Irish Translation Forum

Méabh wrote:I think it's easier to quit if you have a "quit buddy" like in AA. I used to be one of those "party smokers" since my last 2 semesters in college, but really, I'd carry a pack of smokes in my pocketbook, forget they were there, and find them a month later (typical Gemini) and then start up again. Then, my flatmate's father got cancer of the larynx, and so my flatmate told me he wanted to quit, so I volunteered to throw out mine with him. So we're both free of it since Easter 2003. And yes, there were times (an probably forever will be) where I will crave a clove. I feel like such a amadán for ever starting in the first place, it never ever leaves you I fear

It varies from person to person, I think. I tried to quit several times, and the various suggestions they give you (have a "quit buddy," make sure there are no cigarettes in the house, etc.) were MORE stressful to me than anything I could imagine. I'm an extremely private person in "real life," and sharing my struggle while I was going through the worst of it was more than I could tolerate. I also found that the only way I could make it "one day at a time" was if I actually gave myself permission to lapse if it got too bad (it sounds perverse, but the fact that I knew I COULD...that I'd never said to myself "never again," made it much easier to keep going one more minute/hour/day/week)...and there's still an unopened pack of cigarettes in my upstairs bathroom that is sometimes the only thing that keeps me from lapsing, ironically enough! I also didn't tell anyone other than my closest family and my doctor that I was trying to quit...I didn't want their hollow "congratulations," and the back slapping, and all that b.s. I didn't quit for them, and after all they put me through, and all they still put people through who are struggling with this addiction, I'm not going to give them the satisfaction. In fact, there are some people I will NEVER tell that I've quit, simply because they were such assholes when I smoked, and at least one that could quite easily drive me right back to it with a single smirk.

Everyone's an individual, and if you find something that "seems logical" isn't working for you, you've got to do it your own way. I'll be a year without smoking July 1...and it's still a daily struggle. But Kevin's right...all it really takes is remembering how scary it is to not be sure if you're going to get that next breath.

Redwolf

Leanfaidh Mé wrote:If you smoke, and want to continue, feel free to skip this tirade.

Many of you know what I am, and what I do. When it comes to tobacco, all I can say is that I am sick and fecking tired of watching good people, people I know and care about, die slow, ugly, ugly deaths attended by fear and wasting. I am tired of grieving. I am tired of the waste. I am tired of hearing, "I'm healthy as a horse except for this cough." I am tired of seeing people wonder if they can get air, scared witless that it won't be there, that the air just won't come. I am tired, and it isn't my disease. Imagine living on the edge of drowning, fighting for every breath. Cancer is the short road. We all end up in the same place, but smokers have the roughest ride. There is no more evil drug on the planet.

If I offend, I apologize. If I motivate or even frighten, send a PM. If you want to quit, I'm happy to help.

I'm relatively new to the forum. Are you in the health care field?
That was pretty graphic, and true.

finely wrote:
I'm relatively new to the forum. Are you in the health care field?
That was pretty graphic, and true.

Yes...he's a doctor.

Redwolf

finely wrote:
I'm relatively new to the forum. Are you in the health care field?
That was pretty graphic, and true.

[MD]
I'm a family doctor in Washington.

What really crystallized it for me was 1) watching my dad quit when he was 75 after decades of quitting "20 times a day" (He finally broke a collar bone in a car accident and figured he wasn't going to anything that made him cough more. He'll be 81 in a couple of weeks.),2) 2 deaths within 36 hours (and what those families went through, and what my staff and I went through), and 3) what my girlfriend's father went through leading up to his (incredibly successful) lung transplant (The man carried an oximeter and checked his oxygen saturation 10 or 20 times an hour. He just neede to make sure he was getting some, and if he wasn't he'd just turn his oxygen up 6 or 8 liters oer minute.)

[/MD]

i dunno, i made a promise to my (then) 5 year old that i would quit when she was in kindergarten and learned that smokes are drugs and you are supposed to "just say no" to them. 6 months went by smoke free (a really HARD six months) and i managed to get into an arguement with someone close to me (then; also) and he went outside to have a smoke so i followed & out of spite of myself i guess, lit one up as well. All i can say is that i spent the next hour on the kitchen floor w/my face planted on the cold linoleium feeling like i wanted to die. i kept thinking to myself; "i can't beleive i used to do that 20 times a day?" after it passed, i haven't looked back and while the smell occasionally (and from far away--like gasoline) smells cool, but mostly turns my stomach.

it was the hardest thing i've ever done, but worth it. i don't stink anymore, and i want to watch my daughter graduate college & see what happens next...

Redwolf wrote:Me and my Rocky, Seaside, CA, circa 1985.

"O, ROCKY!"



Redwolf

Aww. 80's kid. Betcha hadn't even heard of the internet when that pic was taken.

Ailill wrote:

Aww. 80's kid. Betcha hadn't even heard of the internet when that pic was taken.

LOL! I didn't even own a COMPUTER when that picture was taken! I bought my first computer in 1989...and it only had some bogus word processing program on it (I can't remember what it was, other than that it wasn't Word, Wordstar or WordPerfect).

Redwolf

Redwolf wrote

It varies from person to person, I think.

Right you are Red. No one will quit until they have their own significant emotional experience. In my husband's case, it was having a thoracic surgeon playing around in his chest. In my case it was a desire to make sure that my husband had no temptation from me to go back to it. I really was not "ready to quit on my own", but I loved him more than I love me, and that made it a no brainer.

Corvus wrote

i don't stink anymore,

He, he, he, you're right about that Corvus. Even though now I entertain the thought of starting up after all these years, it is still crystal clear to me that I do not like the smell of old smoke. While it is coming from the cigarette, it still entices me, but old smoke smell in hair and on clothes is bad news. For those of ye that smoke and have spouses or lovers that don't smoke, just realize that for them, to kiss you is like licking an ashtray.

Deb wrote: I For those of ye that smoke and have spouses or lovers that don't smoke, just realize that for them, to kiss you is like licking an ashtray.

I think that varies too. I love the smell of cigarette smoke, in the air or in people's clothing, and always have. But then my whole family smoked, and it's a scent I associate with home and hugs. I'm not alone in that either...if you read some of the literature of the early 20th and late 19th century, you'll often read fond references to the "smell of father's smoking jacket." I have no aesthetic problem with it at all, though I'll grant that it's a strong smell and not to everybody's tastes (I always used to shower, wash my hair and change clothes before choir rehearsal, for instance, because I knew the smell on my hair and clothes would bother some people in the choir. FWIW, however, they're also bothered by scented deoderants, sunscreen and strong-smelling handsoap!).

Redwolf

I quite because I was in the hospital with pneumonia. If given the opportunity to stay in bed 24/7 and have meals brought to me .......... I am only getting up to use the loo!!!!!

(while I smoked I hated the stink too)