What I like about not smoking

[bain_sidhe]

(A semi-regular of announcement of thoughts that help keep me on the non-smoking path)

Not having to go out in the cold to buy cigarettes (with a not-so gracious :P at hubby, who just did)

bain_sidhe, non-smoker for 25 & 1/2 days.

So far.

[buckettgirl]

1. I'll second that

Congrats to you.

I quit cold turkey 6 years and 5 months ago. It gets easier, and yet I still have days where I wonder "why the fuck did I ever quit!!??"

What i like about not smoking: Being able to really taste food and really smell everything.

[bain_sidhe]

4. haven't noticed the better taste/smelling

but it hasn't even been a month yet.

Meanwhile, it was SNOWING! And COLD! And I didn't have to go out in it!

Hubby plans to quit during semester break, but has cut way down and is smoking only on the enclosed back porch. There's a heater out there, so it's not quite arctic, but it's not comfortable, either. Meanwhile, we came to an agreement. I don't nag him or gloat, but I also don't buy his cigarettes for him, so when he wants them HE has to go get them.

In the COLD! And the SNOW! :snicker:

[lost-in-nj]

2. Congrats!!!!

You will start to feel better and better. I quit 2-15-2007 so its almost 2 years for me!!!!
Keep it up!!!

:hi:


lost

[bain_sidhe]

5. So, what do YOU like about not smoking?

And congrats on the 2 years!!

[lost-in-nj]

10. I like the fact that I can climb the hill by my house

with out stopping to breath....

I don't have to go outside to smoke

and the MONEY I save!!!!

lost

[bain_sidhe]

14. Oh, the money!

Another biggie! At a pack and a half a day (approximately $9.00/day here in MI) I have now saved... ::mumblemumble:: $230.40!!

Add in Hubby's $4.50 a day (cut his smoking in half) and ::mumblemumbleremovesocks:: $345.15!!!

One of my big "pre-quit" strategies was to figure out how much a year we'd save when we both quit... It works out to $6,570.00. We'd have to get, what, almost a $10,000 raise to net that much after taxes! And that's not counting the fact that sometimes, we smoked more than the average.

One of my early-days mantras was to mutter "ten thousand dollar raise."

[malta blue]

3. congrats!

:woohoo:

I quit on 3/4/07. Almost two years.

I have had a couple of slip ups - I actually smoked two cigs last night at a party - but I don't see myself headed to the store, so I am okay.

[bain_sidhe]

7. But, is it COLD??

and SNOWING? It's MUCH better to not see yourself headed to the store when it's COLD AND SNOWING!

And, what do you like about not smoking?

[malta blue]

9. yes, it is cold and snowing, and blessedly I am NOT headed to

the store.

I love the fact that I don't have to wash my winter coat every three days because it reeks of smoke.

I love tasting my food.

I love not having asthma attacks in the middle of the night.

[Xipe Totec]

6. What I like about not smoking

is still being here.

I quit in 1983, shortly before my first son was born.

I guess I owe him my life.

[bain_sidhe]

8. AWWWW!

Ok, blurry screen virus here...

And congrats to your son, for having such a smart and caring dad!

[gblady]

16. yeah......me, too....

only was in 1985, when first found out I was pregnant...

I love not being addicted, not having that substance control my actions...
I love not contributing to companies which are destroying lives.
I love being able to breathe with ease, no hacking cough...
I love not having that disgusting smell in my clothes and hair and house.
I love the $$ I save!
I love the fact that, still after 23 years, I am proud of myself for quitting.
One of the hardest things I ever did...and definitely one of the most rewarding.

[bain_sidhe]

17. Wow! 23 years and still proud!

That says a lot, you know. Yes, it is hard, and some days are harder than others. But, to me, every day that I resist is proof that I CAN resist, which in turn gives me an increasing belief in my own strength. After 35 years of smoking, I really had doubts.

Congratulations!

[Xipe Totec]

18. ...

From somebody who understands, just how hard that was:

:applause:

[ThomCat]

11. Congratulations on abstaining.

I hope you can keep this up. :)

[bain_sidhe]

13. I will, I must

as Yoda might say, there is no "hope" there is only DO.

[Lubernaut]

12. Good job!

Today is 14 months for me.

I like being able to sit through a movie, a concert or a flight and not have to squirm and obsess about when I'll be able to poison myself with nicotine!

I also like that my 17 y/o has quit too, and that she wouldn't have if I were still smoking.

I hope you stay quit, it's SOOOO worth the effort!

[bain_sidhe]

15. TWO good ones

One of the things I like, too, is not deciding where I'm going based on whether I can smoke there or not.

And congrats to your 17 y.o. too!

[Bluzmann57]

19. Food tastes better

One's sense of smell is enhanced, although that isn't always a good thing, breathing is better, clothes don't smell. I used to smoke so I know what I'm talking about.
25 days. That's good. Keep it up.

[bain_sidhe]

28. missed this yesterday!

(in case it's not evident, I'm trying to respond to everyone!)

I hear ya about the enhanced sense of smell not being an unalloyed good... I've always had a better "nose" than my husband, and he just laughs at me when I complain about smells, especially in the house. (We got a rescue dog last year that hadn't been housetrained. We faithfully cleaned up every mess with enzyme "odor eaters," but come summer, I lugged all the area rugs into the yard for a high-pressure hosing and enzyme treatment, because *I* could still smell it, even if HE thought it was all in my head.

