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What do/did you hate about smoking?

7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 16

All the best, felicsdad - we are all going through it at the same time on this forum.

I've quit for two weeks now, which still makes me a relatively "fresh" quitter. Sometimes I still get hit unexpectedly by a hard craving, but they are becoming less and less.

Your point about taking a break is a really good one. I used to need this too, and would always have a cigarette when I was taking a much needed break. What I've started to realise is that I can still take a break, and even go and buy a coffee, without having a cigarette. Afterwards, it still feels like I have had that break!

Therefore, separating the cigarette from the positive thing, and still allowing myself to do that nice thing, has been one of my psychological shifts.

Best wishes!

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7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 3

Back again on yet another quitting journey. I quit back in October and was so determined and managed to get right through the Christmas period with nothing. But last weekend I slipped and let work stress get the better of me; so I decided to seek the support of a forum to help me this time. What I hate about smoking; the points everyone raised already all stand for me. - using every little thing as an excuse to reach for a cigarette. - the cost. Im constantly broke yet always find money for a pack; while the tax on them keeps increasing. - the horrible cough - the constant urge to go out in whatever weather just to smoke - standing outside a bus station or tram stop and being asked for a cigarette simply because im smoking. - the stench. it really is vile. - looking green in the face and unhealthy - lack of interest in food. - having no energy - yellow and smelly fingers. - always being stressed and then adding to the stress. - the look of disappointment on people who care about me when they see I slipped. - the self disappointment after ive smoked post a long quitting spree. Reasons I love smoking... - the chance to get out of the office for a few minutes. This I can do by just going for a walk about.

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7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 16

Wow, StellaBlue - that was a fabulous list! I can relate!

I was talking to a colleague at work today, whose father was a heavy smoker, and who died of lung cancer. She said he had tried to give up many times, but never could. This happened about thirty years ago. She also said her mother was always scolding him for his lack of "will power", but her father couldn't stop, even after getting sick.

I think society's understanding of quitting smoking is a bit more advanced these days. If we all had to rely on will power alone, most of us probably wouldn't be able to quit. I think a major part of giving up is to realise how bad it actually was, and how the addiction stopped us from acknowledging how awful it is in reality.

As you point out, it was also really hard to be a dedicated and addicted smoker, but something we would move heaven and earth to do, no matter the cost.

I feel that focusing on the every-day negative aspects of smoking may be just as powerful, if not more so, than the future potential negative consequences of smoking.

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7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 180

Great thread! I hate:

The incredible amount of money I allowed myself to turn a blind eye to, and how yucky it felt whenever I had to consciously turn that blind eye
Wondering if I smelled
Obviously I always smelled
Telling a bunch of non-smoking coworkers that I'm going out for a smoke break.... again. And knowing exactly how they felt about that
Trying not to smoke in my car. And then smoking in my car.
Winter car smokes - holding the damn thing far out the window (to save my car smell), with no gloves (to save my glove smell), near on getting frost bite, totally chapping my left hand all up
Getting all dressed up to hunch in the cold with my precious smoke in the dead of winter, feeling like a day old turd because there was no justification for what I was doing beyond feeding my addiction
The constant clock-watching to see if I could justify another smoke yet
The whole process of bumming and giving smokes and lighters ... that used to feel social for me, but now it all looks burdensome and pathetic
The sound of my partner's smokers hack, and the accompanying phlegm wads he spits out umpteen times a day.... Ugh, I saw my future, and it was not pretty my friends
The vague sense of shame whenever I was around non-smokers (FAMILY!)
The lies I told to get out of social situations in order to sneak a cigarette... having to do that more than once for long events (like on Christmas!) and feeling how thin my lies got by the end of the night
The smell of stale smoke in my hair (this is the worst cigarette smell of them all, in my opinion)
The way my dog sneezed every time I came in from a smoke and she wanted to kiss my face
The shameful times I smoked in my car, when my dog was in the car with me... and feeling like a piece of sh!t the entire time, but feeling unable to not smoke
The colour of nicotine teeth
My yellow smoking fingers
Seeing the brown nicotine run down the walls in my partners bathroom.... ugh, there is seriously NOTHING grosser than a smoker's bathroom if they smoke inside!!!!
All the times I was on a long distance hike and shamefully flicked my butts deep into the woods because they smelled too bad to collect them and put them in my pack to carry out
Basically all the times that smoking caused me to behave in direct opposition to my values (ie; lying, littering, being disrespectful to other living beings, wasting money, etc etc etc)
How I needed a smoke in order to feel comfortable socially. I wasn't enough on my own, I needed my little crutch with me to prop me up. What a way to promote low self-esteem.
Being the only smoker in a situation always sucked
The times I slacked or was late to something because I needed to cram in a smoke or procure a smoke
The constant obsession whenever I was trying not to smoke
The sheer volume of mental energy maintaining my habit took - do I have smokes, do I have enough smokes, when can I smoke, where are my smokes, where's my lighter, I gotta budget time to stop at the store, I need to quit, why can't I quit, can I bum a smoke, I neeeeeeeeeeeed a smoke, justifying my smoke, I forgot my smokes at home and now I need to double back and be late for work, the wind is too strong and I can't light my match god dammit, I need to smoke two before I go in so that the nicometer is way up, I need to smoke two on the way out because the nicometer dropped too low, what do you mean I can't smoke here, I don't have time to go all the way over there, will anyone notice if I have just a few drags right here, do I smell, this movie is great but I really need to go outside for a smoke RIGHT NOW, this moment is great but a smoke will make it better, man this moment sucks but a smoke will make it better, etc etc etc ETC.

