How to keep yourself together...
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Hi all, I need some help. After 6 years, I have joined the club of non-smokers again. My girlfriend told me that she didn't fancy kissing someone who tasted like an ashtray, and asked me if I could reduce my cigarette consumption. I told her that I could not, and I would just stop altogether. Now I am back in the office and I feel that urge to smoke that I was so afraid of. I actually start getting up, only to sit down again. Any tipps? And no, I don't want to smoke again. Sid
BTW - was this the girlfriend that you posted about last week? If so, how did your weekend go? Keep it Kid Sister Safe.:-D
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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WARNING: I've never touched a cigarette all my life, nor held a beer, so (ironically ;P) I might not be the best person to ask for advice. The trick, I believe, is not to tell yourself "I won't smoke again. Evah." That way, you give yourself infinite time to attain your goal, and won't be as committed. Your mind goes, "Hey, let me smoke just this once; I'll stop from next week" Rather, you start in small steps, which make easy goals, and keep moving the goal posts further. First start by promising yourself not to smoke for half a day at a time. Once you can go through half a day with no problems, make it one whole day, then increase it to a week, and so on. Good luck, and read the warning again. :-D
Cheers, Vıkram.
Déjà moo - The feeling that you've seen this bull before. Join the CP group at NationStates. Password:
byalmightybobVikram A Punathambekar wrote:
Hey, let me smoke just this once; I'll stop from next week"
Same is happening with me
Vikram A Punathambekar wrote:
Rather, you start in small steps, which make easy goals, and keep moving the goal posts further. First start by promising yourself not to smoke for half a day at a time. Once you can go through half a day with no problems, make it one whole day, then increase it to a week, and so on.
Also tried this one by not smoking for whole day but very next day i smoke more than twice ... i think my will power is not good enough to quit it :(
Thanks and Regards Sandeep If you want something you never had, do something you have never done!
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Hi all, I need some help. After 6 years, I have joined the club of non-smokers again. My girlfriend told me that she didn't fancy kissing someone who tasted like an ashtray, and asked me if I could reduce my cigarette consumption. I told her that I could not, and I would just stop altogether. Now I am back in the office and I feel that urge to smoke that I was so afraid of. I actually start getting up, only to sit down again. Any tipps? And no, I don't want to smoke again. Sid
After smoking 3 packs of Marlboros a day for about 10 or 15 years, my father quit smoking cold turkey. This was about 40 years ago. To reinforce his desired change of behavior, he kept a pack of cigarettes in his pocket. Sheesh - don't know how he did it. Anyhow, he's been clean since. However, and this may or may not help you kick the habit, the doctors say that they can still see damage to his lungs in his Xrays. They have healed over the years, but 40 years later his lungs still show the damage.
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Hi all, I need some help. After 6 years, I have joined the club of non-smokers again. My girlfriend told me that she didn't fancy kissing someone who tasted like an ashtray, and asked me if I could reduce my cigarette consumption. I told her that I could not, and I would just stop altogether. Now I am back in the office and I feel that urge to smoke that I was so afraid of. I actually start getting up, only to sit down again. Any tipps? And no, I don't want to smoke again. Sid
I quit from 20-30 a day 9 months ago, cold turkey. Its not really too bad, though I would advise you to take some days off work until the physical symptoms have gone - 3 days or so. The secret is actually not wanting to smoke any more, otherwise you might as well just light up now..
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BTW - was this the girlfriend that you posted about last week? If so, how did your weekend go? Keep it Kid Sister Safe.:-D
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
My weekend went extremely well. Saturday, I babysat my niece, so my sister could prepare her place for the party. On Sunday, I went to said party to celebrate my niece's first birthday. Nice people, useful presents (sandbox, two inflatable baby pools, toys, a bobbycar, etc.) and great prosecco... On monday evening, I met with Elif. First, we went to enjoy the view from "Schloßpark" (Castle Park), but it was too windy to stay up there for long. We then had a small candlelight dinner. We spent the better part of yesterday outside in the sun, enjoying ourselves and each other's company. We bought a new bottle of wine (the nice one fell down :( ) and had Paella for dinner. We went to bed early (relaxing is tiring) and it really was hard to get up and even harder to leave this morning. We'll see each other again this weekend, but for now, we both have jobs to attend to. Gna!
