30 hours without a smoke.

[warwick.hoy]

So I have made it 30 hours in my bid to quit smoking once and for all. Last cigarette was before bedtime on Saturday (11pm). I made the conscious decision when I woke up on Sunday morning (7:30) so actually 32 hours since I made up my mind.

If you notice an increase in my posting it is because I'm trying to keep myself occupied. I find that I smoke a lot of times out of pure boredom...so I'm trying to find things to do. So far I've spent more time practicing my bass. I've gone on a few long walks both by myself and with my wife. I've eaten about ten (small) bowls of Grape Nuts over the past two days. I know I'll be eating quite a bit so I'm trying to make sure it is healthy snacks. So far I have discovered that I love dried apricots...which I hated when I was young, yogurt covered raisins and Willy Wonka's Giant Chewy Nerds . I have also been chewing gum....but not that nicotine crutch gum.

The past couple of days have been a struggle but the inspiration hit me on Friday when my wife brought home a Wii Fit on loan from one of her co-workers. The first night she brought it home; I spent about an hour on yoga poses, strength exercises and balance games and had a lot of fun/broke a serious sweat doing it. I figured if I was going to start exercising more and being more active @ 30 years old it's probably time to give up smoking. I just want to lead a healthier lifestyle, and smoking was holding me back.

I had always been skeptical about the Wii Fit I.E. not real exercise, gimmicky, not fun...but it honestly looks like something that my wife and I can stick to and enjoy doing. It's also handy to have around to keep me occupied when a craving hits.

Some of my issues with smoking...only one person out of the 5 people I play music with smokes. In one band I am the only smoker....so I'll take a break and smoke....by myself outside....I hate that. It's like "oh....James needs a break so he can smoke.....". Not that I get attitude over it, but I'd rather not be thinking about breaking for a cigarette or trying to make it to the next smoke break when I should be concentrating on getting my parts right.

Homeless people, crazy people, crackheads and teenagers seem to smoke, but never have their own cigarettes. Not a day goes by that don't I get hit up for smokes. "Yo, you got an extra cigarette?" I hate idiots and it is usually idiots bumming smokes from me. I always say no, but now I can just say..."I don't smoke". Of course now I'll have to say "no I don't have any spare change (spange) for you". I'm hoping to cut down on having to talk to dumb ***es.

Money.....oh god yes.....I smoked American Spirit Blues which are almost $8 a pack here in Washington State. They are a bit more on the west side of the the state. I was at a half a pack (sometimes a whole pack) a day so figure 15 packs a month. 15x8=120. That's like an FX pedal a month. (Two months for an EHX Bass Micro Synth). When I was rolling my smokes I was spending more like $40 a month...but rolling smokes is a pain and I didn't like the tarry mess it left on my fingers. Besides...$40 a month is like a used Boss pedal a month.

It is awful nice to not reek of cigarette smoke. It is awful nice not to listen to my wife complain about how bad I smell. My mouth doesn't taste like someone took a dump in it and I can taste my coffee better than I could before. I can also tell that I can breathe and smell better and that is only after two days.

I made it through my stressful job without somking today. That will be the hardest part; not taking smoke breaks at work. I did go outside for some breathing exercises when my line-mate slash good buddy slash former roommate slash now neighbor went on his smoke breaks.....but I didn't smoke. Inhale.....exhale, recycle some cardboard.

The one thing I'm going to miss is that metallic click of my Zippo opening and closing. I may still carry it around because you never know when you are going to need fire.

I've been updating on facebook and myspace...my progress and there seem to be some genuinely supportive people on facebook...myspace....not so much. I guess myspace friends are too cool for non-smokers. Anyway it seems like I'd let a lot of people down if I failed so the pressure is on and I thought I'd add to it by sharing with my talkbass family. Thanks for reading.

~James

(That killed about an hour and a half)

[Jared Lash]

I've just started (as of last night) on my latest bid to stop smoking. My problem is that I've always been a social smoker (a cigarette or two when drinking) but play wth a guitarist who smokes like a chimney. So I started taking smoke breaks with him at practices and gigs to the point where those 1 to 3 nights a week I was smoking 5 or 6 cigarettes.

I always gave him money for his cigarettes, but I knew I was getting past the social smoker stage when I started buying my own packs last year. I still have never smoked more than half a pack a day, but it has been very hard to give up anyway. I can't imagine how hard it is for people who smoked two packs a day.

