Group Discussion WK/44: What was stopping you from quitting smoking?

[Doreensfree]

Allen Carr talked of fear of quitting...

Imagine being told if you don't stop you will lose a limb....you carry on smoking ...and lose that limb....

This scares me to death....I was so near.....

I knew by what I was looking at.....that something was not right....

But kept smoking.....fear....

In the end I would light up and cry all the way through smoking it....

What it came down too...lose a limb....or lose my crutch....I decided on the latter.....phew.....

[Chrysalis]

Allen Carr talked of fear of quitting...

Imagine being told if you don't stop you will lose a limb....you carry on smoking ...and lose that limb....

This scares me to death....I was so near.....

I knew by what I was looking at.....that something was not right....

But kept smoking.....fear....

In the end I would light up and cry all the way through smoking it....

What it came down too...lose a limb....or lose my crutch....I decided on the latter.....phew.....

Very powerful post, Doreen. Beautifully written. I identified strongly with, "In the end I would light up and cry all the way through smoking it...." Yes, I was there, too. Thank God we finally pulled out of that trap!

[queen greenlover]

Wow I have totally loved each persons story on why they kicked nicodemon in the "balls" :rolleyes:  :rolleyes: 

[Still winning]

I didn't know"how" to quit, I had no plans for if I craved a cig. So I craved in fear of forever feeling that I needed to smoke to feel ok. I was the devoted smoker who didn't stop for illness or pregnancy. My addiction to cigarettes was woven all through everything I did from waking to sleeping.

 

In the end I just had to jump and trust people here who told me it would be alright. I used champix but I am fully aware it was a way to cope now. At the time though I believed in it and it gave me somewhere to start so I am grateful to it.

 

So desperately sad that I just kept waiting for so long for my family to quit with me. Turns out I led the way as they are almost all quit now.

 

So fear and a lack of understanding about the nature of those craved easing quite quickly if you chose to not smoke and stuck to it.

[sgt.barney]

in the "balls" :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Hey now - remember there are those of us who are ... differently testicled.

 

:)

 

 

Easy Peasy

[MarylandQuitter]

 

Also... it was the only "bad boy" thing that I still did from my youth...I did not want to give that up.

 

That was the exact reason that I started.  Wanted to look tough and older than I was.  Little MQ didn't realize that he was going to be smoking on/off for the following 28+ years.  I knew they weren't good for me but I thought I was invincible and I guess to a point, a young punk is but when you get older everything catches up with you, especially smoking.

 

If any lurkers are reading this, please do yourself a favor and quit now.  Don't put it off because sometimes a year goes by before you actually make the commitment to quit.  A lot can happen in year.  Look at my ticker and all those cigarettes I would have smoked in the last year.  I wonder what the tar from just 11,000 cigarettes looks like smeared all over your lungs not to mention decades worth. 

 

Quit now and let those lungs start the cleansing process.  They'll reward you by giving you more oxygen than you've probably had in a long, long time.  :)

[Doreensfree]

If we wore our lungs on the outside,and could see for ourselves the slow distruction....we would quit in a second....

Its a case of out of sight ...out of mind.....what you carnt see won't hurt....

You carnt see c.o.p.d / emphysema...coming....it sneaks up slow.....no cure.....it robs you of your life...bit by bit....slowly.....

If anyone is thinking of quiting.....don't wait...the time is now.....

[action]

My first excuse (and I still remember saying it) was that I was not addicted to smoking, and that I could quit anytime I want, but that I enjoyed it too much...! Ridiculous!

 

My second excuse (after I could no longer tell myself the first one anymore) was that now wasn't the right time, and I was 'too stressed' to quit. I wish I knew than what I knew now - smoking does not alleviate stress!

 

The last excuse was that I didn't spend 'that much' on smoking - well, I inly need to look at my ticker to see that they is a lie I was telling myself!

 

I'm glad that I finally was able to see through all the lies, and I have all you good people to thank for it!

