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FAO ex-smokers (pg. 4)
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| Lunar Phase 7 |
| quote: | Originally posted by de+
+1
Almost all of my friends began to smoke when they were 15 - 16 years old. Today i still don't understand why.
Maybe the reason is that, at the time they thought is was cool.
But i don't understand why anyone would think its cool in the first place either. |
That's precisely why.
They start because it instantly ups your cool to other muppets when you are that age.
None of them enjoy it, or usually can afford it either. They don't notice any ill effect neither at that age/early smoking stage, then by early 20's when they can't even ing run after a ball in the park without wheezing it's too late.
I'm hooked on caffine or more precisely Tea, I drink gallons of the stuff per day. But being physically ill not having to lug down a lung duster every couple of hours.
Actually feel bad on your smokers. |
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| colonelcrisp |
I quit on New years, mainly because the gf was nagging at me for it but also because it was a huge waste of money.
So far 2 months in, it really hasn't been difficult at all. Even while driving long distances or drinking, i don't get the cravings at all. It actually makes me wonder why it took me 12 years to actually get around to quitting. |
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| meriter |
| I had to quit everything coffee alcohol weed it's more about breaking out of the mind-set of addiction. If you stop everything it's much easier. |
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| Silky Johnson |
I didn't have to quit doing anything else. In fact I've been out for drinks a few times and didn't have any desire to smoke. It's all about how you frame your thoughts about cigarettes. If you tell yourself that you are depriving yourself of something by not smoking (this is essentially what willpower is, and why it doesn't work [willpower has the highest failure rate among people trying to quit]), then you will continue to feel like you're actually missing out. But what are you missing out on? Smelling gross? Giving yourself heart and lung disease? You're not missing out on anything, and you aren't being deprived of anything. Just using the words "giving up" is totally wrong and misleading. What are you giving up?
That's also why incentives don't work - because psychologically you're putting it in your mind that you're being deprived of something, and that you need to be rewarded for "being strong" and abstaining. When you put up on a pedestal in such a manner, you will continue to believe that you need it. When you don't.
The physical addiction isn't that bad. Why is that smokers can go all night when they sleep without having to wake up to smoke? Because nicotine withdrawal really only lasts about a half hour. Using patches, gum, etc...only serve to keep feeding that addiction, probably even more so than actually smoking. Which is also why they don't work, and why you (shocking!!) continue to crave nicotine.
The big thing is recognizing that, in reality, nobody actually enjoys smoking. If smoking was really as pleasurable as smokers convince themselves that it is - why aren't all smokers chain smokers, lighting one up after another? Because they know it's actually ing disgusting and not enjoyable at all. You may convince yourself that you enjoy inhaling it, and the taste - but you actually don't. You've only trained yourself to tolerate it over the years, and are now mistaking that for pleasure.
Nobody smokes that first cigarette when they're younger and says "I'm going to do this for the rest of my life! This is so good!" No, you thought "Wow this is gross, I'm certainly not gonna get addicted to this!" But you did. Furthermore, (if you have kids or know some young ones) you wouldn't hand them a pack of cigarettes and say "Here! These are great, you should take up smoking!" Because you know it's ing poison!
And all the people who think it helps you relax, or that you do it because you're bored...well it can't do both things. So which is it? Does it help you relax? Or help you be stimulated when you're bored? The fact is that you will get stressed or bored whether you smoke or not. And you will destress and find ways to not be bored whether you smoke or not. All you've done by smoking is add a cigarette to the equation - and now because you do it, you attribute whatever relief you get to smoking. When it isn't true at all.
Have you ever really paid attention to smoking while you're doing it? The taste? The sensation? The smell? Most smokers don't. But if you do, you will find you don't actually like it. And when you watch other people smoke you will see that it's a totally subconscious act.
