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| Update; Quitting Smoking | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 7 2009, 07:40 AM (555 Views) | |
| Frank_W | Apr 7 2009, 05:33 PM Post #26 |
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Resident Misanthrope
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Some thoughts I've been kicking around, in the back of my mind for a few days: (Kind of a letter to myself...) Some people have told me that they try to avoid thinking about cigarettes. I don't try to avoid thinking about smoking. After all, it's something that was a part of my life for 22 years. There's no sense in trying NOT to think about it. It's like, if I tell someone not to think about a blue car, that's exactly what they're going to think about, right? Anyway... The conclusion I've come to is: I think that the craves for cigarettes are purely emotional. I have associated them with friendship, parties, a pick-me-up, food, escape from uncomfortable social situations, a calmative influence when I am angry, with pleasure, relaxation, and when I was a post-coital smoker, yes, even sex. The craves are not JUST emotional. There is no just or only to it! Those are some pretty powerful emotions and associations, when I think about it. The reason I say that they are purely emotional, is this: 1. Remember your first cigarette? Your physical body didn't want that cigarette. It didn't want that poison. It coughed, gagged, and did everything it possibly could to avoid it and tell me, "Hey, Stupid!! This HURTS!! This isn't good for you!!" Of course I didn't listen. So, anyway... It's not physical. Not really.. There is a dopamine-release, an adrenalin-release, and there is a "high" that comes with the influx of nicotine when it hits the adrenals and the brain, but the physical addiction to/craving for the actual pesticide, nicotine, is pretty small and quickly and easily surmounted within one week. It's not physical. Not the way, say, heroin is. When people withdraw from heroin, they get SICK. It's pretty scary to watch... A cigarette crave: Come on... I can't point with one finger to where it's physically hurting me. It's not physical. 2. Every smoker knows, probably better than anyone else, just how bad cigarettes are for them. They know all the warnings. They've seen the commercials. They know about lung cancer, emphysema, throat cancer, mouth cancer, COPD, etc. etc. blah blah blah. Mentally, they KNOW that smoking is KILLING THEM. Unless someone has slipped a cog, people don't go around playing Russian Roulette several times a day, every single day. That's just not logical behavior. So, I'd say that smoking is definitely NOT mental. (Contrary to what everyone says: "Oh, the addiction is mental AND physical! That's why it's so hard!") Bullsh!t. They're wrong. So... That leaves only one possible way that people can possibly become addicted to smoking cigarettes: They become emotionally hooked, and it's through the associations that they make with the drug, and with the ritual of unwrapping the pack, the ritual of lighting up, the feeling of the smoke as it bangs against the backs of their throats, and the various good times that they've had, where smoking has been a part of their lives. This is what leads people to say, "I like to smoke. I enjoy it. I have no desire to quit." Or when people are upset, they go out and grab a pack of cigarettes and start smoking again. WTF does being upset about something have to do with smoking a cigarette and poisoning yourself? That's bizarre... If it were a mathematics equation, how does this add up in any kind of logical manner? Short answer: It doesn't. Emotional. Not physical or even mental. It's estimated that well over 70% of smokers truly DO want to quit, and probably upwards of 99% of smokers, if they could wake up tomorrow completely free of addiction and never think about cigarettes again, never crave, and never go through withdrawal, would drop cigarettes in a heartbeat. That tells you something, doesn't it? So now... The trick is to "unplug" those emotional triggers. And that's a business that is painstaking and ticklishly difficult, but it must be done if I am to become a non-smoker, rather than a cigarette-addict who is still jonesin for a fix, ten years after quitting... |
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Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin." Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!" | |
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| Lucky Lurker | Apr 7 2009, 05:45 PM Post #27 |
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Junior Carp
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Congrats. By now your habit is diminished and hopefully vanguished for good. I saw this and thought it might help reinforce your resolve. The cigarette does the smoking, the smoker is just the sucker. |
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Sock puppet permit rejected. Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest. | |
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| Frank_W | Apr 7 2009, 05:47 PM Post #28 |
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Resident Misanthrope
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True.... Very true. And the cigarette sucks too, you know: It sucks money, health, life, breath... The tobacco companies and Hollywood have so much to answer for, don't they? |
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Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin." Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!" | |
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| blondie | Apr 7 2009, 07:54 PM Post #29 |
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Bull-Carp
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Good job Frank .. Hey, is your HR decreased any now that you've quit? I'm curious. |
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| Phlebas | Apr 7 2009, 08:21 PM Post #30 |
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Bull-Carp
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Congrats! Keep it up, and keep posting here about your progress. |
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Random FML: Today, I was fired by my boss in front of my coworkers. It would have been nice if I could have left the building before they started celebrating. FML The founding of the bulk of the world's nation states post 1914 is based on self-defined nationalisms. The bulk of those national movements involve territory that was ethnically mixed. The foundation of many of those nation states involved population movements in the aftermath. When the only one that is repeatedly held up as unjust and unjustifiable is the Zionist project, the term anti-semitism may very well be appropriate. - P*D | |
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| Newpianoplayer | Apr 7 2009, 08:44 PM Post #31 |
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Senior Carp
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Congrats Frank Do the Quit Smoking aids help |
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| NAK | Apr 7 2009, 09:42 PM Post #32 |
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Senior Carp
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High five, Frank! Congrats on reaching over 2 weeks. People say it's the first 3 days of cold-turkey that are the worst. After 3 weeks you start to get into the pattern of not smoking, and it should only get easier from there.You're right about not avoiding thoughts about smoking. One way or another they are going to creep into your head, as with anything to which you have been used for a long time. It's about confronting those thoughts and saying "no", rather that suppressing them until they build up into cravings again. Good stuff, man. Keep it up. |
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| Frank_W | Apr 8 2009, 04:12 AM Post #33 |
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Resident Misanthrope
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Thanks, everyone! Blondie, what is HR? I'm not familiar with the term. |
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Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin." Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!" | |
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| ilm | Apr 9 2009, 09:39 AM Post #34 |
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Middle Aged Carp
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Yep, what you said in the above quote about the ritual of lighting up is true. I remember the days when people would help one light a cigarette, and cupping the hand around the cigarette, so that the flame would not go out. Smoking was and maybe still is a culture thing. When people get upset that they used to smoke, I remind them that it was the culture back then. Gosh, I was doing the math to figure out how many cigarettes you smoked in a day. How many cigarettes are in a pack? When I was smoking, and giving it up, I would go for long stretches (years) without a cigarette until something upset me that would have me craving a cigarette. I would not be able to smoke now, the cost is out of my budget. |
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| Frank_W | Apr 9 2009, 11:02 AM Post #35 |
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Resident Misanthrope
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Good for you for quitting. 20 cigarettes to a pack, 20-30 cigarettes smoked every single day, for 22 years. And yes, the cost is now prohibitive. Here in Tennessee, which is a tobacco state, for a pack of Marlboro Lights, the current cost is $5.82. I don't know if that's because of the government increase, or the price increase that Philip-Morris put on them. Either way, I can't afford it, and I'm tired of getting ass-raped by both the government AND the tobacco companies for the wonderful privilege of killing myself. WTF?!
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Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin." Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!" | |
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| blondie | Apr 9 2009, 11:59 AM Post #36 |
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Bull-Carp
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Heart Rate Frank. I was curious .. |
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| Grim Reaper | Apr 9 2009, 12:33 PM Post #37 |
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Member
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Really WGAFF? Smoke em if you got em.
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| I prefer my sh!t shaken, not stirred. | |
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10:54 AM Jul 11