[Frezflops]

I had lots of excuses why i smoked such as it is my only vice or gotta die sometime and i enjoyed them or relieved my stress bla bla bla bla...........all lies i told myself to keep it going. Not anymore those lies are gone, life is better now :)

[Soberjulie]

Fear.

Fear is what kept me from quitting.

Irrational, invented, mostly fictional unrealistic fear.

 

I told myself I was afraid to put on weight, afraid of withdrawal, afraid Id just fail and go through withdrawal for nothing, afraid Id lose my smoking friends.

 

I told myself all sorts of lies so I could continue to feed my addiction. The number one lie: I like smoking. 

 

Its really so good.....so so good....to be free from the bondage of nicotine. 

[Sazerac]

On 10/26/2014 at 6:48 AM, MarylandQuitter said:

What were the main obstacles that hindered quitting smoking for you?  Explain what they were, how you got past them and if they were real or some notion that turned out to be false.

 

Here is a nice thick thread with lots of personal stories, please add yours., won't you ?

 

We share many of the same obstacles that held us from freedom, it's often a comfort to know we are not alone in this.

 

Addiction is a thief and threatened.. health, wealth, wisdom, self-respect....gah. 

It is a real joy putting ourselves back together and discovering new strengths, understanding more about ourselves.

[notsmokinjo]

Thanks Saz... always with finding the gold in the vault.... well let me add to those who have gone before:

 

So the usual, I thought I loved smoking, I thought it was how I coped with stress, I figured I didn't drink or doing anything else anymore it was my only "thing", smoking let me  justify taking me time (alone in the backyard), I had failed at quitting before and monumentally so at that by tossing a big quit so what was the point, I'd just toss any other quit...but the reality is I was scared. I knew I could quit because I had for pregnancy and feeding... but I was petrified of quitting, I don't just mean scarred of detox and failure and it being hard... I was paralysied with fear at the thought of quitting.

 

I would have panic attacks to the point of hyperventilating and blacking out at the mere mention of maybe quitting. I was so scared of running out I am still finding secret smokes stashed in random places around the house 5 months after quitting.... I know it sounds irrational and it is but long story super short I had an extreme and rare reaction to champix that resulted in me developing an actual phobia to quitting. The logical, scientific part of me knew that there were a few different factors that had to line up in just the right order for the champix to cause the reaction it did, I knew this... but all my brain latched onto was that I took Champix to quit smoking, and scary xyz happened when I took champix to quit smoking ...so... quitting smoking is bad and dangerous and I shouldn't be doing it. Now sane rational Jo knew this was the biggest load of crap on earth but that's what was there in my brain... If I quit smoking it would be catastrophically bad and I would die... so, not wanting to state the obvious or anything... but I did quit, 5 months ago and omg surprise, surprise the world didn't come to a grinding halt and I did not die. Yep, pretty sure I still have a pulse and a heartbeat and I am not a zombie. for 9 years I clung to the fear that if I 'tried' to quit something bad was going to happen and I was going to die.... held on to this phobia as justification for not quitting. The thing is, even though I have proved this phobia is unfounded the fear still sits there and I am fighting it every day. Every day before I post NOPE I have a little mini panic attack that this will be the day. Any snuffle, or niggle, or slight ache, pain or cough has me convinced I am going to die and its because I quit. Every day. So I honestly feel like I nearly have the heinous b1tch of a nicodemon beat into total submission, she rarely raises her her to anything more than a passing "oh we'd like a smoke now" that is so pathetic it is laughable, and sometimes I actually do laugh at her... but then at the same time is this constant fear (despite all evidence to the contrary). So if my nopes are big and flamboyant and over the top they are that way because for me NOPE is the cornerstone holding me up... and my quit castle might be built on psycological quicksand but I'm not sinking, and quitting has not killed me.

[Doreensfree]

Great honest post Jo...

Your chances of dying were so much higher when you smoked...

In my early quit...pledging NOPE...was the most  important thing in my life...I spent many a day ,shouting it out loud ,hundreds of times...

Nothing wrong with a big long NOPE !!!.....

Your doing great...you have 5 fabulous months !!!!