Cheers, Sebastian -- Ceterum censeo, borlandem esse delendam.
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Hi all, I need some help. After 6 years, I have joined the club of non-smokers again. My girlfriend told me that she didn't fancy kissing someone who tasted like an ashtray, and asked me if I could reduce my cigarette consumption. I told her that I could not, and I would just stop altogether. Now I am back in the office and I feel that urge to smoke that I was so afraid of. I actually start getting up, only to sit down again. Any tipps? And no, I don't want to smoke again. Sid
* Get a quit counter application on your desktop so that you can see how much money (and life) you are saving * Get more exercise to get the most out of your newly cleansed system * Don't let the nicotine pushers make you stupid ever again.
'--8<------------------------ Ex Datis: Duncan Jones Merrion Computing Ltd
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Hi all, I need some help. After 6 years, I have joined the club of non-smokers again. My girlfriend told me that she didn't fancy kissing someone who tasted like an ashtray, and asked me if I could reduce my cigarette consumption. I told her that I could not, and I would just stop altogether. Now I am back in the office and I feel that urge to smoke that I was so afraid of. I actually start getting up, only to sit down again. Any tipps? And no, I don't want to smoke again. Sid
Sebastian Schneider wrote:
Now I am back in the office and I feel that urge to smoke that I was so afraid of. I actually start getting up, only to sit down again.
First off, I have never smoked a cigarette, however.... In leaving the hospital in 2001, I had been on a heavy morphine drip for almost 2 months.... The net effect was a strong addiction to opiates. The hospital gave me a regiment for reducing the medicine and a prescription for an opiate. Morphine has a strong tolerance effect, you want more, not less, so even with a different opiate and reducing volumes, it was extremely difficult. But I hate even the idea of being addicted to something, so stubbornness won out against the issues. Prior to that back in the early 90's I drank hard whiskey for a few months, even though physical addiction was not strong, mental addiction had set in. 1) Have something to do, idle mind, idle hands means all you think about is the craving. This seems simple, but it isn't because you find yourself thinking about it even during a stop light. Get a pet programming project, even if it never gets finished, design it heavily during all idle hours. Or find something else to distract you, what ever works for you. I used my origami to keep my hands busy at every chance I could. Origami no matter how easy it looks, requires concentration. I also got work to grant me a pet project so that I knew what ever I did would eventually get used. And I designed or programmed a major rewrite of our product. 2) I will agree about the ultimatum part, in part. Don't give yourself a mandate to suffer, but do remind yourself you can make it through this. Positive rather than neutral or negative reminders. Remind yourself of the reward. Be aware of physical symptoms, don't ignore them. I don't know how strongly you are addicted, so I don't know if you can cold-turkey it or reduce it with a patch. You are the expert there, because it is you. I stopped the alcohol cold-turkey, threw my last bottle of black-label in the dumpster (rather harshly) and stubborned my way through the rest. 3) Recognize you are never done. This step may be a permanent step, but every now and then in the future you will say, "wow it sure would feel good if I...." Prepare yourself for this now, don't say it won't happen to you. An alcoholic is always an alcoholic even when he stops drinking, a smoker usually has idle cravings for ages. Prepare yourself: that you are strong enough to make the l
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I quit from 20-30 a day 9 months ago, cold turkey. Its not really too bad, though I would advise you to take some days off work until the physical symptoms have gone - 3 days or so. The secret is actually not wanting to smoke any more, otherwise you might as well just light up now..
