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FAO ex-smokers (pg. 5)
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| Silky Johnson |
| quote: | Originally posted by 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! |
Lol shut up. |
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| EddieZilker |
Okay.
But seriously, congratulations. |
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| Silky Johnson |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lunar Phase 7
Although I'm not sure about this.
I smoke 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 . |
It's true though. I don't explain it as well as the book - but the physical addiction, like I said before, isn't actually as strong as made out in society. The physical addiction is actually the easy part to get over, and withdrawal only lasts about a half hour. After 3 days nicotine is completely out of the body, and the actual withdrawal symptoms are really so minor that most people don't even notice it(hence why smokers can go all night sleeping without having to light up).
The real problem is the psychological addiction/brainwashing about the "habit". And the reason you probably never got addicted to nicotine is because your mindset was already framed the right way about not smoking. Not everyone who has that first taste of nicotine becomes addicted. But the majority do. |
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| Silky Johnson |
Yeah! :D
For real I read it in a few hours over the course of two nights. I couldn't put it down...I was so excited to be done with smoking. :D
It's an amazing feeling that I for sure would like every smoker who wants to be a non-smoker to feel. It truly makes me giddy! Lololol. :toothless |
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| Meat187 |
I find it kind of strange that a book would help so much, simply by alerting people to a number of obvious things. It's telling you smoking sucks and you don't like it, you've just been trained to like it. Makes me wonder if it does anything but train you not to like it.
Makes me also wonder how much other we are trained to like by society or the industry that actually sucks harder than... hey, I just had this idea: do you think Dubstep might actually not be good music and just sound like robots raping each other? Could it be? I'll write a book and tell people! |
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| Redd |
| Hard to explain without summarizing the whole book, but the shortest answer I guess is it gives you perspective. |
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| Silky Johnson |
Of course it's all obvious. It's all stuff that all smokers are already aware of. But then why do they still smoke? There's nothing wrong with needing a little guidance. Cognitive restructuring isn't exactly common knowledge. If it was, nobody would ever pick up vices or have problems trying to quit them.
The author doesn't come right out and say that what he's teaching is cognitive restructuring, but to anyone who knows what it is, it's very obvious that's what's going on.
Smoking has such a strong hold on most smokers exactly because of, up until recently, how acceptable it has been in society. That's where all the brainwashing lies. Yes, it's everything we already know, but the book gives a precise way to undo it all.
edit: and this
| quote: | Originally posted by Redd
it gives you perspective. |
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| aNYthing |
| 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.
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Entirely true. I've quit in the past without any patches or crap like that, purely out of intention/determination. It was very easy. However, fast forward 3 months, I'm at a party, faced, outdoors, bunch of smokers, old familiars offer up a smoke (without knowing I quit) and I automatically take it. Tastes gross, disguisting but it's like riding a bike - you remember it and then comes the next smoke, etc. Next day, I'm buying a pack... FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUU
| quote: |
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.
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well, it does help somewhat keep my rage in check, which is kinda pretty high this time around. Never had nicotine withdrawal rage before.
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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. |
First time I tried smoking I was 5. With bunch of 11 year olds. Yai for Russia! I then stole a pack of smokes from my dad number of times when I was 11 - 12. My buddy and I would hide in a tree and smoke...
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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!
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My dad then busted me. And he did in fact took a pack of smokes and put it on the table in front of me. Said - take it, go ahead. This way you don't have to steal and can impress everyone with your smoking coolness. (Some kind of reverse psych, but did the trick... at least for a while). My dad ended up quitting because of this incident. Cold turkey. His body didn't respond well to it and he had his first heart attack.
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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.
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I then started smoking when I was about 18 to impress some slut. Up until that time, I was excercising 6 days a week, body building, martial arts, biking, swimming. 6 months later I couldn't even run a mile without being completely winded. Oh, and when I smoked that cig with her, I was so dizzy, I nearly vomited.
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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!
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I read somewhere that they put in cigs these days is significantly more addicting than it was before. I also noticed that I wake up energized and in good spirits, whereas before I'd wake up feeling heavy and often in a bad mood/groggy.
I guess I quit/started so many times I don't believe myself anymore. Even now, I'm doubting myself because I failed to hang on, even after being smoke free for over a year. What's worse... I smoked openly since 18 and my dad was always ragging on me to quit. When my father passed away, I threw (what I thought was last) pack of cigarettes and a zippo in his grave, essentially swearing I'd never smoke again. I obviously failed that too...
. This. .
:whip:
Thanks for your support, o mighty c0r. Day 5 for me.:toocool: |
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| srussell0018 |
| Buy a pack. You'll never quit. |
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| Silky Johnson |
| quote: | Originally posted by aNYthing
I guess I quit/started so many times I don't believe myself anymore. Even now, I'm doubting myself because I failed to hang on, even after being smoke free for over a year. What's worse... I smoked openly since 18 and my dad was always ragging on me to quit. When my father passed away, I threw (what I thought was last) pack of cigarettes and a zippo in his grave, essentially swearing I'd never smoke again. I obviously failed that too...
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So get the book. You've got nothing to lose but a DEADLY addiction. :) |
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| aNYthing |
| quote: | Originally posted by srussell0018
Buy a pack. You'll never quit. |
I wish I knew how to quit you, my assrussell.... |
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