News:

Welcome to week4paug.net 2.1 - same as it ever was! Most features have been restored, but please keep us posted on ANY issues you may be having HERE:  https://week4paug.net/index.php/topic,23937

Main Menu

Quitting is Contagious

Started by gah, April 20, 2009, 10:09:23 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

gah

So last night I was sitting in the bar with a buddy of mine, and we ran out of smokes, being too lazy to walk down the street to 7-eleven, we bought a pack there for an astounding $8/pack! The discussion turned to quitting, which I am always in a planning phase of doing. But at this point, if not even for the health benefits, it would be great for the financial side of it too. And then I remembered a discussion elsewhere on the boards about this, and recently a few folks that have quit (nab i think), or others that have been done with it for quite some time (rj, i believe).

Anyhow, also there have been studies released recently that show that quitting is contagious. So I figured why not start a thread to help out one another and motivate each another to actually give it up for good. So if you have techniques you used, stories to share, or just any info on quitting, here's your thread..

I actually have some friends coming to town later this week (2 of whom smoke), for a beer festival this Saturday, and know it will be tough to not smoke while they are here, so am going to try and use this week to ween myself off a bit, and shoot for next Sunday as my day one of being smoke free.


http://www.rwjf.org/pr/product.jsp?id=30491

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4118058
Sometimes we live no particular way but our own.

antelope19

The new cigarette taxes came up in conversation yesterday and we did the math for the lone friend of mine who still smokes.  He was shocked!  I'm not saying it's gonna help him quit, but damn.

He smokes a pack a day.  The average cost of a pack of smokes in MD is around $6. 

$6/pack x 30 days a month x 12 months = $2160 a year

Wow.



Quote
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment

whyweigh5.0

get a nice phat wager going between you and your friends to help motivate
The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. - Hunter S. Thompson
http://liquidgoggles.blogspot.com/

khalpin

Do it, man.  Don't kid yourself, it's gonna suck.  But it does get easier and obviously worth it.  Hanging out with smokers was what always did me in.  It's too easy to just bum one.  My wife still smokes, but she smokes menthol and she smokes outside, so that whole "out of sight, out of mind" thing along with the menthol-ness helped immensely.

If you want more of the story, though: I tried quitting every couple months for 10 years.  Never worked.  Then a friend wisely said, "Why don't you just wait until a big event happens and quit then.  Quit when you get married or when you buy a house."  That sounded like a great idea and I stopped trying to quit for the next couple years.  Well, I bought a condo in '99 and finally quit....for 2 weeks.  Then I got married and quit...for a couple days.  Then I had a kid and quit for a couple hours.  Then about a year later, whilst driving home from a drunken weekend with the boys, I basically had a moment of clarity when I realized: there is no reason left for me to quit.  house, wife, kid....they've all come already.  If I can't quit now, I'm a total piece of shit and I'm going to smoke until I die.  And that was it.  Every time I thought of having a cigarette I equated breaking down with being a total disappointment to my son.  And that's what finally did it.

Sweet blog, huh?

Mr Minor

Quote from: khalpin on April 20, 2009, 10:27:30 AM
Do it, man.  Don't kid yourself, it's gonna suck.  But it does get easier and obviously worth it.  Hanging out with smokers was what always did me in.  It's too easy to just bum one.  My wife still smokes, but she smokes menthol and she smokes outside, so that whole "out of sight, out of mind" thing along with the menthol-ness helped immensely.

If you want more of the story, though: I tried quitting every couple months for 10 years.  Never worked.  Then a friend wisely said, "Why don't you just wait until a big event happens and quit then.  Quit when you get married or when you buy a house."  That sounded like a great idea and I stopped trying to quit for the next couple years.  Well, I bought a condo in '99 and finally quit....for 2 weeks.  Then I got married and quit...for a couple days.  Then I had a kid and quit for a couple hours.  Then about a year later, whilst driving home from a drunken weekend with the boys, I basically had a moment of clarity when I realized: there is no reason left for me to quit.  house, wife, kid....they've all come already.  If I can't quit now, I'm a total piece of shit and I'm going to smoke until I die.  And that was it.  Every time I thought of having a cigarette I equated breaking down with being a total disappointment to my son.  And that's what finally did it.

Sweet blog, huh?

It's actually a great story.  That moment of clarity is awesome. 

antelope19

Agreed, that is a great story. 
Quote
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment

gah

Quote from: whyweigh3.5 on April 20, 2009, 10:21:38 AM
get a nice phat wager going between you and your friends to help motivate

Problem with this is most of my friends smoke, and have no interest in quitting. While living in Maryland, I had quit a few times for a few months, or just was a social/drinking smoker, mostly because not a SINGLE friend of mine smoked, but then moved to Virginia 4.5 years ago, and not a single friend DOESN'T smoke! Good ole Virginia. Plus any and every bar/restaurant you go to is packed with smokers, so bumming one is always easy. Although I think a law recently got passed to ban it from restaurants and goes into effect later this year, which will help.