The hardest thing for me has been to start trying again once I slip up and have a cigarette. Then I go through a long period of "Ok, I'll try quitting again starting tomorrow" and just keep going through that cycle for a couple weeks before I actually make another real attempt to stop.

At the beginning of this year I went a month and a half without them before stumbling again. I've got band practice with that guitar player tomorrow. If I can make it through that practice without a cigarette I'll be on my way. The first 72 hours seem the hardest. After two weeks it isn't that bad at all. You just have to do something for two or three minutes while the craving passes. Picking up my bass worked for me.

The bad part is, after 50 days without a cigarette, it only took one for me to fall back completely. I don't know if everyone is the same way, but I have to stop completely. I'll never be able to be a "social smoker" again.

Good luck.

[Joe Gress]

Good luck to both of you!

[FreaqyFrequency]

Originally Posted by joeinsprings

Good luck to both of you!

+1

[Grizzly700]

You know if you keep making posts like this and if you keep thinking about it, the tougher it will be. But, good luck to yall and hope you never have another the rest of your lives!

[mike_v_s]

Originally Posted by TheBigO

The bad part is, after 50 days without a cigarette, it only took one for me to fall back completely. I don't know if everyone is the same way, but I have to stop completely. I'll never be able to be a "social smoker" again.

Good luck.

I quit about a year ago. I still get itchy at times, but it doesn't pull me the way it used to. I can't smoke 1 and then drop it. I just can't. My habit was like a faucet with off and full on settings. After quitting for a few months around 2005, it took me about a day to ramp up to my "at least a pack a day" habit. It's like I'm predisposed to inhale 20 cigarettes a day. 40 when I'm drinking.

I can tell you not everyone is the same. My wife could split 3 packs with me at a BBQ and then not touch them for a month. I would wake up wanting one. Thankfully, she quit with me. Besides, the kids were starting to ask why I smelled different (we didn't smoke at the house until after they went to bed, and then only outside).

I wish I could tell you guys how to do it, but it seems to be different for everyone. Good luck.

Mike

[warwick.hoy]

Originally Posted by Grizzly700

You know if you keep making posts like this and if you keep thinking about it, the tougher it will be. But, good luck to yall and hope you never have another the rest of your lives!

Actually the lengthy post helped. I figure I'm going to think about it anyway so why not conceptualize all the reasons not to smoke....all the things I could be doing instead of smoking. Let a bunch of "e" acquaintances praise and encourage me to stay on the wagon....and scrutinize me for falling off the wagon. By the time I finished typing up my post....proofread and retyped confusing sentences I had killed about an hour and a half. Two days ago I would have taken a break halfway through a long winded post to smoke.....

To TheBigO. Unfortunately I'm the same way....I cannot fall of the wagon even once or all the hard work and fighting through the cravings will be lost. Luckily my co-workers will not bum me smokes.

Edit: Mike V S....congrats. I never smoke in my home. I consider it quite disgusting and I don't want to kill my non-smoking wife. Probably part of the reason I'm only at half a pack a day. I will go outside from time to time just to stand in my spot and get some fresh air. I find the breathing exercises help.

[Jared Lash]

Originally Posted by mike_v_s

I quit about a year ago. I still get itchy at times, but it doesn't pull me the way it used to. I can't smoke 1 and then drop it. I just can't. My habit was like a faucet with off and full on settings. After quitting for a few months around 2005, it took me about a day to ramp up to my "at least a pack a day" habit. It's like I'm predisposed to inhale 20 cigarettes a day. 40 when I'm drinking.

I can tell you not everyone is the same. My wife could split 3 packs with me at a BBQ and then not touch them for a month. I would wake up wanting one. Thankfully, she quit with me. Besides, the kids were starting to ask why I smelled different (we didn't smoke at the house until after they went to bed, and then only outside).

I think everyone is different to a degree, but I also think there's a threshold you hit where you go from someone who may or may not smoke socially to really being a smoker. There was a point where I could also smoke a bunch at once and then take or leave cigarettes for a long time afterward. I think the regularity is the key to addiction, not necessarily the number of cigarettes. After all, most guys I know that light up cigars are pretty casual smokers despite the amount of tobacco in a single one.

