FOT Forum
FOT Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: erika on January 14, 2009, 07:43:34 PM
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Don't start smoking! Stop now! It's so hard to quit!! Just stop nowwwwwwwww.
Please please. It is SO HARD TO QUIT.
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And if you have animals definitely don't smoke around them!
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at one point i was a social smoker for a couple of years and i fully admit that i hated the smell left on my jacket, my clothes, my jeans!, and it permeated through everything else they touched, even my car (which i didnt smoke in).
i figured since i only smoked a pack a month/six weeks it was fine, but then cancer mom was diagnosed and she's never picked up a cigarette or joint in her life. yeesh...i quit.
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the worst part about smoking is when you're 15-20 years into your habit and you wanna go back and kick the ass of the teenage you for not listening to all of the adults who told you: "you're gonna get hooked." i wish i would've listened. everyone does.
say no to cigarettes kids - smokers are jokers.
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...you wanna go back and kick the ass of the teenage you...
while your childhood self beats the crap out of both of you.
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Seriously, Petey. Stick with weed. It's way easier to quit.
I quit smoking cigarettes ten years ago (and I only smoked for about six years) and I still get cravings, or have dreams that I've relapsed. It's a hell of a drug.
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When I was younger they only told us that smoking was bad for your health. If someone had told me that there was no way I'd be able to quit without wanting to jump off a cliff, I would have put them down.
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i remember in third grade when they came to talk to us about it and they pulled out lungs trapped inside ziploc bags to show us what it would look like if we smoked for __ years.
as a kid, i also judged people who smoked as being ignorant, lazy bums (relative to kid terms) and a few months back, my in-laws showed me my spouse's journal from childhood and it had the same blanket statement about how disgusting it was, etc. but turned out to smoke (socially as well) as an adult anyway.
i never want to meet my 9-year old self.
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I was adamant about being a non-smoker, until I was twenty and inexplicably began smoking.
Took me thirteen years to finally quit. The impetus for finally quitting? My ten year old cat died (too soon) of heart failure. :'(
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Yeah I'm pretty sure my cat(s) will die early because of my smoking.
I think I might have to get pregnant to quit. It's terrible but I need more motivation. I'm just not ready yet. It's SO HARD.
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The first time I managed to quit 6+ mos, I did it cold turkey. Then I made the mistake of thinking I'd "beaten" the addiction and slipped up.
I now realize that the addiction never entirely goes away.
It also made subsequent attempts to quit harder because I assumed that since I could quit cold turkey once, I should be able to do it cold turkey again, right? Not really.
I had to switch up methods a couple times and finally managed to do it with nicotine patches (even though they'd failed me in the past).
Sometimes I think that non-smokers caught up in their judging and condemning don't really entirely grasp or appreciate how difficult beating addiction can be.
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Seriously, cut the smoking out in all variations. Cigars are just as bad and people under 30 look like meth-dealers when they smoke them. People over 30 look like perverts when they shove them in their mouths.
Get out of the game now before this becomes something long-term and it becomes too hard to quit in the future. I know how hard it is because I fight it every day, and I wouldn't have gotten this bad if I didn't let it become a crutch. It's not 1955 anymore, you don't have to smoke like Minnesota Fats to look composed.
(Or you end up as someone who has to bang away on gum every time he's around more then three people, because he can't stop thinking about smoking. SO COOL!)
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Sometimes I think that non-smokers caught up in their judging and condemning don't really entirely grasp or appreciate how difficult beating addiction can be.
this is partly true because despite how little i smoked, i think about smoking every day and i slip up between frequently and every once in a while (a variant that is dependant on the company im keeping, smokers v. non-smokers).
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When I slipped up, I went from six months without a puff back to a pack/day in a matter of a couple days.
That's why when I heard Obama was trying to quit while on the campaign trail I thought to myself... no freaking way in hell. I couldn't imagine trying to quit under the circumstances of running for president.
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Seriously, Petey. Stick with weed. It's way easier to quit.
I quit smoking cigarettes ten years ago (and I only smoked for about six years) and I still get cravings, or have dreams that I've relapsed. It's a hell of a drug.
READ THIS, PETEY!
I don't condone smoking pot if you're under, say, 21 (because your brain is still developing, it will make you lazy, etc.), but if you're going to smoke something, please make sure it's not cigarettes. I've seen it take its toll on too many family members. And, besides that, what's the fucking point of smoking cigarettes anyway?
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When I was younger they only told us that smoking was bad for your health. If someone had told me that there was no way I'd be able to quit without wanting to jump off a cliff, I would have put them down.
Erika, have you tried Chantix®? It was the only way my dad could quit after smoking for 35+ years. That, and his teeth started falling out from all the cigarettes.
Petey, can I recommend something?
(http://sleevage.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/minor_threat_cover_blue.jpg)
sXe REVENGE!