And you will think about smoking. Of course you will. And that's fine. It doesn't matter that you think about it - it matters WHAT you think about it. Instead of thinking "Omg I need a cigarette!" Think about what that actually is (it's the nicotine addiction), and why you're telling yourself you need/want it, and reframe your thoughts to something positive, like "Ah yes, that's just the nicotine monster. Goddam, it's so great that I don't smoke, it's poison!" And when you watch smokers you should look at them with pity (just like Lunar Phase 7 said - you absolutely should feel bad for smokers), because they haven't escaped the brainwashing of nicotine addiction. And they're poisoning themselves!
And that's sort of a basic run down of how Allen Carr's The Easy Way works. :p
In the book he doesn't even tell you to stop smoking - in fact he encourages the reader to continue to smoke up until the last chapter (at which point the brainwashing should be just about undone) when you are told to smoke your last cigarette ever. I did it, and it was truly disgusting. I only smoked half of it because I felt so ing ridiculous - and I couldn't wait to put it out and know that I beat ing nicotine. :D
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| Redd |
| quote: | Originally posted by Miss Pie
I quit smoking 2 weeks ago, after having read Allen Carr's The Easy Way to Stop Smoking. It breaks down the myths and brainwashing about nicotine addiction, and basically uses coginitive restructuring principles to help the smoker quit.
I would reccommend this to anyone even thinking about quitting. It truly IS so ing easy. I can honestly say I have 100% no desire to smoke! Feels amazing to be free of that ty disgusting addicton. :D |
this is good advice |
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| Silky Johnson |
| It's the best advice! I only wish I had read it years ago when I first heard about it. Everyone I know that has used it to quit, has never smoked again. |
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| Redd |
| made both me and my ex quit smoking. she never started again, I on the other hand began "party-smoking" a couple of years later. now I can't stand the taste of it any more, not even when drunk. |
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| Silky Johnson |
Yeah, and that's the other thing too. There is no such thing as "just one puff" or "casual smoking". Stats shows that all it takes is TWO cigarettes to start the addiction to nicotine...so once you have even a puff, you're rekindling that addiction to nicotine.
That's actually the MAJOR thing about smoking - is to get real and realize that it is NOT just a habit - it is 100% an addiction to nicotine. And once you understand the facts and myths about the addiction and all the brainwashing behind it, it's super easy to stop doing it. |
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| EddieZilker |
There is nothing in this world more repugnantly self-righteous and disgustingly sanctimonious than an ex-smoker. They have conquered their demon and if you still smoke, they've conquered you, as well. There is no rationalization for your persistent transgressions. There is no self-worth evident enough to ward them off. There is only their insidious conceit that, psychologically, they are better than you and the worst possible ing thing about this is that it is based 100% in the truth.
Congratu-ing-lations, PIE! |
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| Lunar Phase 7 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Miss Pie
I didn't have to quit doing anything else. In fact I've been out for drinks a few times and didn't have any desire to smoke. It's all about how you frame your thoughts about cigarettes. If you tell yourself that you are depriving yourself of something by not smoking (this is essentially what willpower is, and why it doesn't work [willpower has the highest failure rate among people trying to quit]), then you will continue to feel like you're actually missing out. But what are you missing out on? Smelling gross? Giving yourself heart and lung disease? You're not missing out on anything, and you aren't being deprived of anything. Just using the words "giving up" is totally wrong and misleading. What are you giving up?
That's also why incentives don't work - because psychologically you're putting it in your mind that you're being deprived of something, and that you need to be rewarded for "being strong" and abstaining. When you put up on a pedestal in such a manner, you will continue to believe that you need it. When you don't.
The physical addiction isn't that bad. Why is that smokers can go all night when they sleep without having to wake up to smoke? Because nicotine withdrawal really only lasts about a half hour. Using patches, gum, etc...only serve to keep feeding that addiction, probably even more so than actually smoking. Which is also why they don't work, and why you (shocking!!) continue to crave nicotine.
