Reasons to Quit Smoking Cigarettes
I normally smoke about 40 cigarettes a day. I guess each cigarette takes about 5 minutes of my time. That means that I normally take 200 minutes per day to smoke. 200 minutes is over 3 hours. This means I am engaged with the smoking for a large percentage of my waking day. If I stay awake 12 hours a day, then smoking takes up about 1/4 of my day. I've now been off cigarettes for 65 days which means that I have not smoked 2,600 cigarettes in the last 2 months.
OK guys. I've been watching how I work over the last few months. I've noticed that in the last few weeks my powers of concentration have increased. Simply put, I'm able to sit down a lot longer without moving too much and feeling the need to get out of the room or the chair or wherever I am trapped. I am however feeling tired more often, kinda like I am recovering from a war. In the past I often felt trapped when I could not smoke. Going out and finding places to smoke like staircases, corridors, smoking rooms, designated smoking areas has been a common pastime. Now I still want to go out but I am going out for long walks and breathing in air. If there are flowers and cut grass along the way, even better.
Tomorrow is my quit day and I am feeling so scared that I will just spend the rest of life in the hell of an unending craving. One of the times I crave ciggies the most is when I am trying to concentrate on an intellectual task - Smoking a few puffs feels like it loosens my mind enough to think. It's nice to hear that your focus and concentration come back. This helps.
The good thing about us ex smokers is that we REALLY ENJOY SMELLING THE ROSES. Just as well we quit, but how tragic for non smokers who take for granted these incredible scents... For us, no more hiding in the alleys and rapidly diminishing smoking areas.
Charlie Chips. Don't be scared. Just do it. You are joining a wonderful community. You will not spend the rest of your life craving the smokes.
It will pass soon. As many have said, the first day is the most challenging. But maybe the best as you realise you can overcome this addiction.
Just do it one day at a time.
I started smoking because I kinda wanted to be like Clint Eastwood or just cool at the age of 14. I wanted to be Marlboro man on a horse in the desert with cowboy clothes and feeling tough. Look at me, I'm so tough I can inhale cigarette smoke! Yeh, I can smoke more ciggies than you can too so just watch me inhale and blow smoke around for everyone to see. LOL!
In reality, Eastwood is just some gringo who probably did not know how much he was helping the tobacco companies.
Now here is the TRUTH - It takes much more courage to quit smoking than to start. It takes much more of a cowboy to say no to cigarettes. The governments are not really doing their jobs in their anti smoking campaigns. If they had any sense, they'd help smokers by portraying someone who gives up as a tough dude/gal. Instead, I'm often made to feel that quitting smoking is going to make me into some kinda wuss or pushover. Thats not true at all! So where is that coming from? Just saying... cause its worth thinking about.
For some of us there is this fear that somehow if we stop smoking that we'll lose our characters? This must be part of the brainwashing we've received. I want to quit this time for good, so I want to make an effort to understand how I've been brainwashed and how pathetic the anti smoking campaigns are. We need to come here and exchange ideas and learn from each other. I am thankful this time round that all of you have taught me things I did not know before, especially about the brainwashing!