Well, it’s been another year, that’s six now, and has anything new happened?
Not really but I will tell you a little story about a friend of mine. I’m not promising it’ll help but I do find it somewhat fascinating.
I’ll call him Nick, it’s not his real name, but he is real.
Nick quit smoking 18 months ago by buying an E-Cig, the one that looks like a proper fag with the glowing end and stuff.
Now he uses something that looks like the front end of a bong.
He’s gone from a surrogate fag smoker to dedicated ‘vaper’ and now blends his own ‘juice’. Nothing unusual except for the fact he’s been on nicotine-free juice for the last year.
I constantly rib him about it but he now has a complex compulsive habit that involves no tobacco and no nicotine and he is as dependant on it as he ever was on tobacco two years ago.
He argues, very eloquently I must say, that he’s no longer a slave to tobacco and free from its health-risks payload, but at the same time freely admits that his vaping just mirrors his former smoking.
I can see his point but he’s still stood on rainy doorsteps getting his fix and still spending his life looking for the next opportunity to vape.
I'm sure there are lots of people like Nick out there and vaping, until the effects of long-term inhalation of smoke-machine fluid can be established, is far safer than tobacco. However, I don’t know about you but I got sick and tired of standing outside in the rain and cold or constantly seeking out the next smoking opportunity.
I didn't quit for the money or the health, more because it was just pointless.
See, I can do short ones...
Written by
austinlegro
11 Years Smoke Free
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Congratulations austinlegro on reaching 6 years and for being a constant source of inspiration with your insightful views on smoking. You're a real leader of this forum.
Congratulations on 6 years. It's a marvellous thing that you always give people a lot to think about and help people to see smoking and quitting in a different light. Thank you
The book I read was 'Scandal' by Allen Carr btw...
I've since learnt that the nicotine trap is of course merely a smoking trap but it all pretty much still holds true.
If you ever take the time to investigate your own smoking habits there's some startling discoveries to be made. The trick is to ignore what other people tell you, forget what you think you know and start again from the basics.
"I was caught in the trap.
Hook, line, sinker and copy of Angling Times.
I was a willing victim to the extent that I didn't even realise I was a victim.
Like most of us I used to avoid the stop smoking adverts on the TV lest the wife and children started pointing the finger of accusation at me. I'd loudly profess, "I enjoy smoking, it's one of the few vices I have." I'd avoid long-haul holidays as I couldn't cope with the flight and then recently, with the nationwide ban, I'd avoid rail journeys too. I spent a week, with my family, in London standing outside restaurants, theatres, museums, hotels and shops grabbing my fix when I was permitted. "I really enjoy smoking."
A week at the bedside of a dying Grandparent, no, this is not a cancer scare, but a half mile return walk from her bedside to find somewhere I could smoke. The same week in a nearby hotel where you had to throw on some grubby clothes and stand alone in an icy car-park just so you can start sucking on the morning Marlboro. "I really enjoy smoking, it's one of the few pleasures I have in life."
There are far more. We've all had them. We put on our rose-tinted smoking goggles and imagine every good time that we've ever had in our lives accompanied by a cigarette.
In the background we were always going to give up. I'll stop when the wife's pregnant, or maybe before the boy is old enough to realise his father smokes. I'll definitely stop when I turn 40, I'm sure they'll cure lung cancer soon, well let's just get Christmas out the way, it isn't Christmas without a fag is it..?
10 days ago I read a book. Before I'd got to the end of it I was a non smoker. Someone had pointed out that I was the victim, that giving-up smoking is not giving-up anything but is actually getting-stuff-back. Smoking is all in the head. The physical addiction is insignificant. I haven't crawled the walls or bitten my wife's head off.
I am the same person who couldn't handle a 4 hour flight but has just completed 250 smoke free hours.
I don't want congratulations or a kick up the pants for being stupid. I don't want a pat on the back or a punch in the mouth for being so spineless.
I just wish that every single smoker could be granted a little Christmas gift of wisdom to understand the nicotine trap and then spend 2008 smoke free."
The book I read was 'Scandal' by Allen Carr btw...
I've since learnt that the nicotine trap is of course merely a smoking trap but it all pretty much still holds true.
If you ever take the time to investigate your own smoking habits there's some startling discoveries to be made. The trick is to ignore what other people tell you, forget what you think you know and start again from the basics.
"I was caught in the trap.
Hook, line, sinker and copy of Angling Times.
I was a willing victim to the extent that I didn't even realise I was a victim.
Like most of us I used to avoid the stop smoking adverts on the TV lest the wife and children started pointing the finger of accusation at me. I'd loudly profess, "I enjoy smoking, it's one of the few vices I have." I'd avoid long-haul holidays as I couldn't cope with the flight and then recently, with the nationwide ban, I'd avoid rail journeys too. I spent a week, with my family, in London standing outside restaurants, theatres, museums, hotels and shops grabbing my fix when I was permitted. "I really enjoy smoking."
A week at the bedside of a dying Grandparent, no, this is not a cancer scare, but a half mile return walk from her bedside to find somewhere I could smoke. The same week in a nearby hotel where you had to throw on some grubby clothes and stand alone in an icy car-park just so you can start sucking on the morning Marlboro. "I really enjoy smoking, it's one of the few pleasures I have in life."
There are far more. We've all had them. We put on our rose-tinted smoking goggles and imagine every good time that we've ever had in our lives accompanied by a cigarette.
In the background we were always going to give up. I'll stop when the wife's pregnant, or maybe before the boy is old enough to realise his father smokes. I'll definitely stop when I turn 40, I'm sure they'll cure lung cancer soon, well let's just get Christmas out the way, it isn't Christmas without a fag is it..?
10 days ago I read a book. Before I'd got to the end of it I was a non smoker. Someone had pointed out that I was the victim, that giving-up smoking is not giving-up anything but is actually getting-stuff-back. Smoking is all in the head. The physical addiction is insignificant. I haven't crawled the walls or bitten my wife's head off.
I am the same person who couldn't handle a 4 hour flight but has just completed 250 smoke free hours.
I don't want congratulations or a kick up the pants for being stupid. I don't want a pat on the back or a punch in the mouth for being so spineless.
I just wish that every single smoker could be granted a little Christmas gift of wisdom to understand the nicotine trap and then spend 2008 smoke free."
Louise - nicely put, as ever - and well done on your milestone
6 years is brilliant, I hope I get to 6 years. The previous posters have said it all but I too was guided by your words of wisdom and for that I thanks you
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Six months tonight...