The big thing is recognizing that, in reality, nobody actually enjoys smoking. If smoking was really as pleasurable as smokers convince themselves that it is - why aren't all smokers chain smokers, lighting one up after another? Because they know it's actually ing disgusting and not enjoyable at all. You may convince yourself that you enjoy inhaling it, and the taste - but you actually don't. You've only trained yourself to tolerate it over the years, and are now mistaking that for pleasure.
Nobody smokes that first cigarette when they're younger and says "I'm going to do this for the rest of my life! This is so good!" No, you thought "Wow this is gross, I'm certainly not gonna get addicted to this!" But you did. Furthermore, (if you have kids or know some young ones) you wouldn't hand them a pack of cigarettes and say "Here! These are great, you should take up smoking!" Because you know it's ing poison!
And all the people who think it helps you relax, or that you do it because you're bored...well it can't do both things. So which is it? Does it help you relax? Or help you be stimulated when you're bored? The fact is that you will get stressed or bored whether you smoke or not. And you will destress and find ways to not be bored whether you smoke or not. All you've done by smoking is add a cigarette to the equation - and now because you do it, you attribute whatever relief you get to smoking. When it isn't true at all.
Have you ever really paid attention to smoking while you're doing it? The taste? The sensation? The smell? Most smokers don't. But if you do, you will find you don't actually like it. And when you watch other people smoke you will see that it's a totally subconscious act.
And you will think about smoking. Of course you will. And that's fine. It doesn't matter that you think about it - it matters WHAT you think about it. Instead of thinking "Omg I need a cigarette!" Think about what that actually is (it's the nicotine addiction), and why you're telling yourself you need/want it, and reframe your thoughts to something positive, like "Ah yes, that's just the nicotine monster. Goddam, it's so great that I don't smoke, it's poison!" And when you watch smokers you should look at them with pity (just like Lunar Phase 7 said - you absolutely should feel bad for smokers), because they haven't escaped the brainwashing of nicotine addiction. And they're poisoning themselves!
And that's sort of a basic run down of how Allen Carr's The Easy Way works. :p
In the book he doesn't even tell you to stop smoking - in fact he encourages the reader to continue to smoke up until the last chapter (at which point the brainwashing should be just about undone) when you are told to smoke your last cigarette ever. I did it, and it was truly disgusting. I only smoked half of it because I felt so ing ridiculous - and I couldn't wait to put it out and know that I beat ing nicotine. :D
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Amazingly well put Jenny. |
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| Redd |
| I'm fortunate enough to have a very high tolerance of addictive substances. That is it takes a LOT to make me addicted. So in my case it wasn't really that big of a deal to quit, but the book really is good, none the less. I realized I had become physically addicted to nicotine after switching from sigarettes to what we call "snus" (basically pads of tobacco you put under your lip). When I did I quit instantly. I had 2-3 days of "abstinence", which made me grumpy as hell, after that no probs. I now have a very relaxed relationship with it. I can use a pad now and then and go weeks without. If I ever feel like I've gotten physically addicted I'll just stop for a longer period of time. |
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| Lunar Phase 7 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Miss Pie
Yeah, and that's the other thing too. There is no such thing as "just one puff" or "casual smoking". Stats shows that all it takes is TWO cigarettes to start the addiction to nicotine...so once you have even a puff, you're rekindling that addiction to nicotine.
That's actually the MAJOR thing about smoking - is to get real and realize that it is NOT just a habit - it is 100% an addiction to nicotine. And once you understand the facts and myths about the addiction and all the brainwashing behind it, it's super easy to stop doing it. |
Although I'm not sure about this.
I smoked a tonne of pot in Uni first year. We rolled with tobacco and make our joints fairly weak. So most of it was tobacco. I've never took up smoking cigs nor did I when I smoked pot, and during holidays and after first year of Uni I haven't done either, except at a party once and it made me hurl and cough like a .
This was over 6 years ago now. |
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