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Chantix has some pretty bad side effects. And I'm not willing to mess with my brain chemistry that much.
I think when I do succeed, the patch will be the way to go. But I'm just not ready yet. I had to come to that realization. Last year was the first time I even remotely wanted to quit... they say you have to try a few times before you're successful.
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Ditto. I smoked at least a pack a day (by the time I quit I was up to a little over a pack/day of American Spirits, which are really strong and tarr-y) for something like 11 years (I started casually at 16 and really went for it in college). I used the patch to quit and had awesome dreams but was a miserable bastard for 3 months (I almost started a physical fight for no reason at a Beck/Beth Orton concert) and then temporarily got pretty fat. Now I have asthma! Don't be like me! I'm like a very watered-down Yul Brynner.
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was a miserable bastard for 3 months (I almost started a physical fight for no reason at a Beck/Beth Orton concert)
Me too (not the part about starting a fight at a Beck concert, just that I was miserable). I sincerely believe that the misery that occurred during quitting is one of the main things that keeps me from going back to it. I don't want to relive that, ever. That's one of the reasons I'm suspicious of smoking cessation aids that make it easier or more painless.
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I took a week off of work before the holidays to do a cold turkey detox. It's going well. I made one 6 month cold turkey stretch about 2 years ago and then fell back to a terrible nicorette/smoking/nicorette AND smoking cycle.
Threw away the nicorette and smokes that week, stayed home and was a miserable wretch.
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When I was younger they only told us that smoking was bad for your health. If someone had told me that there was no way I'd be able to quit without wanting to jump off a cliff, I would have put them down.
Erika, have you tried Chantix®? It was the only way my dad could quit after smoking for 35+ years. That, and his teeth started falling out from all the cigarettes.
Petey, can I recommend something?
(http://sleevage.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/minor_threat_cover_blue.jpg)
sXe REVENGE!
best post ever
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The dreams you have on the patch are completely insane. Soul-shaking and crazy.
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Ditto. I smoked at least a pack a day (by the time I quit I was up to a little over a pack/day of American Spirits, which are really strong and tarr-y) for something like 11 years (I started casually at 16 and really went for it in college). I used the patch to quit and had awesome dreams but was a miserable bastard for 3 months (I almost started a physical fight for no reason at a Beck/Beth Orton concert) and then temporarily got pretty fat. Now I have asthma! Don't be like me! I'm like a very watered-down Yul Brynner.
"I almost started a physical fight for no reason at a Beck/Beth Orton concert" - J. Grote = signature worthy.
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And, besides that, what's the fucking point of smoking cigarettes anyway?
i didnt start smoking until i was twenty-two. i would say, personally, ive always been an anxious, panic-ridden individual who enjoys being a wallflower; i mean, i truly appreciate the patience of people watching from afar. eventually, as an adult, that doesnt play too well in branching out and discovering new things, mostly because it creates the general opinion that if youre quiet, you must be shy, rather than, "maybe i just dont want to let everything in my head come spilling out of my mouth."
at some point, i needed time to step out and be alone without people thinking "something must be wrong" (a very common reaction when i do this without smoking), but i realized that smoking would give me the cloak i needed...and there it is. this is always why i was (am?) a social smoker; i most definitely do not smoke when i am alone- its boring.
it may sound strange and nonsensical, but it is what it is. :-\
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Shyness and introversion suffer a wholly unfair stigma in our society. There is nothing wrong with not being annoyingly outgoing.
I'm an anxious person as well. To the point of an anxiety disorder that comes and goes at times. In all honesty, quitting smoking also caused a noticable portion of my chronic anxiety to actually subside, simply by virtue of being able to breathe better.
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Shit, this thread makes me want to try out the patch. Little night tripping.
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Shit, this thread makes me want to try out the patch. Little night tripping.
Yeah, will it work for nonsmokers? I am very, very bored. That's historically not a good scene for me. Maybe this patch thing is just what i've been looking for.
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Thanks, Omah. It was actually pretty embarrassing. At least I didn't do it 1,000 times.
The patch will probably work on anyone, but it has nicotine in it, which is pretty addictive. I have no idea what getting addicted to non-tobacco nicotine products would be like, or what it would do to you.
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I bet you could mix the patch with Ambien for some real good times.
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Smoking isn't that bad. Just ask Doug TenNapel!
"My children aren’t hurt when the lady smokes at the public park, but they ARE hurt when that lady cusses while using her cell phone. Soul pollution, not lung pollution. My soul will out-live my lungs by some measure."