But once I got to the point where I was actually craving a cigarette rather than just deciding to have one or two if they were offered I knew it was different. I think once you hit that point you are addicted. And you can't become "un-addicted" - you can only choose not to smoke anymore which isn't the same thing.

[bassman03]

Good luck on your attempt guys! I know i'm only 16 but i don't intend on smoking. Too much as stakes with my athletics if i do, i jsut wish that the teammates who do smoke would start pulling their heads out of their asses. They're only 16 so for one it's not even legal yet for them to get them, and two, they've got too much at stake since they're great athletes.

[oldrocker]

Good Luck guys. 6 years without a cigarette for me. It was hard but it gets easier every day.

I can be around smokers, but I feel if I had 1 cigarette I'd be hooked al over again.

[coreyfyfe]

Best of luck to all of you. Never personally smoked, but spent the first 16 years of my life second hand smoking. Between my parents, their respective spouses, and 90% of my friends, I was almost never without someone around me who was smoking. My step-dad quit with wellbutrin, and my mom quit for my 20th or 21st birthday (one of the two). My dad quit recently (I think) after about his 30th attempt. Of course, with prices what they are around here now (upwards of $7.50/pack), I don't know how anyone can smoke, especially a pack or two a day.

[NickyBass]

Keep it up!!!! It's been about 2 years since I've had a smoke. I quit a few months before my son was born. It was easier to quit when I was doing it for someone else.

I wish you the best. PM me if you need anything.

[superfunk47]

Good luck man! You can do it. Reward yourself with an effect or something at the end of the first month.

[KeithBMI]

20 years without a smoke.

[two fingers]

I didn't read your entire post but.... GOOD LUCK! Hang in there! I quit a couple of months ago. There IS life after smoking. Food tastes better! You BREATHE better! A walk in the woods SMELLS better! It's ALL good and SOOOOOO worth it!!!! Stick to it!!!!!!!!!!

[TallLankyBastyd]

All those Grape Nuts should kill some time in the sh!tter... good call!

[warwick.hoy]

Originally Posted by TallLankyBastyd

All those Grape Nuts should kill some time in the sh!tter... good call!

Thanks for all the support fellas. Still on that there proverbial....

[iamlowsound]

Congrats man. I will be three years on July 9th (both types of smoking). I was never much more than a social smoker, but I would buy my own packs and smoke a pack at a party. It got to the point where I was craving one in between weekends and I had made a vow to never become a smoker (my grandma died of lung cancer), so I decided that was enough -- among other reasons. I still get the occasional craving, like right now for example, but they are a whole lot easier to ignore now.

lowsound

[Dr_Funkdamental]

Originally Posted by two fingers

I didn't read your entire post but.... GOOD LUCK! Hang in there! I quit a couple of months ago. There IS life after smoking. Food tastes better! You BREATHE better! A walk in the woods SMELLS better! It's ALL good and SOOOOOO worth it!!!! Stick to it!!!!!!!!!!

+1000. Stay strong man. I will admit after quite a few yrs of quitting, it still taps you on the shoulder every once and a while, but you get over it. Best life move you could make.

[McHaven]

You and I are similar, my friend. I also smoked typically half a pack of American Spirits a day. Sometimes under, typically maybe 3-4 packs a week. My smoking varied a lot.

It was real tough the first few days. After that, it got a bit easier. Be sure to take some aspirin for the headaches you're bound to have. They can be complete hell.

I never realized how much I was spending until I quit. They were only 5.83 here, but it added up. I was also the only smoker in my band, and when I went through rehearsal without a cigarette, I got real testy and bitchy. I'm told I'm a lot easier to deal with now haha.

Its definitely good for you to be quitting, and you'll notice it when you finally get the crap out of your system.

Good luck with quitting! Its tough, but it pays off. I've been off them since Dec 16th 2008.

Also, this may not sound like a good idea, but it worked for me. I always would smoke when I was hungry, and then I couldn't be hungry again. Of course, I could never smoke when I was full either. It just made me sick. So, I tried to stay relatively full all the time. Always well hydrated, and had a snack at hand for when cravings came. I gained about 10 pounds, but I was already underweight at the time.

Its going to be those boring parts of the day when you feel like smoking the most. I had the most trouble walking to my classes and not smoking. It was ingrained in my mind "I'm walking to history. I have a smoke while I do this" It takes a lot of strength to break a habit like that.