I quit suddenly

I started smoking when I was 13 years old. My family were all smokers, mostly truck drivers and I was surrounded by peers who smoked.

I’m now 38 and a certified Chef. My idol(of course) is Chef Ramsay. I own all of his books and every one of them tells you that if you smoke, quit now because smoking dulls your palette. I knew patches and gums wouldn’t work so I decided to try E-cigarettes. However I couldn’t stand them. JUUL sucks because, aside from the fact that it’s square not round like a cigarette, it made me feel like I was sucking water through a straw. I tried BLU, tasted like I was smoking a soda of some kind. I went to a vape shop. The teenage brat tried selling me candy flavored juice. I told him I’m trying to quit smoking tobacco, if I wanted an Oreo I’d go to the store and buy a box of cookies. Finally I found a company in Florida that sells actual E-cigarettes with actual tobacco flavor. Not only are they from where I was born in Pompano, they were rated number one E-cigarette on my birthday, AND their tobacco flavor is Red Zeppelin(see your friend that likes classic rock music for details.)

Two weeks later I stopped by the local store on the way home from work where I usually buy my cigarettes. I knew I had 3 left, but I didn’t buy any. That afternoon I smoked the last 3, threw away the pack, ashtray, and started scrubbing my house. I haven’t touched a cigarette since then and I’m on a step down with the e-cigarette I have on the lowest level nicotine. Next order will be zero nicotine.

That being said I don’t recommend anyone quitting the way I did. I’m just too stubborn and impatient to set a goal date and reprogram like I should have. I DIDNT even know I was quitting until I did. I didn’t prepare myself, nor my family and even through the bad publicity E-cigarettes don’t have 7000 toxic chemicals found in processed tobacco products, so my body itself was doing more reprogramming than I was. My friends and family offered me cigarettes or even a puff here and there. They were amazed that I turned it down flat. My wife isn’t nagging me, and I didn’t quit so I can live long enough to watch my kids graduate, or any of the other usual cliches. These days damn near ANYTHING can take any of us out long before the smoking can. But if I’m going to provide the life for my family and be the BEST Chef I can be I had to quit for livelihood. The only nagging jerk in my ear when I think about slipping up and taking a drag is myself.

Anyway, that’s my quitting story. I’m on day 78. I didn’t mention that I’m ADD which makes life a lot harder. My doctor told me to NOT quit without him adjusting my Adderal, and getting me straight on helpful meds. But I was too stubborn to listen. Now I’m on anxiety and antidepressants. What’s crazy about that is all my life I’ve had it beaten into my head that when I quit I’d feel better. Depression and anxiety makes me wonder when that starts lol.