Looking forward rather than looking back

Hey there folks

First of all, congrats to everyone celebrating or about to celebrate quit anniversaries! It really is an impressive sight seeing so many people who've made it, who started around the same time as me!

It's been a while since I last posted anything. I did say at one point that for me, holding onto this forum is a bit like holding on to the idea of myself as an EX-smoker and I'd like to get on with my life as a NON-smoker.

It's still a few days until I celebrate my own anniversary (Thursday) and I will be back to offer a few thoughts and observations on what I've been through.

In the meantime, the reason for this post is very specific. Some of you might remember that I had a fairly unorthodox quit method. (See the YouTube video in my sig if you need reminding.)

To recap, the psychology behind it was to think of myself not so much as having stopped smoking but as putting off smoking my last cigarette for as long as possible. First half an hour, then an hour, then a morning, then a whole day, week, and so on. Not thinking long-term but putting off my next hit.

A few days back I found my last fag packet literally gathering dust on top of my wardrobe (gawd, it's dusty up there!) having not even thought about it since around Christmas. I want to celebrate my anniversary with a new YouTube video featuring my last fag but I'm not sure what to do. Any ideas?

(I've not taken it out of the box - I expect it's probably completely dried out and is rather fragile.)

Any suggestions for a theme of a follow-up video are extremely welcome - silly, serious, thoughtful or plain barmy - something I can do with a fag packet and an unsmoked fag that might give pause to anyone who watches.

See you on Wednesday with some thoughts for beginners and will someple PLEASE vacuum get the penthouse ready for me to be moving in on Thursday? ;)

9 Replies

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  • Hi Mate

    Didnt want to read and run. so just wanted to say hi lovely to hear from you mate. No idea about your last fay but If I do will drop back. see you wednesday mate.linda xxxx

  • Hi Plumski :D

    Well done on almost 1 year quit I'm coming up to 4 months on 17th I have given some thought to what you could do with that last fag and it's box/pkt

    I wondered if maybe you could get hold of or make a coffin shaped box [maybe] and have a funeral to finally say goodbye to it kind of symbloic or is that too way out

    Best wishes

    Margxxx

  • Hi Plumski :D

    Well done on almost 1 year quit I'm coming up to 4 months on 17th I have given some thought to what you could do with that last fag and it's box/pkt

    I wondered if maybe you could get hold of or make a coffin shaped box [maybe] and have a funeral to finally say goodbye to it kind of symbloic or is that too way out

    Best wishes

    Margxxx

    Hi there marg.

    Well done on 4 months - that was one of my own watershed periods and I remember coming back here for support quite a lot. The fact that it was in the middle of what should have been summer didn't make things any easier!

    I love your coffin idea - not too way out AT ALL! Unless someone comes up with something else, I'll do it, but probably simplfy it all a bit - just use a black box with a skull and crossbones ;)

    I smoked my last cigarette 11 Months, 3 Weeks, 6 Days, 5 hours and 36 minutes ago. I have £1,970.77 (plus £1,000 spent on a brand new super-telly and sundry expenses to redecorate my smelly living room) that I haven't spent on 12,643 cigarettes and saved 1 Month, 1 Week, 5 Days, 21 hours and 35 minutes of my life.

  • Hi Plumski

    Glad you liked the idea just thought at the years end time to put that fag well and truly to rest also like your idea of black box with skull and crossbones

    All the best

    Marg

  • Hi Plumski

    1st off well done on the continued, sucessful quit.

    I think that the matter of the last cig should be determined by how significant it is to you now.

    If its a big thing in your mind then a lavish send off is called for maybe a Viking funeral (burning boat style) etc

    If its existence is insignificant to you now then just chuck it in the bin, as a piece of rubbish.

    Best wishes

    Nic

  • Hi Plumski

    1st off well done on the continued, sucessful quit.

    I think that the matter of the last cig should be determined by how significant it is to you now.

    If its a big thing in your mind then a lavish send off is called for maybe a Viking funeral (burning boat style) etc

    If its existence is insignificant to you now then just chuck it in the bin, as a piece of rubbish.

    Best wishes

    Nic

    I would go for the lavish send off! After all - stopping smoking is probably the most significant thing you have done for your health and wealth.

    Well done - you are a real inspiration!

  • Great going on your 1 year Plumski.......:D

  • Let it go....

    Dang. Quitting smoking is like leaving a spouse. For some of us it is a spouse we've had in our lives for over 30 or 40 years. Of course it is difficult to get rid of him/her.

    At least when we are a year down the road we no longer constantly think of the old partner. Yes, there are moments of yearning, but they are gone and the pain isn't what it used to be.

    I recommend you let things go. It has been a year, let go of it and forget. If you remind yourself you only torture yourself, like keeping a picture of your ex in your wallet long after the ink on the divorce papers has dried. After all, this much is true: your separation from cigarettes is not like a fatality in your family. It is not a fluke of nature or an auto accident that separates you from a loved one for the rest of your life. It is an ugly, brutal, nasty, hateful divorce.

    Yes, there are momentary pangs, but you are over it now....

    Best, and congratulations on your quit. Welcome to the penthouse (I don't come here much anymore so feel free to change the carpeting and color of the walls....)

    Rob W

    Quit: 18 Oct 2007

    Method: Cold Turkey

  • Thaks for the replies and suggestions.

    For me, smoking has now become something largely incidental and the only times I think about it is when I pass smokers in the street and I have to smell their smoke, or when I can't escape someone's stink on public transport.

    That said, my subconscious still isn't letting me forget the 25+ years I smoked, as I frequently have dreams about it. Either I'm smoking myself (within the dream, sometimes I feel guilty about it, sometimes not, but when I wake up I'm always relieved that I've not really caved) or of people or places I associate with my past smoking "career".

    I'm not sure why I want to do something with my last fag but the NSD publicity, the hope that I might be of some help to others, and finding my packet again and wanting to do something definitive with it are playing around in my head.

    I'd be happy to toss it in the bin, but it just strikes me as a bit of a lost opportunity to do something daft and potentially useful.

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