Marking a special day
I’ve never reblogged one of my own posts, but this one has merit. It marks the day I stopped smoking in 2006—or 11 years ago. Would love to hear your story of stopping.
A light bulb surrounded by ashtrays in a furniture store in Spain
I ran into two old friends last night.
Ed was sitting in the restaurant. We greeted one another briefly and he pointed me toward the foyer, saying I would find Helen there. Sure enough, she was standing just outside the dining room holding two cups of yoghurt.
We exchanged a few words and then she asked me to move on because ‘the thugs behind me are going to take this yoghurt’. Beyond Helen were two Blues-Brothers types, wearing suits, ponytails and no sunglasses. They smirked.
And then I woke up!
Egads, why in the world would I dream about Helen and Ed? Yes, they were a very special couple to me, but both died many years ago. Ed had been my first editor, back in the days when I worked on a daily newspaper in Nebraska. Helen was…
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Where to next? 
My wife and I stopped smoking cigarettes in 2012. But we replaced them with ‘vaping’, as it was cheaper, and considerably more socially acceptable. So I never say I have given up smoking, just no longer smoke cigarettes.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Actually I’m boycotting cigarette companies. They’ve never had our interests at heart so I stopped giving them my money.
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Me too. (Hopefully) We don’t buy our vaping products from the mainstream companies, Peggy.
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Good thinking.
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My husband stopped in 2011 and took up this madness of running. I didn’t stop until 2012. One of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Feels good to be smoke-free, doesn’t It! 😁
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It feels great. And stopping wasn’t quite as hard as I expected it to be.
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Bravo!!!!!!
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Thanks. Still pleased with myself.
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You should be!!!!
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Congrats to you upon having conquered a madman. I’ve never smoked, nor has my husband, nor do our sons or daughters-in-law nor do any of their parents. I think the impact we have on our children is everything.
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Yes, my parents both smoked but, thank goodness, our children never have. Such a relief there.
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My mom started smoking when she was a teenager, as did nearly everyone who is a smoker. She quickly got up to 2 -3 packs a day. When she was 36, she said, “No one has ever been able to control me, so I’m not going to let cigarettes control me.” And she quit cold turkey that day and never went back to smoking again.
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Hats off to your mother. I like her style. I quit cold turkey too. I reckon it’s the only way. Never got past about 1 pack a day.
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I had to do it gradually. Eventually, going outside to have a smoke was an annoyance.
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I went outside for two years before saying enough was enough.
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The thing is – we finally made it!!
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Yep, whatever works is good.
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I dropped them 9-11-2006.
I was having surgery (planned) and knew I’d be in hospital for a few days. Figured it was the best shot I had. It worked. Been clean since.
IMO, vaping is the same as smoking. You’re still inhaling nicotine.
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Well done. We ditched them in the same year.
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I gave up a two-pack a day habit 27 or 28 years ago. It was nowhere near as difficult as I thought it would be. I think this was because I never said I was giving up. I used to postpone my cigarette. So, instead of getting up, making a cup of coffee and having a cigarette, I’d tell myself I’d have a cigarette after I’d had my shower. Then it was after breakfast; then while I was driving to work and so on. I didn’t have any withdrawal symptoms or cravings although I became very sensitive to second-hand smoke. Congratulations Peggy!
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I forgot that you smoked, Louise. You did it in a clever way. Well done to you too!
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I quit in the 70s not long after starting. What a great slice of life this vignette.
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Thanks. I often think of Ed and Helen—not just this story. They were very special to me.
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I think story is a way of re-membering or putting them back ‘together’
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Always good to re-live something special.
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In 1979, I was run over and killed by a spiked steamroller. Since that day, I’ve not smoked a single gasper. That’s Pommie strength of character for yers!
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Very impressive. That wouldn’t stop a lot of the dedicated smokers I know.
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Yes, I’m pretty special when you get right down to it. I did try having a ‘burn’ a few days after I was killed outright, but the smoke kept coming out of all the puncture holes.
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Oh yeah, would strip out all the pleasure of a puff.
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I have never smoked cigarettes, but, since the age of 25 (almost 50 years ago), having done it quite often, I have become expert at giving up pipe and cigars. One period of abstinence lasted 8 years. The latest is three years and I don’t even want it any more.
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Good to know you’ve finally made it.
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December 1,1998 at 3AM I quit smoking cold turkey and never looked back!
Well, the middle of the first week, I woke up with a start. I’d dreamt I fell asleep smoking in the very bed I was sleeping in, and that the lighted cigarette was under the bed, smoldering. I knew I’d dreamed it, but checked under the bed just the same…in case there was a cigarette I could finish smoking?! I think so, but the urge left quickly once I realized there was no cigarette there. It was surprisingly easy considering I’d smoked heavily for 27 years.
I’ve never kidded myself. If I ever smoked one cigarette, I’d be taking out loans to pay for more of the miserable things! Fortunately, one almost never is around a person smoking these days and I don’t allow people to smoke in my home or car, which, like cars these days, doesn’t have an ashtray anyway.
Congratulations on your anniversary, Peggy! It is more fun not smoking than it was smoking since society finally woke up and put restrictions on where you could do it.
The hardest part of stopping prior to my successful stop was others at work could still smoke around me in the office or on the production floor. Once that stimulus was removed, not smoking became much easier!
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For the first six months after stopping, I had those I’ve-been-smoking-again dreams.
Very disarming. And yes, it’s made a lot of difference having most places become non-smoking.
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Congratulations! This is quite the feat!
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I am rather pleased with myself
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You should be, yes ma’am.
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Well done Peggy. I know how hard it is to give up. Second hand that is …
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It ended up being a bit easier than I expected, which was a very good thing. Maybe I was just ready.
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I quit about 11 or so years ago. I smoked, Don didn’t, and he hated it, but I just couldn’t quit. Then one day, being aware of a general dissatisfaction (for no reason) I started saying to myself over and over “What if this is enough?” “This” could refer to the moment, or my living situation, or my entire life, or anything at all. It didn’t matter. And it was a rhetorical question. I wasn’t looking for an answer so much as to jog the mind into a different perspective by constantly challenging it with “what if this is enough?” I was relentless, day and night, over and over for weeks. After about three weeks I think it was I just knew that when I finished my current pack of cigarettes that I wouldn’t buy anymore. I quit, just like that, with no withdrawals, no inner conflict, cigarettes just left me. Three weeks later Don dared to mention it to me and to ask if I’d quit. He was delighted of course.
Alison
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What a wonderful story about the end of a relationship—no fights, no tears, just walking away. Can’t remember whether I had any inner conflict or real withdrawals, but the dreams I had that I was still smoking were unnerving for a couple of months.
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(wild Wisconsin-y applause here!)
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Thanks Jean. It was so worth doing or not doing, depending on how you look at it. 🙂
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You’re right, that is an important post. Congrats! That’s not an easy thing to do!
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I’m especially glad that it was a long time ago.
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