I've had maybe 4 in the last 6 years. It's so insidious - it never doesn't taste, smell and feel great when I'm having a smoke. Luckily, the guilt squashes me for another year or so before I really can't resist again.

[mountain grammy]

34. I "quit" too many times to trust myself to have just one cig.

I wish I could. I fear if I smoke one, I'll be a pack a day within a week and life without cigarettes is definitely better.

My son is a "social smoker" about a pack a week or two. Still too much, but it keeps him sane, he says. I can relate.

[OriginalGeek]

35. i smoke 2 or 3 cigars a year too

that usually helps kill cigarette urges.

I do not miss standing out in the rain or cold to get a smoke in and I'm glad my house and car and clothes don't smell like smoke all the time. I guess i figure that I was up to 3 packs a day before I really quit and went almost 10 years without touching anything at all so 3 or 4 a year counting cigars just isn't gonna hurt. But yeah, I am pretty sure if I didn't have a wife and friends keeping me honest I'd be right back on that ashy train.

[mountain grammy]

38. I do smoke pot..

so still smoking. Just not tobacco. So in reality, I never gave up smoking.

[OriginalGeek]

39. As soon as it's legal here

Or I retire.

[Roy Rolling]

19. "Taste"

Is it really a tongue "taste" that you crave, or a feeling of well-being? The desire for a feeling of well-being and support is genuine.

But it's a short-term illusion a cigarette will put you in control of that feeling. Resisting a cigarette, the austerity of not smoking is what strengthens you. And a stronger LuckyCharms feels more in control, less a victim of being visited by unwanted bad feelings.

Nicotine can be a beneficial drug, but it is delivered in a deadly package like tobacco. If you are schizophrenic, nicotine reduces the inner voices. But vaping is a better delivery method.

As a drug for reducing bad feelings, it sucks.

[RobinA]

24. Gotta Disagree

I had quit by vaping for about four months, when I was coming back from a trip with a friend and the car blew a tire at the VA/MD border at 4:30p on Saturday afternoon. There we were by the side of the road. Had not had a cig since the day I quit and didn't really crave. I was murderous and pissed, it was hot, my car was loaded to the roof, and I just wanted to be home. The fake spare we would have to empty the trunk to get to would not get us home. I arranged with AAA to come get us as soon as possible (in other words, whenever). I was fuming and felt like a vice was crushing my head.

It suddenly occurred to me that, despite not really craving one, this was as good an excuse as any to bum a smoke, so I did. One drag and an exhale and sanity descended, my brain cooled and I could think. I was as surprised as anyone at the strength of the tobacco. I had smoked for a long time and had become so habituated that the relaxant effect when I still smoked was mild at best. I suddenly realized why these things are so addictive. Did this lead to relapse? No, I'm still good. But whatever nicotine (or whatever) does in the brain is real.

[The Liberal Lion]

20. I quit 5 years ago

but it happened by accident. I started using a vape pen so I could increase my productivity (would sit at my desk and vape instead of going outside to have a smoke). Next thing I know I just stopped smoking. I do vape and love to vape, and my body feels a whole lot better as a result. Maybe get yourself a small vape device to use JUST when you feel a craving coming on.

[RobinA]

25. I Quit By Vaping

and it's been a pretty easy quit. Over 4 years now. I vape very little and don't really crave. I can even have a smoke a few times a year without having to start over from the beginning. Despite how easy it was, I very much doubt that I could have quit without vaping. Part of it for me was never having that YOU CAN NEVER HAVE ANOTHER CIGARETTE EVER IN YOUR LIFE feeling. I know that if I relapse I can get back on track pretty fast by vaping. As a result I have not relapsed. Funny how that works.

[FSogol]

21. think you are taking the trash can thing way too serously.

Glad you didn't start smocking

[Totally Tunsie]

22. Don't ever watch the movie "All the President's Men"!

Last edited Fri Aug 3, 2018, 01:07 PM - Edit history (1)

It was on MSNBC last week, and I was eager to see it again. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein lights up about every two minutes in that film. It drove me crazy as one who hasn't smoked in 12 years. I could "taste" it throughout the whole movie.

Good flick...bad habit.

[jodymarie aimee]

26. wrong channel

MSNBC.

[Totally Tunsie]

30. Corrected...thanks.

[brewens]

28. I have my own copy. I was a kid in an award winning journalism program

right after Watergate. "Woodstein" were my idols! Hoffman sure does smoke a lot in that. It's been so many years since we would actually be a round people like that a lot, it seems really weird now.

[brewens]

27. Weed has saved me from that countless times. It's weird how you can get the urge, just like

you quit just the day before. You can't be having real nicotine withdrawals, but it sure feels like it. It passes pretty quick, but a few hits of the good stuff sure doesn't hurt.

[onecaliberal]

29. I'm so glad you didn't do it. It's not worth it. It's too hard to quit.

[kysrsoze]

31. Not worth it. I quit 11 years ago. A few times I had one on my B-Day

I just don’t see the point anymore. I’m exercising like mad and eating well, and at 48 I’m now close to the best shape of my life. I’m no longer worried about when cancer or heart disease will kill me. Used to think I’d be dead by 50. Now I want to go at least another 50.

Smoking is expensive and worthless. There are so many better things to dive into.

[jrthin]

32. Good for you! Nothing, imho, is worth you ever going back.

[wryter2000]

36. Years after I quit

I used to get cravings at baseball games. Weird

I think it's been over 30 years since I quit smoking. Absolutely no cravings now.

[sdfernando]

37. I'm glad you resisted

I never smoked, but have a good friend that did. He quite once for 2 or 3 years...then one time, at a bar, decided that it was OK to have one....well, he started up again for many years. Luckily he stopped again. He cannot stand the smell of cigs anymore. He is worse than I am around smoking/smokers.