Giving Up The Weed

[Gill]

As a non-smoker myself, I'm intrigued by the measures some smokers will take to give up. Apparently, a number of smokers find that taking up knitting helps because it keeps the hands busy!

I was wondering, how many smokers here find that they smoke less when they are in the workshops and busy with their hands? And are there any tips that could help woodworking smokers who intend to try to break the habit in the New Year?



Gill

 

[tim]

Gill

I used to smoke pretty heavily - 40 a day and just gave up one day. I know that not everyone can stop straight away but its worth a try. I was prepared to try more gradual processes if I failed but I didn't and am really glad it didn't involve a long drawn out period of patches, gum etc.

The simple, no ******** factor is that the smoker has to want to stop rather than others telling them to stop. Psychologically the other thing to get your head around is that you aren't giving anything up ie making huge sacrifices but instead are taking up living longer. I found it much easier when someone offered me a cigarette to say "no thanks I don't smoke" vs "no thanks I've just given up" - which seemed to then focus a conversation around smoking etc etc. which doesn't help.

Sounds a bit new age semantics but I haven't smoked for about 8 years.

I also don't recommend waiting til New Year. What's the point?

I also know of several mates who tried hypnosis and acupuncture - to good effect.

Good luck to those that are trying.

Cheers

Tim

 

[Taffy Turner]

And are there any tips that could help woodworking smokers who intend to try to break the habit in the New Year?
Gill

Buying a Trend Airshield and wearing it all day should do the trick!

Taffy

 

[mr]

Smoking inside a trend airshield should provide an even better tobacco hit. :lol:

 

[srs]

I smoked for a few years but the better half decided that I was to give up there and then and fair play to her incentive system I managed it... She told me that there was no more fun in the bedroom till I had given up for a month. And no slipping out of the house for a crafty one or a smoke :lol:

 

[Les Mahon]

As a smoker I can say that I do smoke far less when I'm busy in the workshop - I had never really thought about it!

To be honest, I smoke far less now then I used to anyway - due to a combination of factors, the smoking ban over here, not smoking in the house because TLOML is pregnant, and inclement winter weather making it mighty unpleasent to go outside evry time I want a smoke!

smoker has to want to stop

That is the fundemental requirement for kicking any addiction! I often wonder about Alan Carr's seminars where the blurb says you don't have to want to give up, just pay th x hundred pounds and come to the seminar and he can make you quit - I would have thought that the willingness to part with serious money to go to a lecture on giving up smoking means that you want to stop!

Les

 

[martyn2]

use to be on 60 a day i was on the road a lot then on day jan 6th 2001 decided to give up went through hell used patches and have not touched one since as it happens it save my life it was discovered 4 months later i had Diabetes quit badly and now inject insulin 5 times aday so it was good wind that blow on me that day.i use to put the money i save in a jar it paid for my first router a trend and my bother in laws wedding

but you need a dictraction if you give up

Martyn

 

[Guest]

Another incentive to stopping is to buy or set your heart on something you can't really afford. Linking stopping to something you want more than a cigarette really does help.I bought a boat but to afford the running costs meant "No Smoking"

 

[tim]

Jaymar's suggestion is a good one - but would have taken more willpower than I have. A publican I know gave up along with his wife. They put the money away and went to Barbados for three weeks at the end of the year! Makes you think.

T

 

[Alf]

my bother in laws wedding

Freudian slip, Martyn? :lol:

The New Year thing has always struck me as odd - the last thing you want to give up over such a stressful time is some stress relief surely? Ah well, lucky for me I never started - I'm very, very bad at giving up addictions.

Cheers, Alf

 

[martyn2]

They put the money away and went to Barbados for three weeks at the end of the year! Makes you think.

T

ho yes when i gavve up it was £4.25 per packet in my case 2.5*£4.25 = £10.625*365 £3878.125

says it all

Alf sorry you could be right

martyn

 

[Chris Knight]

I'm an expert, I have given up lots of times!

So far, my record for not smoking after giving up is 7 years - it was a Christmas party that undid me that time - you have been warned!

I don't do things I like by halves so I smoked heavily when I was smoking (note the clever use of tenses here - real English is so much easier to understand than texting :lol: ) and for me the only answer was cold turkey. If I could get over the first 24 hours I knew I was safe(ish). Cutting down and patches didn't seem to do much for me but getting plastered and smoking 100 **** the night before giving up was a pretty good way of making the next 24 hours without a *** bearable.

The horrible truth is, that as much as I dislike the smell of other folk's cigarettes these days, I still want to have drag on many, many occasions.

____________________
Chris

Currently two years ... and counting

 

[matt]

My wife and I went to Bruges for a long weekend. Went out one day and both forgot to take our cigarettes. Then just did not bother taking them out with us. I just stopped and she became a social smoker for about a year before giving up altogether.

That was the third time that I had given up at the drop of a hat. Haven't restarted again this time - have absolutely no desire to.

Giving up smoking is big business, hence why those that sell patches, books, etc make a big deal out of it. Put it in to perpespective and excercise your choice and it really is easy to just not do it.

Best bit of advice that I have heard (from an ex-smoker of about 20 years) was that the mental desire to smoke never goes away completely. Once you realise this, you stop thinking about it so much.

 

[tim]

Best bit of advice that I have heard (from an ex-smoker of about 20 years) was that the mental desire to smoke never goes away completely. Once you realise this, you stop thinking about it so much.

If that helps people then fine but I have to say that I now have absolutely no desire to smoke, find it odd that I ever smoked and am really glad I don't do it anymore. I am not evangelical in the slightest about it - its all about choice but its also clear that the giving up process does affect people very differently.

Giving up smoking is big business, hence why those that sell patches, books, etc make a big deal out of it. Put it in to perpespective and excercise your choice and it really is easy to just not do it.

I completely agree with this.

Cheers

Tim

 

[gwaithcoed]

I worked in the coal mining industry, and when we were underground we never thought about smoking, but boy oh boy when some of the miners came up the pit it was into the bath house, strip off and down to the clean end to get a ciggy. They would then go into the showers and stand washing themselves ciggy clamped firmly between their lips with there heads prodruding from the shower like chickens.

I was still smoking when I was made redundant in 1988 but I got up one morning and decided to pack it in. Don't know why, hadn't thought about it just did it and had no problems.
In 1993 the colliery closed and I had a phone call from the contracting firm charged with salvaging the colliery asking me if I would go as electrical engineer whilst the salvage operation was completed.
The first morning back, went to the records office, picked up the log books which had to be checked and signed,as I had done when working for British Coal, went back into my old office ,sat at my old desk, and reached into my pocket for a cigarette.

I have never started to smoke since, but I always light one up after midnight at new year, but thats something I do when remembering a very good friend who has sadly passed away.

Alan

 

[Howjoe]

my bother in laws wedding

Freudian slip, Martyn? :lol:

The New Year thing has always struck me as odd - the last thing you want to give up over such a stressful time is some stress relief surely? Ah well, lucky for me I never started - I'm very, very bad at giving up addictions.

Cheers, Alf

New years (eve) is the only time I do smoke - I get one big fat cigar and take nearly an hour to smoke it! That's it for the year.

Cheers,

Howard