The wanting part was easy. The last year, it was just a habit, something you did on certain occasions (such as: before lunch, after lunch, on the hour, ... well, on every opportunity). I have seen my share of examples: One of my neighbours lost both legs, another one died of lung cancer. I don't want to smoke again, but I still feel the physical longing, trying to influence me to smoke "one last ciggie". I bought a pack of Fisherman's Friends Cool Cassis. They taste extremely well, and they seem to work as a replacement to keep me occupied.
Cheers, Sebastian -- Ceterum censeo, borlandem esse delendam.
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Sebastian Schneider wrote:
Now I am back in the office and I feel that urge to smoke that I was so afraid of. I actually start getting up, only to sit down again.
First off, I have never smoked a cigarette, however.... In leaving the hospital in 2001, I had been on a heavy morphine drip for almost 2 months.... The net effect was a strong addiction to opiates. The hospital gave me a regiment for reducing the medicine and a prescription for an opiate. Morphine has a strong tolerance effect, you want more, not less, so even with a different opiate and reducing volumes, it was extremely difficult. But I hate even the idea of being addicted to something, so stubbornness won out against the issues. Prior to that back in the early 90's I drank hard whiskey for a few months, even though physical addiction was not strong, mental addiction had set in. 1) Have something to do, idle mind, idle hands means all you think about is the craving. This seems simple, but it isn't because you find yourself thinking about it even during a stop light. Get a pet programming project, even if it never gets finished, design it heavily during all idle hours. Or find something else to distract you, what ever works for you. I used my origami to keep my hands busy at every chance I could. Origami no matter how easy it looks, requires concentration. I also got work to grant me a pet project so that I knew what ever I did would eventually get used. And I designed or programmed a major rewrite of our product. 2) I will agree about the ultimatum part, in part. Don't give yourself a mandate to suffer, but do remind yourself you can make it through this. Positive rather than neutral or negative reminders. Remind yourself of the reward. Be aware of physical symptoms, don't ignore them. I don't know how strongly you are addicted, so I don't know if you can cold-turkey it or reduce it with a patch. You are the expert there, because it is you. I stopped the alcohol cold-turkey, threw my last bottle of black-label in the dumpster (rather harshly) and stubborned my way through the rest. 3) Recognize you are never done. This step may be a permanent step, but every now and then in the future you will say, "wow it sure would feel good if I...." Prepare yourself for this now, don't say it won't happen to you. An alcoholic is always an alcoholic even when he stops drinking, a smoker usually has idle cravings for ages. Prepare yourself: that you are strong enough to make the l
I normally wouldn't pick on such a sobering and well thoughtout answer, but one bit made me chuckle because of the image it conjoured up (sorry).
El Corazon wrote:
The hospital gave me a regiment for reducing the medicine
I just had this vision of a bunch of soldiers holding you down, shouting at you. Apart from that, it was a poignant tale.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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My weekend went extremely well. Saturday, I babysat my niece, so my sister could prepare her place for the party. On Sunday, I went to said party to celebrate my niece's first birthday. Nice people, useful presents (sandbox, two inflatable baby pools, toys, a bobbycar, etc.) and great prosecco... On monday evening, I met with Elif. First, we went to enjoy the view from "Schloßpark" (Castle Park), but it was too windy to stay up there for long. We then had a small candlelight dinner. We spent the better part of yesterday outside in the sun, enjoying ourselves and each other's company. We bought a new bottle of wine (the nice one fell down :( ) and had Paella for dinner. We went to bed early (relaxing is tiring) and it really was hard to get up and even harder to leave this morning. We'll see each other again this weekend, but for now, we both have jobs to attend to. Gna!
Cheers, Sebastian -- Ceterum censeo, borlandem esse delendam.
And I just realized how boring the Kid-Sister-Safe(TM) version of the story is ;) It was brilliant, trust me on that.
Cheers, Sebastian -- Ceterum censeo, borlandem esse delendam.
