Monday, June 8, 2009

The Real Countdown Begins!

For those of you who have been following my blog, you know that I have been working on quitting smoking for almost 2 months now. I devised a 2 phase quit smoking plan and have been following it. My quit date is set for July 4th...Independence Day! I now have less than 1 month until I walk away from the cancer sticks for good.

I will admit that there are some days that I have doubts that I can do it. But I think I have more days that I feel I can do it. I believe that my current level of addiction is very minimal. Right now my biggest struggle is with the habit. For example, we were putting together the baby's crib this weekend and I got a little frustrated toward the end. I wanted a cigarette. That is my usual response to frustration. But this time I did not go out for a puff. I took a couple of deep breaths and continued to work on the crib. During these last days and weeks before my quit day, I will be focusing on my triggers. I will need to come up with some alternatives to smoking when I have a trigger. If anyone has some good ideas, I would love to hear them.

I am currently smoking about 10 cigarettes a day. Although, technically I think I am smoking less than that. Yes, I light 10 cigarettes a day, but with SmokeSmart I feel like I am just sucking in air for the first half of the cigarette. So I feel that I am only smoking a half of a cigarette at a time and not a whole one. And there are times that I get about half way through a cigarette and I get a bad taste in my mouth. So I put it out.

Wish me luck during these next few weeks. I think I may need it.

1 comment:

  1. I feel for you Jeff. I recently quit smoking. My last cigarette was June 5th at 8:30pm CST. I had surgery scheduled for June the 8th and they told me I couldn't smoke for 24 hours prior to having surgery.

    I figured then was as good a time as any to try and quit smoking. It was either buy one more pack for that Saturday to make it through and struggle to get through Sunday before my surgery on the 8th or not smoke saturday and have less of a craving on Sunday.

    I've found that as the days go by, the cravings get weaker and weaker. I will admit I was going nuts cause I needed a cigarette badly after sugery. My doctor and nurse told me no smoking until I had the stitches taken out.

    I had surgery on the right side of my face so no nicotine. It slows the healing process. At first, the nurse told me wait 24 hours after sugery to start smoking again and by the time I got home, she called again and told me I had to wait til the stitches were taken out.

    It was a big battle for me not picking up a cigarette, but I've been smoke free since then. I still have a slight craving one for cause I have family that smokes. However, they don't smoke around me or in my house to help me get through this battle that still continues for me.

    I hid my ashtray and lighter so I didn't have any images giving me thoughts of buying a pack.

    If there's any advice I can give you, it's this:

    Hide any ashtrays/lighters. Ask those around you who do smoke not to smoke around you or show the their packs of cigarettes. While you fight to get smoke free, your mind will play tricks on you and they'll get worse if you see others smoking.

    I'd also find something to keep your hands busy. Perhaps learning how to sew or maybe take up a project and build something? I'd also find some kind of snack that's not too fattening. Personally, I bought 2 extra large bags of those Wintergreen Mints at Walmart. They helped me alot and I still use them.

    Another thing I tried that didn't work was popping in those cherry halls. At first they worked when I tried to quit before as they made cigarettes taste extremely bad, but after 2 days of trying that, it didn't matter much what the taste was to me.

    Anyway, I hope you get through this battle and quit smoking.

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