So, if she makes any more mistakes, I'm sure it'll be worse. This doesn't mean that quitting isn't worth it though!

[applegrove]

20. Have you tried to log on to the quitnet? lots of newly quit smokers there. Great place to get

some support if you have a crave.

Did you use champix/chantix? I did and I have a really great quit 6 months later. Feels even better to be quit the more time goes on. Good luck with yours.

[bain_sidhe]

23. Nope, didn't know about it

I'll look it up. And no, I'm not using "chantix" or whatever... good ole nicotine replacement lozenges... Commit.

To an exent, I feel silly saying I "quit" when I'm still using nicotine. But, just getting over the actual act of smoking is enough of a challenge right now. I started my day with coffee and a cigarette for 35 years. Had an after-dinner cigarette "dessert" for 35 years, had a final "smoke and think" before bed for 35 years... add in all the "habit-smoking" and it's tough enough not to light up right now.

I'll deal with the nicotine after I've dealt with the hole in my daily routine.

**edited for brainfart.**

[applegrove]

31. Good luck!

[bain_sidhe]

32. Well, I just signed up!

and did a "hello" post (I'm KarenJG over there). But, I'm off to read now, just thought I'd check in here one more time.)

[VaYallaDawg]

21. I quit cold turkey April 1985.

I spend lots of time traveling - best thing for me is being able to fly to Europe or west coast without the heeby-jeebies.

[bain_sidhe]

24. lack of nicotine heeby-jeebies on long flights...

...is an EXCELLENT thing to like! Although I've never been on a trans-atlantic flight, I have been on some cross-country ones. Very tough indeed!

[LostinVA]

22. My wife is attempting to quit as we speak -- it's Day One.Five

I quit almost 13 years ago.

[bain_sidhe]

25. GO Mrs Lost! Good luck!

A question, has she been smoking all this time since you quit, and how did (or didn't) that affect your efforts to quit?

In the past, Mr bain_sidhe and I would try to quit together, but we've always been on different "right time" schedules... a "good time" for me to quit was a bad time for him, and vice-versa. So one or the other of us always caved in, soon to be followed by the other one.

I did quit for four months several years ago when he smoked only at work (and kept his cigs there), but the minute he started smoking at home again, I started again.

This is the first time I've tried to quit while he was actually smoking at home (albeit in the back room), and had cigarettes in the house while quitting.

[Resuscitated Ethics]

26. Buggers are clear or white; not green/grey or brown

which I thought freakish at first. Now I am proud of my milder leavings!

My one-year quit date was Nov 15, for real no cig day was Dec 1 (today-yay!) after thirty or more years. A couple slip-ups I had involved buying a pack, yelling at it for an hour or so, smoking one or two badly (lame inhales, drama), and rendering the rest unusable with bodily fluids.

I am a certified NO PATIENCE with smokers (lung-farters: wish it would kill'em sooner)ex smoker.

I used Chantix, half the dose for half the time. I am told it made me a lunatic. I respond that it was lack if cigarettes that did that.

Believe you me, one day it will happen that you haven't thought about smoking all day long. One slip up puts off that day for another few days, and on and on. You had to learn to deal with tobacco-- you also have to trust that you don't need it.

You're hubby better not jeopardize your quit journey!

I couldn't have done it if I lived with a smoker. The reason people smoke is not for all the reasons they'll come up with, but that it is too hard, too much trouble, too much of a bother to stop.

Best wishes--tobacco is GROSS!!

[bain_sidhe]

27. Er... ok...

Not the one I would have thought of, but, hey, it's YOUR fave, so that counts.

And CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!! ONE WHOLE YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

Hubby's trying really hard not to sabotage me. He plans to quit during the semester break (the last half of the semester is hell on him), but I was ready to quit after the election, and waiting for him would have weakened my will - mid-winter is the WORST time for me to quit, I get a mild form of SAD and the short cold days are really tough for me.

Also, truthfully, I don't think he's as motivated as I am, so I need to be able to not smoke even if he continues to do so. That's been the trap in the past, we were each counting on the other to be our quit-buddy, so when one broke down, the other did. This way means that my quitting isn't dependant on his quitting.

[Resuscitated Ethics]

29. Thanks for !!!!!

Always glad to hear it.
My other fav is not being beholden to yet another twentieth-century ploy to remove money from my pocket. I am victimized by enough of those (including the bizarre food ploy of "needing" massive protein three meals a day) and giving up cigs saved me over $1000 realistically.

Of course my little "reward" expenditures may have topped that. All in moderation!

Six to eight weeks total and no more cravings--honest! You are more than halfway there with no felonious assault (I trust). YEOW! You are so there.

BTW my spouse never smoked. I am seen in my wedding video chomping nicorette. Lasted 2/3 of the honeymoon, one morning out to get the paper and BAM a pack of menthols were in my pocket. Nicorette and menthols and moonlight. I hate menthols but the idea was to slip up on something easier to leave. BAD IDEA. I just gave up menthols and smoked for another decade. Politely, outside exclusively and never in restaurants, but addictively and daily, carton a week or so. Bye bye tubes of death. So long lung based gas expulsions.

[bain_sidhe]

30. Oh, yeah, the old "eat to live" pyramid scheme

it's a little different than the usual schemes though... in this one *I* end up as a pyramid... Or at least, looking like on (all my weight gain goes straight to my hips).

Thanks for the good news... hmmm... eight weeks is 12/31... Perfect time to give up cravings, I say!