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Hi all, I need some help. After 6 years, I have joined the club of non-smokers again. My girlfriend told me that she didn't fancy kissing someone who tasted like an ashtray, and asked me if I could reduce my cigarette consumption. I told her that I could not, and I would just stop altogether. Now I am back in the office and I feel that urge to smoke that I was so afraid of. I actually start getting up, only to sit down again. Any tipps? And no, I don't want to smoke again. Sid
There are all kinds of little tricks that different people do to keep their mind off smoking for a while. There isn't one method that works for everyone so you'll need to try different things. Make a list of reasons you should quit. Go through this list when the urge strikes. Usually urges will go away after 5 or so minutes, so find things that take 5-10 minutes to do when the craving hits. If you want to cut down first, keep cigarettes in one location (home/work). If you don't have them, you can't smoke them. Ask people for help. Tell them to remind you why you're quitting if they catch you going for a smoke. Reward yourself at the end of the day or week for not smoking. Good Luck!
BW
Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand.
Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand.
-- Neil Peart -
I normally wouldn't pick on such a sobering and well thoughtout answer, but one bit made me chuckle because of the image it conjoured up (sorry).
El Corazon wrote:
The hospital gave me a regiment for reducing the medicine
I just had this vision of a bunch of soldiers holding you down, shouting at you. Apart from that, it was a poignant tale.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
Pete O`Hanlon wrote:
I just had this vision of a bunch of soldiers holding you down, shouting at you.
naw... that I can find at work.... darn fingers.... :doh:
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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Sebastian Schneider wrote:
Now I am back in the office and I feel that urge to smoke that I was so afraid of. I actually start getting up, only to sit down again.
First off, I have never smoked a cigarette, however.... In leaving the hospital in 2001, I had been on a heavy morphine drip for almost 2 months.... The net effect was a strong addiction to opiates. The hospital gave me a regiment for reducing the medicine and a prescription for an opiate. Morphine has a strong tolerance effect, you want more, not less, so even with a different opiate and reducing volumes, it was extremely difficult. But I hate even the idea of being addicted to something, so stubbornness won out against the issues. Prior to that back in the early 90's I drank hard whiskey for a few months, even though physical addiction was not strong, mental addiction had set in. 1) Have something to do, idle mind, idle hands means all you think about is the craving. This seems simple, but it isn't because you find yourself thinking about it even during a stop light. Get a pet programming project, even if it never gets finished, design it heavily during all idle hours. Or find something else to distract you, what ever works for you. I used my origami to keep my hands busy at every chance I could. Origami no matter how easy it looks, requires concentration. I also got work to grant me a pet project so that I knew what ever I did would eventually get used. And I designed or programmed a major rewrite of our product. 2) I will agree about the ultimatum part, in part. Don't give yourself a mandate to suffer, but do remind yourself you can make it through this. Positive rather than neutral or negative reminders. Remind yourself of the reward. Be aware of physical symptoms, don't ignore them. I don't know how strongly you are addicted, so I don't know if you can cold-turkey it or reduce it with a patch. You are the expert there, because it is you. I stopped the alcohol cold-turkey, threw my last bottle of black-label in the dumpster (rather harshly) and stubborned my way through the rest. 3) Recognize you are never done. This step may be a permanent step, but every now and then in the future you will say, "wow it sure would feel good if I...." Prepare yourself for this now, don't say it won't happen to you. An alcoholic is always an alcoholic even when he stops drinking, a smoker usually has idle cravings for ages. Prepare yourself: that you are strong enough to make the l
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Hi all, I need some help. After 6 years, I have joined the club of non-smokers again. My girlfriend told me that she didn't fancy kissing someone who tasted like an ashtray, and asked me if I could reduce my cigarette consumption. I told her that I could not, and I would just stop altogether. Now I am back in the office and I feel that urge to smoke that I was so afraid of. I actually start getting up, only to sit down again. Any tipps? And no, I don't want to smoke again. Sid
I found another addiction :sigh:. I became a runner :-D.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
There are all kinds of little tricks that different people do to keep their mind off smoking for a while. There isn't one method that works for everyone so you'll need to try different things. Make a list of reasons you should quit. Go through this list when the urge strikes. Usually urges will go away after 5 or so minutes, so find things that take 5-10 minutes to do when the craving hits. If you want to cut down first, keep cigarettes in one location (home/work). If you don't have them, you can't smoke them. Ask people for help. Tell them to remind you why you're quitting if they catch you going for a smoke. Reward yourself at the end of the day or week for not smoking. Good Luck!
