My Reasons to Quit

[Levs]

Two very importants reasons are called Ellie (almost 3) and Oliver (4mths)

I suppose Ellie was the final staw before I stopped when she copied me smoking with a lolly stick, it was horrendous to see and of course my instant reaction was to go and have a smoke to get over it :confused:

I have been lucky (or unlucky depending on your viewpoint) that I have not been affected by all the usual bits that come with smoking, the obvious ones that is, no cough, don't get out of breath really easily, at least no easier than a person on my fitness level that doesn't smoke, so they were never a reason for me to quit (which is where the unlucky point comes from)

I thnk I have found more reasons to stay stopped than I had to stop in the first place. Silly things, like going to bed. I didn't smoke in the house so went outside to smoke, so come wanting to go to bed, if it was in the middle of a program that I thought oh i'll watch the rest in bed, I couldn't, cos i'd have to go and have a smoke first which meant by the time I got to bed I had missed at least 10 mins. Not the 1 min it now take me now, So I can go to bed when I like and not plan it around having a cig.

That goes for most things in life now, I don't plan it around smoking, which I love. I don't think right, i'll have a cig before I get in the car. (I never smoked around my children, so didn't smoke in my car if they were in it) and then work out how long it will take me to get where I am going and then have another when I get out of the car. It was more of a military mission if I was on my own as I won't walk down the road with my kids whilst smoking so I would have one before we leave, one when we get there, frog march round the shops so I could get back to the car and put the kids in so I could have another cig. I love the fact now I don't have to think about it. I can walk around for ages and not worry that I NEED to go and have a smoke.

It didn't really bother me at the time, but now I look back and realise how regimented my life was by smoking. Whereas now its not and that is now my main reason for not starting smoking again as I would hate to go back to that.

[nsd_user663_3633]

I hear that - not planning life around those stupid white sticks is one of the biggest gains from quitting.

The example we set our children is up there too - Alexander - 27 months old.

I hope he is never daft enough to start. Like you, I never smoked in the house or in the car or any enclosed space he would ever be - so life was a constant battle to get enough nicotine.

Some good reasons you have listed there - obviously VERY important to you and they should help you succeed.

The very best of luck.

[NicFirth 10 Years Smoke Free]

Isn't it crazy that we let this drug addiction play such a large role in our daily life and decision making.

I remember the panic of running out and not having time to get some more, which would usually lead to me being late rather than missing out on fags!

Great reasons, there.

All the best

Nic

[nsd_user663_2783]

What a positive thread and with good reasons to stop. Good luck Levs

Nic - If I ran out of cigs the night before the first thing I would do in the morning is run out to the newsagents (fully dressed I might add - didn't want to frighten the neighbours!!! LOL) and get my cigs, run back and light one as soon as I shut the door.

Ooooh it is so nice not to have that panic feeling anymore.

[nsd_user663_3675]

Great positive post and loads of incentives to stay quit that probably apply to most of us!

I just did't realise how controlling it is to smoke and how much of my life was taken up by it!! Now I find that I have so much time and get things done in plenty of time as I don't have to keep stopping to smoke (didn't smoke indoors) and don't get that fidgety feeling after a certain period without one and then get snappy!!

I hope writing things down has helped you to realise that you are doing a good job, good luck!

[nsd_user663_3633]

and how much of my life was taken up by it!!

Indeed, quite literally... I have been quit 34 days now and according to my quit meter I have not smoked 668 cigarettes that I would have done in that time.

So how much of my life was taken up by it? 10 minutes to roll and smoke 1 cigarette.

So -

668 x 10 = 6680 minutes

6680 / 60 = 111.33 hours

111.33 / 24 = 4.63 days.

Yep - in just over a month, I would have completely wasted nearly 5 days doing nothing other than poison myself. And that's assuming 20 per day, in reality I probably smoked more than that (it's hard to count on roll-ups, so I put in rough numbers that came up with the right monetary cost).