7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 11226

Great thread!

I hate that smoking can cause or make worse practically every health issue and disease there is! I hate that smoking killed my awesome grandfather.

Ashley, Health Educator

Here to help :)

7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 4

Hi,

I am Bipin from India.

I used to smoke when I didn't had to do anything and also in a kind of concealed manner.

After drinking I didn't use to have any kind of control and kept smoking back to back.

This is what I hate nowadays about my smoking habits.

I was indulged in this for 7 years.

I quit out of fear 7 months ago, when I got severe bacterial throat infection.

Since then I never had an urge to smoke and hopefully it will be the same in future.

After quitting, I faced following difficulties:

Dizzines

Heavy headed

Jaw pain

Tired most of the time

Lumpy throat

And above all, that constant fear of something bad about my health.

I'm still coping with sinus problems. But being optimistic is the key, is what I feel.

I am so grateful to have found this online platform to share one's thoughts on smoking.

"We shall overcome one day"

Thanks

7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 16

They sound like familiar stories, although my experience was more like 104 F plus temperatures

The puffing and panting to get up a hill, only to have a cigarette at the top, also sounds familiar.

My partner, who gave up a few days before me, would use an asthma puffer to open the airways, so as to continue smoking, whilst insisting that it was allergies causing the asthma!

There have been some crazy times, that's for sure...

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7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 813

I'm with Steveo88,

I remember a number of years ago sitting outside where I work on break, in the dead of winter, with the actual air temperature of -35°F not counting the wind chill, smoking a cigarette. The Pepsi I was drinking was freezing on my mustache. I was thinking "what the h-e-double-toothpicks am I doing this for"?

That was kind of a watershed moment for me. I quit smoking within the year.

Stay strong.

Not One Puff Ever

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Stay safe & Strong.

Not One Puff Ever (NOPE)

Tim

7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 15

I hate sitting outside in the rain and cold with people I'd not normally talk to so I can feed my addiction. Or, walking up a hill out Breath and coughing and rewarding myself with a smoke, the very thing that's caused the breathing problems! That must be a definition of madness. Good luck with your quit.

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7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 16

I find that holding on to the things I dislike about smoking really helps me through the withdrawal symptoms and cravings. For me, it is/was the following;

Sore and sticky throat

Awful cough

Horrible taste and yellow-coated tongue

Excess phlegm, which was increasing in intensity

Reddish/ruddy skin

Sense of helplessness and lack of control

Fear of ill health

The depressing thought that I was probably killing myself and could not stop

The feeling that I HAD to smoke, even when I was ill or didn't actually feel like one

The smell

The cost

What do (or did) other people hate about smoking?

Interestingly, many of the physical things above seem to have improved quite dramatically in just a week.

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$1,218,967.20

Amount Saved
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Days: 6431 Hours: 21

Minutes: 51 Seconds: 15

Life Gained
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46173

Smoke Free Days
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1,015,806

Cigarettes Not Smoked

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