Giving up smoking - again.....

Vic, if you donate half of your former cig money to your GAS fund and half to your grandkids, you'll all be slingin' Strats in no time ;)
Seroiusly, though, cigarette addiction is both physical (nicotine withdrawal) and mental (old habits and associations) so having a variety of strategies and incentives may be a good way to stay with it. I quit within a month, but only after about six months of getting ready.

I was lucky. For the 9 years I smoked I was never addicted.

One day I decided I wasn't going to buy anymore but would smoke if offered one by a friend.

Well.... Zero friends = Zeros smokes. I was done....Feb 1976. :D That was when they were 35 cents a pack. :D

Still to this day I have no friends....errr I mean haven't smoked. :roll: :wink:

Vic - the most noble of resolutions.

I don't know you from Adam, but I'll jump on the charity bandwagon. My Grandmother had Diabetes, so I'll donate a dollar a day this year to the American Diabetes Association for every day you stay smoke-free.

http://diabetes.org/home.jsp

Good on you, mate. Good idea. I'll join you and Nick.

We have a local organisation that does great support work with aged care, drug and alcohol problems, counselling, financial problems, and all the other many ways there are of being "out of luck" or in difficulties. So I'll do the same for them.

I'll sponsor Vic and Racetruck1 for $5 a week each and donate it whenever it reaches $100. Aussie dollars are about 75c US so that's pretty much matching the $1US a day.

I gave up 25 years ago - so I've saved tens of thousands of dollars since. So I'm now well enough off to afford the gesture.

And we get a tax deduction here for charitable donations, so we get a bit of it back at tax time too. :)

So Vic and Racetruck1 - you now have three guitar playing sponsors and the Australian Taxation Department backing you! Do us proud. :D

Cheers,

Chris

So nooooooo pressure at all then....

OK, I'm determined this time - I'll stick £1 in a jar for every day I don't smoke, and at the end of the year I'll donate it to charity...Cancer Research seems like a good idea.....

:D :D :D

Vic

(Currently 52.5 hours without a cigarette and TETCHY AS HELL!!!!!)

Two days.

The dog is hiding, so's the wife, four cats didn't realize they could fly.

Wow, I knew it's hard, but, God!

I just went through my computer and cleaned it out, four hours.

Chris, I'll hold you to that, donate it to your favorite charity, but I have to tell you, I'm putting away $10 a day, it's about $5.00 a pack here. Times two.

I am going to donate at least half to something, not sure yet which one, there's a few.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta find something to kill! :evil: :evil: :evil:

Two days.

The dog is hiding, so's the wife, four cats didn't realize they could fly.

.....

Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta find something to kill! :evil: :evil: :evil:
ROFLMAO! I'm not laughing at your suffering, really. Just enjoying your humor!

I think if you donate half of what you save, the other half ought to be spent on some luxury for yourself. Some decadent splurge that you wouldn't normally indulge in.

Hang tight! It will get easier.
Bish wrote: For the 9 years I smoked I was never addicted.

One day I decided I wasn't going to buy anymore but would smoke if offered one by a friend.

Well.... Zero friends = Zeros smokes. I was done....Feb 1976.
:lol: Sooo, you told us you turned 50 this year, do a little math.......and you started smoking at age 11? :shock:
You thought your momma didn't know, but I'm a mom, and I know moms know everything. So I called yours and she showed me this:

:twisted:

Margaret

Two days.

The dog is hiding, so's the wife, four cats didn't realize they could fly.

Wow, I knew it's hard, but, God!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta find something to kill! :evil: :evil: :evil:

MY 'QUITTING' WEATHER FORECAST

Week 1
Tropical strength storms. Expect thunder, lightning, torrential downpours and occasional tornadoes. High chance of storm damage.

(i.e. You will probably be a complete bastard for about a week. :shock: )

Week 2

Patchy storms with occasional clear periods. Sunshine intermittently breaking through, but storm warnings still current.

(i.e. You will feel a little calmer - partly because no family or pets will come within 50 feet of you, so there's less to irritate you... :? )

Week 3

Storms clearing. Lengthy fine periods. Occasionally overcast...

and so on.... 8)

I found it got easier reasonably quickly but the first few days were very tough. After that you slowly flush the stuff out of your system so it switches from being mostly physical to beating the 'habit' side of things.

There's a constant need to find things to distract yourself with - so probably reading this thread isn't exactly ideal.... but do let us know how it goes.

I agree with Margaret - I'd spend at least half, or more, of what you save on yourself or your family. Don't let us bully you both into the charity thing - we're not the ones doing the suffering.. :)

Cheers,

Chris

I smoked for 26 years, started a pack a day at 12 years old :oops: I quit about 11 years ago ( Margaret is reaching for the calculator :lol: )The first time I quit for 5 months and I made it permanent on the second try :D ...Have you read "Quitters Inc" By Steven King :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

The habit part was the hardest part for me. Taking a break and going outside was a welcome pleasure in my day. You still can take breaks, just go for a short brisk walk away from the smoking area.

Two days.

The dog is hiding, so's the wife, four cats didn't realize they could fly.

.....

Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta find something to kill! :evil: :evil: :evil:
ROFLMAO! I'm not laughing at your suffering, really. Just enjoying your humor!

I think if you donate half of what you save, the other half ought to be spent on some luxury for yourself. Some decadent splurge that you wouldn't normally indulge in.

Hang tight! It will get easier.
Bish wrote: For the 9 years I smoked I was never addicted.

One day I decided I wasn't going to buy anymore but would smoke if offered one by a friend.

Well.... Zero friends = Zeros smokes. I was done....Feb 1976.
:lol: Sooo, you told us you turned 50 this year, do a little math.......and you started smoking at age 11? :shock:
You thought your momma didn't know, but I'm a mom, and I know moms know everything. So I called yours and she showed me this:

:twisted:

Margaret

You forgot to carry the 4 and subtract the difference from the sum of the subtotals. Then you needed to divide by the number of days in a weekend plus accounting for leap year. That would put me closer to 10. I like that number 11 for some reason(s). :D So, good guess.

I quit for three and a half months at the beginning of last year. Three months ago I put them down again. This time has been much, much easier.

Vic, racetruck, and whoever else is quitting, you CAN do it! Very nice of Nick and others to offer up some incentive. The biggest help for me was to change my routine. Find something different to do so you can form new habits. Good luck!

Jason

Thanks for all the support,

I've had some experience in quitting addictive stuff. The key for me is just go one day, or one hour, or one minute. I've tried the gum and patches with no luck. I gotta keep telling myself not to take everything so serious.

I'm still going to do the charity thing with half the money, the other half is going to my wife for putting up with me. If I'm not living in a cardboard box down by the river by the time it's all said and done. :roll:

Attention span is down to zero, but I have enough to do around here to keep busy, I'm just used to doing everything with a cigarette in my mouth.

Funny story, or better yet, telling story,

My company decided to photograph the installation of a cooling tower as part of a sales brochure. Me, being the owner, figured prominently.

There wasn't a single picture of me that didn't have a cigarette in my mouth. (over 200 pictures)

Most had to be redone with some of my other employees.

Keith Richards, who I think we all will agree, knows just a tad about addictive substances said once that quitting smoking was tougher than giving up heroin. Said he licked heroin but still can't beat nicotine. The first month was rough guys but hang in there.

So, how are the quitters doing? 8)

Jason

Ten years and two months :)