Quitting the ol' Cancer-sticks

[Nixy]

I ain't 300lbs and I ain't a thug but I will glady slug him one everytime he reaches for the pack!!!

Do it for yourself but more so do it fo ryour kid. I watched my dad die of cancer (Leukemia) and it was hard enough with the knowledge that it was nobody's fault. I can't even imagine how hard it would have been if it had been his own fault, especially if there had been something he could have done to help prevent it (which in your case is quitting).

 

[MrBishop]

I ain't 300lbs and I ain't a thug but I will glady slug him one everytime he reaches for the pack!!!

Thanks Nix...but I'd rather you not slug me one...even if sometyimes I deserve it. Quitting ain't easy...don't let anyone tell you that it is...I 'stopped' or rather delayed for about 8 hours or so the other day...I got so damn cranky and ill at ease that my wife was asking me what she'd done wrong.

I told her nothing...went outside, had a smoke and came back human... I'll eventually stretch that out to a few more hours before I lose my humanity...and eventually, a full day...then..

well...we'll see

 

[MrBishop]

I told you how to quit. Your problem is that you don't really want to.

Cold turkey ain't cutting it Prof...I know that you did it, from more packs a day than I ever did smoke..for a longer period than I...but I'm not you...we don't work the same, think the same, walk or talk the same. We certainly can't quit the same.
If I found a magic boittle with only one wish left...I'd quit, but there ain't no genies, and if wishes were horses, then I'd own a ranch.

Can you tell that it's been a few hours since my last one?

 

[PT]

You seem irritated, Bish.

Don't worry, I think a person can do it by cutting back too, it will reduce the physical addiction, but the mental addiction is really the bitch to overcome, and even smoking a couple a day is going to keep that mental addiction going. If you're serious about quitting, don't stretch it out too long. Also, a positive attitude about the whole thing is in order too. Make yourself believe that you can do it, and that you won't get irritable, and you won't. If you believe that you are going to this snipy bitch, then you can almost guarantee that you will be.

 

[MrBishop]

You seem irritated, Bish.

Prof knows that it ain't really me talking...we've known each othr long enough for that. Hell...he once told me that he wished that he could pull off 'nice guy' like me...he'd make a mint

I'm trying slow and steady...but frankly...lots of people can't wait...they get irritated that I can't stop fast enough for them, then I get irritated because of the pressure, then...I smoke. It's one hell of a viscious circle hombré .



Oh yeah...almost forgot...I AM a nice guy 99.995% of the time...except when I try to quit and then my bastard-quotient rises.

 

[Professur]

Actually, I believe I'd said that if I could pull off being half as nice as you, there wouldn't have been a virgin left at Lemoyne.

And I guess you tuned me out during the discussion about quitting. You only heard the bit about how I quit. You missed all the bits about distraction. That's the key to quitting. How about finishing off that RC glider taking up space in your basement?

 

[PrincessLissa]

I won't say it is easy, but it all comes down to which you want more. Long term health and satisfaction or imeediate consultation for your daily happenings. Good luck tho...again.

 

[Luis G]

I won't say it is easy, but it all comes down to which you want more. Long term health and satisfaction or imeediate consultation for your daily happenings. Good luck tho...again.

Amen

 

[MrBishop]

Actually Prof...I can't find the bit about distraction...it's a good hint, but I'm distracted enough as is with over 3 1/2 hours or driving per day, plus two jobs and freelance and finding work, and JAG etc... You'd think that this would be enough.

 

[weeboll]

after many failed attempts, I found the easiest way was to set a future date to give up on, think it was my birthday one year, and reduced smoking until then and just stopped thereafter.
you will find yourself growing a few pounds after gving up tho!
another tip is to put the money you save on cigs in a jar and use it to buy cool stuff - a week after giving up, then two weeks, then three weeks etc - the prizes get bigger and better the longer you quit for!!!

 

[PrincessLissa]

but I'm distracted enough as is with over 3 1/2 hours or driving per day, .

I found that I smoked a lot when I was driving. That may be part of it.

 

[weeboll]

I found that I smoked a lot when I was driving. That may be part of it.

Step1. Throw away your car ciggerette lighter!!!

 

[fury]

K++ to ya Bish, I'd wish you good luck, but luck has nothing to do with it.

i wonder if quitting would be any easier if you had a 300lb thug sock you in the gut every time you reached for the pack?

good luck bish!

Ooh ooh can I be the 300lb thug? Please?

 

[Professur]

Well?

Didn't think so.

 

[BeardofPants]

Prof? Baiting Bish prolly isn't gonna help him give up.

 

[Professur]

Neither did anything else, did it? Maybe this will



Hey Bish, do you remember Mrs. Wilkinson? Gordie's mum? Quit smoking 10+ years ago. I'll bet you can't guess why my mother's taking her to hospital daily for the next 6 weeks.

 

[MrBishop]

Neither did anything else, did it? Maybe this will



Hey Bish, do you remember Mrs. Wilkinson? Gordie's mum? Quit smoking 10+ years ago. I'll bet you can't guess why my mother's taking her to hospital daily for the next 6 weeks.

Lemme guess...after 30-40 years of smoking, she got cancer?

I kinda know the risks.

Cold Turkey always fails...the patch was next to useless (hell, I smoked more after the patch than before it).
I'm trying reduce and change tempo and triggers. I'm also trying not to mention it on here because of obvious reasons but...hell, thanks for dragging it up yet again.

At least I know that your heart's in the right place.

 

[HomeLAN]

Cold Turkey always fails...

Err, no. It was the only thing that worked for me.

OTOH, a total change of scenery might help the process. Zero triggers. Is there anywhere you can go Howard Hughes for about 4 days?

 

[greenfreak]

Cold Turkey always fails

I didn't smoke half as long as some people but between the chronic bronchitis and walking pneumonia, cold turkey was the way I did it. I just decided I had had enough and stuck to it.

You can be told all sorts of things that make it hard to quit. But in the end, it all comes down to will. If you have the will to do it, you will do it. All the other excuses are just that.

For some people the trigger to quit is your own illness or someone else's. Or the thought that your children are going to lose you 5, 10, 20 years earlier than they should. That you won't get to walk your daughter down the aisle. Or the mere cost of it, it's so damn expensive.

It's easier for a reformed smoker to say all this of course, but that's one of the perks of quitting. Acting smug around those who haven't.

 

[Professur]

You know the risks, eh? I don't think so. Go visit Gordie for an afternoon. Then, I'll believe you know the risks.


And what obvious reason? Do tell.


And for the record, before everyone here, you've no idea where my heart is. But I'll tell you.

Frankly, I think you're an idiot. Anyone who starts smoking in his 20s is an idiot. At 12, you might not know the dangers. At 16, the peer pressure might be enough. But starting as an adult ... you're an idiot. You knew the dangers, knew it was addictive, and went ahead and did it anyways. Personally, you deserve everything it gives you, and you'll hear no sympathy from me when you're coughing up coal. But your son deserves better. The new baby deserves more than that pathetic whimpering from it's father.

When you chose to father children, you gave up the right to destroy yourself.

Daily, I look at my three, and think to myself how they'll never know my father. Only one of them will have any memories at all of him. They'll never learn from him all he had to teach. Never be able to show him what they learned to do today. Dad always said he only had one vice, and he was entitled to it. I know now, he was wrong.


And so are you. Remember this when you tuck Jag into bed tonight, before you slip out onto the porch for your last cig of the night. And afterward, when you wrap your arm around your SO's belly in bed.

They say that you're only cutting off the last years of your life, and they're lousy anyways. Well, they might be your last years, but they're not your kids. They're just the last ones they ever get to share with you.