need help from fellow non smokers x smokers!

[61sktnbug]

lots of things in my life are changing lately, we have a new baby on the way and , my wife is a student and will be working in the new year plus we have 2 kids already! my problem is this , i sold my beetle in hopes to buy a 911, now i have to wait a few years no biggIE ( good things come those who wait) i have to cut back spending by a large margin ( IE no going out for lunch everyday , starbucks coffee twice a day etc etc) the hobby i don't want to give up is ice racing my scirocco, and in order to make this sport easIEr on my family i figure quiting smoking is th way to go! any tips from quitters ? stuff that works? tips advice?

[notfarnow]

Salted, undyed pistachios.

Still buy them when I get a craving, more often than not I get a craving for pistachios now.

[84porsche]

Well I have never smoked but only because my mother is a teacher and has constantly brought home pictures of what my lungs could look like so that was an instant reason for me not to smoke.

If you can do and get off the addiction, more power to you and all my best. If you have a family, I am sure they will thank you in the end because at least you have a better opportunity of being their for them instead of dying of lung cancer and or emphysema. Sorry for being blunt but life is short enough as it is, don't make yours any shorter.

[350HP930]

The common denomintator I have found in all former smokers is will power.

[SilverPoly]

If you have tried to quit smoking and failed before, take comfort in the fact that most smokers fail several times before quitting successfully.

Your past failures are not a lesson that you are unable to quit. Instead, view them as part of the normal journey toward becoming a nonsmoker.

[Reg]

You've got to want to quit. Heck, the smokes and starbucks alone shoudl go a long way to buying a 911 after a couple years!

[Christien]

I agree with will power being the single biggest factor. I quit several years ago, though I was only a teenage smoker, and only for about 6 or 7 years. I switched to Skittles :-) The hardest thing I found was what to do when you're taking a break from something. Usually you'd go out for a smoke. A Skittle break didn't really cut it...

[stomachmonkey]

Quiting is cake, I've done it 4 or 5 times now.

Seriously, be realistic.

People will tell you that you have a better sense of taste and smell.

Good right? Well not everything tastes or smells good.

Don't think one day you'll wake up and go aaaaahhhhhhhh, and have this enormous lung capacity. It takes time.

Your complexion may go south for a while, acne etc...

Some people that quit develop short term, month or so, sinus pressure, not congestion but pressure. I had to go on a nasal steroid.

The eating thing is true. Smoking slows down your digestive system so you get fuller faster, ie you eat less. When you quit you are going to be able to eat more combined with the oral fixation, it's why you gain weight.

Use olive oil on bread before meals or eat pickles, they help suppress your appetite.

You WILL be a tad irritable.

The worst is over in the first 2 weeks.

Best of luck.

[lm6y]

As said before, you have to want to quit. Not decide to quit, but actually want to quit.

It's not going to be easy. I just fell of the wagon AGAIN, but I see it as a temporary setback. I just cannot have a beer without a smoke.

Don't fool yourself into thinking I can have just one cigarette. It doesn't work that way.

Best of luck with it!

[911Rob]

hmmmm..... several things to comment on here?

Smoking, sorry its for losers!
Just picture yourself 30 years from now, sucking on a cancer stick, skin all wrinkly, lungs all wrecked and you're CONSTANTLY excusing yourself to go somewhere to smoke. Yuk.

As far as money goes.....
There's a tap of resources and a drain of expenses.
Turn on the tap or plug the drain.
Always been a turn on the tap guy myself.
Pluging the drain, that's never gonna get ya into a 911?

Go make some money.......
wish, want, need, got.
Spend your income, not your ifcome.
Read Rich Dad, Poor Dad (introduction to getting Rich)
Buy low, Sell high
Set your priorities, then stick to them.
Learn everything you can about 'Real Estate' in your area.
Break the JOB mentality..... it was designed to keep you broke.
Read: Who moved my Cheese.
Don't send your wife to work, unless she wants to (ya right?)
I'd work 3 jobs before my wife worked one!!!
Secrets of success are 2000 years old, but no one cares?


Don't take advise from people who dont have what you want.
(ie: guy treats his wife like sh^t, sorry I dont want to know anything he knows.
Now a guy that loves his wife & kids, never 'seems' to work, spends all his time with his family, loves life, has lots of money, water skis all summer, then snow skis all winter, both at a summer cottage and winter chalet, lives in the most beautiful part of the wolrd, drives a 911Cab, etc.; now that guy.... I want to know what he knows!)