Definitely appreciate the story, khalpin. Surprised your wife still smokes though, the rate of spouses quitting was around 68% if the other did. The idea of putting it off till after an event is always what gets me since you can always find something to put it off till after. I said I'd quit after Hampton...then my birthday....then this weekends party....then beer fest....then jazzfest....then, etc...there will always be something, so you're right, you just need to quit. Now did you go cold turkey or ween yourself a bit? Still have cravings? How long have you quit for and how long did you smoke prior?

Either way, I am set on quitting, it makes hangover worse, I hate having a cough, I hate that I will snap on people and not realize it till after and know I am just craving a smoke, I hate that food could taste so much better, I hate knowing I could be saving 25-30 bucks a week instead.
Sometimes we live no particular way but our own.

antelope19

Yup, all of my friends who quit were suprised at how much better everything tasted/smelled.  Not to mention how much better you, personally will smell.  I remembered how much I hate hanging out in smoky bars after the Keller Williams show @ the Birchmere.  They allow smoking at the bar outside of the actual room where he played and damn did I stink on that ride home.  No smoking inside = a more pleasant experience for everyone, smokers included.   
Quote
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment

willsteele

Been a smoker off and on for a long time.  I've always been able to go for long stretches without smoking, and without really thinking about it or caring if I did or not.  My wife quit when she got pregnant last September.  I still smoked until February.  Haven't had one since then.  Will I ever have one again?  Probably at some point.  Will I care if I don't?  Not really.  There are those times though that it will be tough.  Summer bbq's, a day at the golf course, poker night, concerts, etc.  Though I think the wife gives me a pass for certain things.. ie Phish show.  I'll just have to wait and see if I take that pass.
I'm the one who's gonna have to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.

sls.stormyrider

good luck in quitting

:beers:


if anyone needs motivation, you are welcome to hang around with me for a day. or, you can read Antelope's math.
"toss away stuff you don't need in the end
but keep what's important, and know who's your friend"
"It's a 106 miles to Chicago. We got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses."

gah

the old days:




This is just gross, a healthy lung vs. smokers lung!

Sometimes we live no particular way but our own.

antelope19

Quote from: slslbs on April 20, 2009, 11:59:15 AM
good luck in quitting

:beers:


if anyone needs motivation, you are welcome to hang around with me for a day. or, you can read Antelope's math.

Just think what you could do with that money.  You would almost be able to afford a 4 day pass to red rocks.   :|
Quote
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment

Buffalo Budd

I've tried a few times and have been successful for a few months but always go back so I decided when we get our referral and I find out I'm gonna be a dad, that's it.  I guess I've always had that in the back of my head so maybe I wasn't motivated enough to cut the cord before.  I'm in on a quitting thread for sure.
Everything is connected, because it's all being created by this one consciousness. And we are tiny reflections of the mind that is creating the universe.

gah

Quote from: antelope19 on April 20, 2009, 12:56:55 PM
Quote from: slslbs on April 20, 2009, 11:59:15 AM
good luck in quitting

:beers:


if anyone needs motivation, you are welcome to hang around with me for a day. or, you can read Antelope's math.

Just think what you could do with that money.  You would almost be able to afford a 4 day pass to red rocks.   :|

almost....
Sometimes we live no particular way but our own.

Ri©h

Quote from: khalpin on April 20, 2009, 10:27:30 AM
Do it, man.  Don't kid yourself, it's gonna suck.  But it does get easier and obviously worth it.  Hanging out with smokers was what always did me in.  It's too easy to just bum one.  My wife still smokes, but she smokes menthol and she smokes outside, so that whole "out of sight, out of mind" thing along with the menthol-ness helped immensely.

If you want more of the story, though: I tried quitting every couple months for 10 years.  Never worked.  Then a friend wisely said, "Why don't you just wait until a big event happens and quit then.  Quit when you get married or when you buy a house."  That sounded like a great idea and I stopped trying to quit for the next couple years.  Well, I bought a condo in '99 and finally quit....for 2 weeks.  Then I got married and quit...for a couple days.  Then I had a kid and quit for a couple hours.  Then about a year later, whilst driving home from a drunken weekend with the boys, I basically had a moment of clarity when I realized: there is no reason left for me to quit.  house, wife, kid....they've all come already.  If I can't quit now, I'm a total piece of shit and I'm going to smoke until I die.  And that was it.  Every time I thought of having a cigarette I equated breaking down with being a total disappointment to my son.  And that's what finally did it.

Sweet blog, huh?


:clap: Way to be, bro.

Me, I've never really had an issue with smokes. Usually it was a social thing. Having a few smokes after drinking and getting high was always a buzz topper for me. I loved the nicotine rush. I don't crave smokes, ever. Never have. I work with a shitload of people who smoke though and sometimes I recall those "buzz toppers" but I like my lungs and my wallet healthy.

Nice math antelope. That's enough to make me not even start!  :lol: