Help Ely Quit Smoking

[The Omnissiunt One]

I'm surprised by the number of people who smoke or have smoked on here. It seems relatively more than I'd expect. Maybe I'm just not used to the real world...

[LastPoet]

Well, it is a very powerfull addiction Omnissunt One. I have tried many times to quit, but the sheer willpower needed to quit, leaves you very sensitive to things you normally would cope with easily

I perfectly realise its a nasty habit, its bad to my health, its bad for my pockets, but still, even under cognitive dissonance, I continue to smoke. The human mind is so... peculiar -.-

Why are you surprised and why would you expect less smokers here?

[Edwardo Piet]

I have never even remotely been tempted to smoke. Maybe this is because I didn't succumb to peer pressure. Or maybe it's because I never had any friends.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

70 a day?!

The worst I ever did was a pack a day, usually at conventions. Normally it's like a pack every 2.5 days. But 70? Holy shit.

--by the time I finished. I started at 17,a pack a week.I was 55 when I quit. That means I will almost certainly develop emphysema and possibly lung cancer. My dad stopped smoking at 40,and developed emphysema at 75..

I have an implacable, visceral hatred of tobacco companies and their criminal CEO's.

[darkwolf176]

I have never even remotely been tempted to smoke. Maybe this is because I didn't succumb to peer pressure. Or maybe it's because I never had any friends.

Same here lol

[Eilonnwy]

I had no peer pressure. Just stupid childish curiosity.

I started smoking when I was 13, I think. I would go under a bridge with this neighborhood kid and we'd look for butts to smoke. Then my older sister started smoking, she sometimes gave me one. Or I would get one from another friend. Never smoked regularly. I would go months without having a single cigarette, have one, and then go months again.

Then I graduated, got a job and eventually started bumming off coworkers on rare occasions. Then a manager I liked a lot died suddenly. I had a hard time dealing with it at work so I started buying cigarettes. I was either 19 or 20 when this happened. From then on it's been a battle. I've started and quit many times.

Ever since I started working AB registration, I pick up again in the spring to get through the stress of the con and quit in August after con season. :/

[Darwinian]

How is it going? And when you succeed you'll have to share the secret with me..

[Eilonnwy]

It's rough. I had a habit at work. Smoke on the way to work. Smoke at 11am. Smoke at 1pm on my way to the supermarket. Sometimes I smoke at 3pm or wait till I get off and smoke at 4.

So 11am used to be a work goal. "When it's 11 I get to smoke!" I can still take a break, but it's not the same and I just work through it.

My lungs hurt. Been coughing a lot. Been jittery, quick to anger, very irritable. Been eating terribly unhealthy foods, which surprisingly helps.

[Entropist]

Whatever you do, Ely, don't join this organization:

[Thor]

So last night I had my last cigarette. I'm going it cold turkey because I don't want to then just be addicted to the gum or a patch. I'm definitely going through withdrawal, feeling shaky and all.

So guys, help me out. Tell me I'm doing a good job, remind me why smoking is so bad, especially for a lady like me with asthma, make jokes. Whatever, just something to get my mind of the fact I'd be going to a cigarette break right about now.

You you need some help to stop smoking?

My secretary passed away three weeks ago from lung cancer. She had been a heavy smoker. She was 59. She left behind a daughter (who is pregnant) and a young grandchild. Unfortunately, she will never get to see the birth of her second grandchild.

Seems to me that should be enough reason not to smoke right there.