[brand.new.ela]

I, as many others, thought I enjoyed smoking. Coffee and cigarettes after lunch were, in my opinion, the best moment of the day. I couldn’t imagine writing or reading without it. 

Another reason was fear, resulting from lack of education. I had many short attempts that lasted two or three days. I didn’t know this was the peak and it’d get better and easier. Had I known, maybe I’d have persisted or at least try again sooner. What a waste

[WeegieWoman]

Being in denial was the only thing that stopped me from quitting. Not believing /understanding/realising that smoking kills. It took a young mum i know to get diagnosed with lung cancer to make me see the light. I quit in the week she was diagnosed. She died less than three months later, probably closer to two (i think i was in the 70's day wise). I think it no longer being a stranger that got lung cancer was very emotive for me. I quit spur of the moment. And when she died months later that just made my quit even stronger. I dont wanna be that woman.

 

My reasoning above has allowed me a relatively easy quit so ive said it before and ill say it again....read up about all the damage smoking does but also how your body can repair itself. And read that over and over and over. Not being in denial is the simple key to my quit. 

[Giveintowin]

It's good to read through this thread. My answers are very similar to others.

 

For a long time I thought I didn't want to quit because I liked it, however every now and then I would think I needed to quit because of my health. When I tried to quit it felt so unpleasant, angst, fidgety, irritable etc that I'd end up smoking again quickly. 

 

Because of these experiences of trying to quit unaided for a long time I thought I couldn't quit. I also thought I was such a basket case when I quit and couldn't function properly.

[lml]

Wow...great thread. Thank you for bumping this one. 

[lml]

What was stopping me from quitting smoking? Good question and when I now look at all the reasons I gave when I smoked, it does not make any sense or have an ounce of truth. When I look at my ways of thinking prior to quitting, it was all BS.

 

Phase 1: Qutting smoking never was a thought in my mind. 

1. I enjoyed smoking 
2. Smoking calmed me down 
3. I smoke because I want to...I could not smoke at any time if I didn't want to
4. I deserved to be able to have a cigarette and it was my reward
5. It helped me think better, quicker , more creatively, come up with answers
6. Many times when I smoked, it also allowed me to medidate
7. I was healthy

Phase 2: After going on vacation in Japan, realized that smoking WAS impacting my lungs. So many temples, so many mountains, so many stairs. I could no longer deny that I was having a "little" bit of a problem breathing now. At first, I told myself it was age and the fact I wasn't in shape; so I came home and began the treadmill and stationary bike routine. MMMMM...little by little I was able to do better on the machines, but I would still get to a point where I would be breathless. After months, I admitted to myself that maybe smoking might be affecting my breathing (not my lungs, but my breathing). 

1. Was into denial big time
2. Ignorance is "bliss" 
3. Wasn't sure it would be worth it to give up the smoking which I enjoyed so much so I could enjoy my vacations and breathe. BIG decision for me

Phase 3: Made the decision to quit smoking - I wanted to improve my breathing and give my lungs a chance to recover so I could enjoy my vacations.  It was at this point that there was something I wanted more than smoke .Then the panic state began.

1. I can't enjoy anything without a cigarette - I was talking about giving up the most important vice in my life. Yes, I realized it was a vice, but it was a harmless vice. It gave me sooo much  pleasure; the negatives were so minor. 
2. Vacations will be fun, but rest of my life will be ruined
3. A big part of  me didn't want to quit
4. Fear
5. Ignorance
6. I can't do this - I am so weak 

I think it really all stems from being an addict - yet not "knowing" I was an addict or living in denial.  It is the only reason I can  even begin to fathom  why I would have believed all this BS for 45+ years.

 

 

 

 

 

[JB 883]

I enjoyed it. I had no thoughts of quitting. No one actually died from this.

Basically hanging onto a smoking habit just got to be a pain in the butt.

The greedy feds keep raising taxes in them, and making rollies, while cheap, is a PITA.

 

It was messy, extra cleaning, made everything stink.

It just got to a point where it wasn't worth the hassles. I do not like being inconvenienced. More trouble than it was worth.