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I was another adamant non-smoker until I hit around 19 - which is the dumbest time in the world to start. I ended up quitting when I was about 31 after living in Pittsburgh for like a year (which is a city that SMOKES), after many failed attempts over the years to stop. Nothing worked until I started intentionally hanging out at like dive bars, and bowling alleys, and really started to focus on the gross people who couldn't not smoke. Then I started noticing it everywhere, my dentists office, local restaurants, the assholes who would butt a smoke and stuff it in their pocket 2 seconds before getting on the bus (which is probably one of the worst smells in the whole world, seriously) and then firing it up immediately as they got off. The yellow fingered people who had to have a cigarette every chance they got. It really changed my perception on smoking, in a snobby way admittedly because I started to look down on smokers for their weakness and inability to function otherwise without (which probably has something to do with why I never started drinking coffee really either, even after being a barista for a few years), but it worked so I'm not judging (well, me that is). Drugs and patches and all that shit will never work until you change the way you think about smoking, I'm convinced of that now from my own experience and talking to other successful non-smokers too.
It was never an issue of being cool, or peer pressure that got me to smoke, or kept me going either. I actually liked it while I did it, aside from the occasional bouts of guilt "I gotta stop... someday" stuff. And I occasionally still want one every so often, depending on the movie I am watching or the company I am keeping, and I am sure I always will too. But once I finally saw how much I really disliked the whole culture of smoking, from top to bottom, it was really easy to stop.
And blah blah blah - my health drastically improved right after quitting. No more winter chest colds, in fact I've barely ever been sick since (been I guess 3+ years). Sense of smell and taste came back better than ever. More money to blow on other crap I liked more. And I get to be that jerk now around all my friends who still smoke whenever they ask me to go outside and have a cigarette like "yeah, I quit yeaaaars ago, dewd." - what a dick I am!
In short, listen to what people are saying Petey.
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at least you admit to being a snob about it. you were weak, you cured yourself by quitting, and now you look down on others for having the same weaknesses you dealt with. excellent!
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what a dick I am!
I have to agree.
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Yeah, it's pretty awful, I know. But I'll trade my inner-judgement of others for the lung cancer which took out like 4 of my immediate relatives, you know? I still treat smokers like real people - but when their backs are turned, I JUDGE! ;)
Honestly I don't know that it's a completely irrational reaction though, is it? I'd imagine ex heavy drug users do some of the same once they're on the other side of their thing, and my smoking habit felt pretty junkiefied many times over the years. I don't want to be in some constant conflict with myself for the next 45 years every morning "don't smoke, not today!" - that'd be miserable. No matter how you do it, you have to change your perception on smoking other than relying on like, societal pressure or guilt, because that never lasts.
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what a dick I am!
I have to agree.
Ouch!
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I know! Pretty good, I thought.
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You make me want to smoke more. (Erech, not Sarah)
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You make me want to smoke more. (Erech, not Sarah)
Oh that's the worst thing anyone has said to me in a while. I'm sorry.
My point earlier that maybe got lost too, was all of that judgement was actually based towards myself, it just took me first seeing a trait in others I didn't like and wanted to get rid of in myself. I had to hate me to change me. Does that make my snobbery any better?
eek, I feel like I better just sneak out the back on this thread now, sorry guys...
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I found it useful when quitting to do so with extreme prejudice ~ in my case, it was towards the cigarettes themselves. It is useful, I think, because you simply cannot be half-hearted about quitting. You literally have to think along the lines of:
GET THE FUCK OUT, WE'RE DONE
Peer pressure really never had any influence on my smoking habits at all. I was an adamant non-smoker through my teen years to spite peer pressure. Once that pressure was gone, I tried it out. Similarly, peer pressure to quit did not work either. I quit when I decided I was sick of feeling sick from smoking, not before.
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If you have to look down on others to cure yourself of your own addictions, fine, but it just can't be very good for your karma. Or conscience.
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Let him do what he wants!
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what im getting from erechoveraker is that he found cigarettes disgusting in order to cure himself of his addiction. whatever he didnt like in smokers, it stemmed from his dislike for cigarettes.
i dont dislike or look down on anyone, i'll fully admit that it's frustrating when we're watching a movie at someone's house and we have to stop it every 45 minutes so everyone can take a smoke break. and at one point, i did question, "why can't they be like me? I dont need a cigarette every five seconds. this is ridiculous."
i put the kibosh on that immediately when i realized how insane that sounded (and luckily it was internal dialogue), but sometimes when you used to be part of a group and now youre not, emotions can get the best of you. not to mention, my second strike was that i was never addicted to cigarettes.
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http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=x7jw0&s=5
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I dislike and look down on lots of people, but not smokers in particular.
So I got that going for me.
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ive never looked down on smokers, ive looked down on their addiction. but i admit its from my own ignorance because i truly dont know what its like to be addicted to substance.
i do NOW, but i didnt then.
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Having addictions is boring. Not having addictions is boring. The best times are when you are acquiring or shedding an addiction.
The Best Show is an addiction.
Like cigarettes it is so readily available you don't have to do without unless you choose to.
I choose to do without either. For now.
Always a good hook.