BW
Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand.
Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand.
-- Neil PeartThanks for the tips. I have improved my battle plan quite a bit: For the time being, at the end of every day, I will put the money I would have usually spent for cigarettes (around 7 EUR) into a nice box. And whenever I have the urge to smoke, I will count the money and make a list of 10 things I could buy that would be better than cigarettes. I will try to keep the lists and amounts and evaluate them in a year or so. If I get that far, I will make sure and post the results here :) I actually thought a lot about only having cigs in one location, but I figured that quitting cold turkey would be best. I don't know why, but that is what I feel. Thanks for all the feedback.
Cheers, Sebastian -- Ceterum censeo, borlandem esse delendam.
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And I just realized how boring the Kid-Sister-Safe(TM) version of the story is ;) It was brilliant, trust me on that.
Cheers, Sebastian -- Ceterum censeo, borlandem esse delendam.
I do - BTW she has a nice sounding name. Ah, for those early days of love filled dreaming. I can't remember what that was like.:laugh:
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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Hi all, I need some help. After 6 years, I have joined the club of non-smokers again. My girlfriend told me that she didn't fancy kissing someone who tasted like an ashtray, and asked me if I could reduce my cigarette consumption. I told her that I could not, and I would just stop altogether. Now I am back in the office and I feel that urge to smoke that I was so afraid of. I actually start getting up, only to sit down again. Any tipps? And no, I don't want to smoke again. Sid
Gum? Patches? A Sony PSP? But stick with it. I have serious respect for someone who can give up smoking and stick with it.
cheers, Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
The 9 things Microsoft should be announcing at MIX07 (but won't)
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Thanks for the tips. I have improved my battle plan quite a bit: For the time being, at the end of every day, I will put the money I would have usually spent for cigarettes (around 7 EUR) into a nice box. And whenever I have the urge to smoke, I will count the money and make a list of 10 things I could buy that would be better than cigarettes. I will try to keep the lists and amounts and evaluate them in a year or so. If I get that far, I will make sure and post the results here :) I actually thought a lot about only having cigs in one location, but I figured that quitting cold turkey would be best. I don't know why, but that is what I feel. Thanks for all the feedback.
Cheers, Sebastian -- Ceterum censeo, borlandem esse delendam.
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Gum? Patches? A Sony PSP? But stick with it. I have serious respect for someone who can give up smoking and stick with it.
cheers, Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
The 9 things Microsoft should be announcing at MIX07 (but won't)
Actually, that's what I promised myself :D My sister bought a Nintendo DS and it's pretty impressive. She has this brain-training-game and I love it (Sudoku and such). So, if I manage to make it through 2 months, I am gonna be able to treat myself to a nice Nintendo DS :) (or, maybe, Sony PSP).
Cheers, Sebastian -- Ceterum censeo, borlandem esse delendam.
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BTW - was this the girlfriend that you posted about last week? If so, how did your weekend go? Keep it Kid Sister Safe.:-D
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
smokin addiction is hard to quit cos ur brain cells actually change physiology as a smoker, and want 'fixes' of nicotine. what you need to do when you crave a fag is do something MORE interesting instead. sneak out have a beer, go on the toilet and... book you gf into motel room round the corner at lunch time, go eat your fave bad food, anything that works for you. but a drink of water wont cut it! after about 3 weeks of torture you will break the cycle i reckon. you might get the sack in between for bein a total maniac and or sex maniac but you might beat your addiction!
"Life begins at 140"