BEING AN EX-SMOKER
I have been
an ex-smoker now for three years.
Breathing is good. Tasting food
is good. Fifteen extra pounds is not so
good.
I am glad to
no longer be smoking, but I must admit there are somethings I miss.
I miss that
coffee and a cigarette quiet time.
When at a
party with people I didn’t know, the smokers outside were always the most fun.
I twitched
less from the Tourette’s when I smoked.
If you
needed to kill some time, a cigarette was always a great excuse.
I don’t miss
being ostracized by society. It seems
the last group that it is quite alright to despise is smokers. You cannot hate any group, race, culture or
religion; you must be delicate around fat people and ugly people; stupid people
are special, drug addicts and alcoholics are to be pitied, but for some reason
it is quite alright to treat smokers with utter distain.
What I don’t
miss the most is being a slave to nicotine.
I had forgotten what that slavery was like until a recent trip to
Aruba. I was sitting in our bus to take
us to our resort and I noticed a lady waiting outside. She was pulling on a cigarette like it was
her last breath. When she finished she
lit up another and sucked that one down in seconds.
At first I
thought this was crazy, but then I remembered how I was after a six hour trip
where smoking was not allowed. I
remember sucking that nicotine down in an effort to feel normal again.
I don’t miss
that feeling at all.
I started smoking at the age of 14. My life was consumed with smoking and I understand that quiet cup of coffee with the morning cig. It was hard to give up, especially when drinking beer in a bar and others are smoking.
ReplyDeleteI've been done with cigarettes since 1998 when my step father died of lung cancer. It scared the beejeezies out of me. Shortly after that, my husband quit. We've been quit for 16 years and I don't miss a thing about it, though I did feel grief for a period of time, maybe about 3-5 years. It'll pass.
Congratulations on being smoke free.
I'm just glad you gave that habit up. I've never smoked, but admire people who have the courage to get through the process.
ReplyDeleteJust to be clear for all who try to quit, it is not a HABIT, it is a drug ADDICTION that is as strong or stronger as any other drug addiction.
DeleteChewing your fingernails is a habit.
i am so glad i never smoked- well, except for when my older brother had me puff off his cigarette when i was about 4!
ReplyDeleteGood for you for quitting. I tried to quit french fries for a month and it was so hard so I can only imagine how much harder it would be to quit smoking.
ReplyDeleteI was on the Standards of Practice committee for the Lung Assoc. 20 years ago, and have treated and tested smokers for 40 years. I think I smoked a few cigarettes while in high school, but never developed the addiction.
ReplyDeleteThen, 12 years ago, I was in Germany, working on a project with 5 German pulmonologists. Every night one or more of them took me out to their favorite Dusseldorf brewpub for a evening of Haxe and beer. They all smoked like chimneys. One night I reached across the table and took one of their cigarettes, Gauloise they were as I remember. The next night ditto. Three days later I bought a pack.
I started smoking at age 57.
Statistically, if you don't smoke by age 23, you won't. Period.
My oldest daughter was furious, her mom had died a year earlier of CA (not from smoking, she didn't). The other daughter dismissed it with "Oh, you're just a rebel, dad". My personal doc who I've known for decades wanted to write it up for a journal.
There you go, there is always an outlier in the ordered world of science.
"I don’t miss that feeling at all. "
ReplyDeleteYou and me both! And it's three years for me too!
I can so relate. I've not smoked in years and years. The freedom of going anywhere is awesome. I can breathe, my food tastes better, but I've not gained any weight. I must be one of the lucky ones.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about smokers though. You can hate them. You can hate conservatives, you can hate the tea party. There are lots of things that are okay to hate.
Have a fabulous day. ☺
Sad to say, I'm 79 & still a smoker--since age 16!!
ReplyDeleteSix year in June... for the second time I stopped.
ReplyDeleteOnce before I'd gone six years.
The difference is this time I was ready and just needed a little nudge.
I'd started at the ripe old age of 8 years, stealing smokes from parents and hiding out to smoke them in a tree house.
By the time I was 12 I'd found that if I bought a carton, nobody even questioned it.
They were cheap then, and I had a paper route to pay for them.
So, yeah I smoked for a long time and have determined that I have only stopped, not quit.
Though I don't plan to start again.
I've never been a smoker, probably because my parents smoked and I was haunted by the constant sound of their phlegmy coughing. Congratulations on quitting.
ReplyDeleteI've bummed a few, but never enjoyed the nicotine buzz. It's been a long time. Don't even know any smokers anymore.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on three smoke-free years! I've never smoked, and I don't hate smokers. It's more pity - like with drug addicts and alcoholics, because that is what smoking is, an addiction.
ReplyDeleteAre you tracking all the money you save by not smoking? You should treat yourself to something you've wanted for a long time with that money.
Congrats on the 3 years of freedom. That is a tough habit to break. Reformed smoker here also--35 free years. You are right and I hadn't thought about it but there is no PC regarding smokers. They are fair game.
ReplyDeleteThat's one monkey I've never had on my back. Congrats on kicking the habit.
ReplyDeleteCongrats! I smoked in college and for a couple of years afterwards, until my wife and I made a bet with each other. We were both determined to NOT lose the bet, so we went cold turkey around 1977. It's been a grand 37 years addiction free. And like you said, the longer I'm off cigs and my sense of smell improves, I've became more and more militant.
ReplyDeleteNow I have a neighbor next door who occasionally brings her tobacco and ashtray out on her balcony. It's nauseating. Now when she does that I pull out this big 'ol fan and blow it right back at her. LOL!
S
I quit smoking 32 years ago when I knew that I wanted kids. It had been 12 years of smoking a pack or more a day which, in retrospect, doesn't sound all that long but at the time it was a very heavy weight. It was very difficult to quit. Occasionally, I still miss aspects of smoking but 99% of the time, I realize that quitting was the best thing I ever did. Congrats on being three years into better health.
ReplyDeleteMy old mum-in-law says giving up smoking is easy, she does it all the time. Boom-Tish. She's 88 now. Still smoking.
ReplyDeleteI've never smoked in spite of having smoking parents, (everybody smoked back then)and two smoking husbands, now both my sons smoke, but my daughters don't. The younger boy is trying to quit and I hope he manages to do that. At only 33 he has a whole lot of living to do yet.
I'm so happy that I never started smoking, because I know I'd become addicted so quickly/easily and it would be super hard to stop. BTW I still think smokers look cool. Super cool.
ReplyDeleteI quit smoking 6 1/2 years ago and it was the best decision I ever made. Completely changed my life. Kudos to you sir.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on being an ex smoker! I typed for a doctor years ago who said the best gift someone could give themselves was to stop smoking. Never a smoker here, maybe 3 total in my youth. Son smokes. I'll sit outside with him sometime when he's out there smoking, listening to music. We have our best talks then for some reason.
ReplyDeletebetty
I don't consider myself an ex smoker yet. It's only been five months and some days those triggers are stronger than others. I still get that occasional bite of Dear Sweet Baby Jesus, I wish I had an emergency cigarette hidden away somewhere. I just consider myself just not smoking for the last five months. I can't lie, a couple of months ago I smoked one cigarette thought it would kill me.
ReplyDelete