Get a BIGGER dream!

Good Luck dropping the fags and stashin sum cash!

[61sktnbug]

thanks for all the input guys! being a single icome family of 3 and trying to race and hopefully get a 911 is tought , but thses words give me hope , i mgoing to the doc this week to see what he can do for me,

[lm6y]

Patches definitely ease the cravings.....

[nightheart]

Originally posted by lm6y
Patches definitely ease the cravings.....

Like hell they do. I tried the patches and the only good thing about them was that when I fell off the wagon and had a cigarette with the patch on, I had one hell of a nicotine buzz.

It's really all about will power. You really have to want to quit. The first time you take a hit off a ciagette, thinking you can just have one, you've failed. Believe me, I'm failed quite a few times.

[David]

You should join this thread and keep us informed of your progress. You'll know if you start smoking again that you have to tell us and we'll all ridicule you. It worked for me

Trying to quit smoking, Today!

[lendaddy]

Everyone is different, but.................

I think the quit-smoking-aides do more harm than good. It gives you an excuse to fail if the situation is right: "I didn't have my patch on and it just hit me" or "I had a fight with the boss and my gum was in my wifes car" blah blah blah, all BS.

All who have quit will tell you the hideous part is about 1-2 weeks, then it's just ugly for about 2-3 months, then it's not that bad. So....what are you looking at, 3 months of ****itude? Big damn deal , just do it. If you can't muster the small amount of will it takes for three months then you don't want to quit anyway.

Think about the hell some people put up with on a daily basis for their whole lives..(use your own imagination) and you only have to be uncomfortable for a few months! No f'n excuses, just do it. And the truth is it's not a big deal, it's simple once you've made up your mind.

Search my name and smoking+ quit etc.... You'll find the master thread with TONS of great info. Good luck, but you really don't need luck, just a sack. Nevermind David has the link just above my reply. Thanks David.

6-1/2 months smoke free, not a single one. Don't even think about it anymore. Was at 2-1/2 to 3 packs a day for about 10 years I guess.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

I've never smoked, but will put in what I've noticed in others:

Will-power

New addiction (Pistachios, coffee, cooking, running, walking, s&x, etc.)

Putting the money from cigs into something you can see grow

Cold turkey it and use gum/patch or other aid (What do you do with your hands and mouth becomes an issue)

[vash]

how much cigarette money are we talking about? enough to offset a 911 purchase? damn.

[Don Ro]

If you stroll through that lendaddy quit+smoking link, you'll see a common thread in many of the posts - suffering.
.
Here's my take on the challenge:
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The Sacred Psychologies tell us that enlightenment ends suffering, but that's not altogether true. Enlightenment simply means the end of our *resistance* to suffering - there will always be suffering...and that can be good news because that's where our lessons reside. When we interrupt an addictive behavior, the issues we were masking can surface...that's when the path to growth/maturation can appear. BUT, we must be *willing* to be with the uncomfortable-ness, the suffering, and not run off to yet another mood-altering distraction/addiction (I'm not referring to a "bridging" element like gum, pistachios, etc). My brother stopped drinking, but turned his attention to over-eating, for example...he learned nothing, except that he was unconsciously still trying to paint over rust.
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lendaddy: "And the truth is it's not a big deal, it's simple once you've made up your mind."

Yep! In the end, you may discover that you were trying to pole vault over mouse turds. Not sure where this info comes from, but it's about the baby elephant having its leg roped to a steel in-ground stake. It tugs and tugs and learns that it is futile to attempt escape. Then, as an adult elephant, it only takes being roped to a wooden in-ground stake because the when the rope is felt, the original futility surfaces. A part of maturation is that we learn how our early history can run us.
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I also agree with Steve79SC. It's a process, not an event (addictions are event-based). Have compassion and forgiveness for yourself if you 'recycle' back into it. Hell, look at it this way - you may discover what true compassion/forgiveness is. How can that be bad?
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Finally, some miracles in that quit+smoking link.
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Trust me - BTDT! Good luck.

[lendaddy]

Great post Don!

[jshape]

Quitting is hard, no doubt. But, it can be done IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT WANTING TO QUIT. Really, YOU have the ability to chose whether you want to smoke or not. So choose correctly.

There are two things that will get you through this:

1. Realize that you can never have another cigarette. One WILL hurt. Once you are done, you are done.

2. The urge to have a cigarette WILL go away - whether you have one or not.

Armed with those two truisms and a real desire to quit got me through it 23 years ago.