As I write this I am over 2 days free of smoking, perhaps closer to 3 days.
I always thought my last cigarette would be something I remember. A story to tell my grandchildren about the day I won and how good that last cigarette felt. Truth is, I've had a few too many last cigarettes, and I can't remember a single one of them.
I tried quitting through betting (my other addiction) and nicotine won. I've tried quitting through promising and nicotine won. I've tried quitting through setting goals or what I thought would be a realistic 'deadline' and nicotine won. I've tried quitting with help of electronic cigarettes and nicotine won. I've tried quitting through announcing "publicly" that I am trying to quit, like I am now, putting my pride on the line, and still, motherf*cking nicotine won. I've tried quitting over and over and nicotine usually always, quite easily wins.
What's different this time? nooooooot super sure. The reason I quit this time however, might be the one reason that is valid and I should probably listen to. This time I didn't set myself any goals, I just quit, I have no idea what my last cigarette was or where I smoked it, I know that it was during my last streaming session 2-3 days ago. I also know that at some point I went for a second cigarette and ended up not smoking it, perhaps more significant than my "last" cigarette was the one that I didn't smoke and is still sitting on a table... Oh yeah, the reason I quit is I got sick, a cold, or "the nerd flu" as drewbie calls it, happens every other time I go to an event full of nerds, in this case IPL. This time however, combined with the fact that it was at vegas and I drank and smoked A LOOOOOOOOOOT, hit me quite hard.
The night before I quit smoking, and the night that I quit smoking, I barely got any sleep, I coughed like crazy and my chest was so closed I had to get up randomly so that I could breathe a bit more (whenever I layed down, I could barely breathe) in these last few days, every time I laugh I cough so hard it hurts and I can't stop it, its a big annoyance because I enjoy laughing, its kind of my thing. I haven't played a single game of sc2 in the last 2-3 days, I didn't want to have to deal with the stress of winning or losing and not being able to reward myself with my standard 4 minutes (step out for a smoke).
You see to me, smoking isn't JUST about the nicotine, the real addiction and hard part for me will be filling those empty gaps where I got 4 minutes 10-20 times a day to just sit and relax on my own. I find it incredibly hard to do this on my own (just sit down and chill for a short period of time) Al tough physically I am not very active (partly because smoking counters this), my brain is quite the opposite, and I always like to be doing something, idling isn't my thing. When I win a good game, I like to go out for a cigarette and relax and think of how good I did, pad myself in the back and rescue the better things of that game, is it actually a viable strat? how can I make it even better? should I try it again next game? what if I skip a pair of lings and make an extra drone?. Of course when I lose a game, I -rarely- watch replays (except for zvz lately cause I was a bit lost there) I just go for a cigarrette and 'replay' the game in my head, figure out my mistakes, come back and know what to fix. If you watch my stream you may have noticed this, A lot of the time i'll say why I lost or be excited about trying something next game after a cigarrette break. For these reasons, I avoided playing the game for a couple days, I think not smoking in between games will be extra hard.
I think that to replace this I will work on a different way of analyzing my play, perhaps more interactively. I think I will start analyzing replays more often, sort of like a different version of "inside my head", i'll figure that out.
I hope I can stick through it this time, I hope I can stop smoking cause I really hate feeling like shit and smoking does that to you. I want to start being healthier and even though I think it might hurt my play and my state of mind for now, I think in the long run it'll make me better in every aspect, just gotta figure out how to replace smoking. Quitting smoking for those of you who may not understand it, is like ending a shitty but long relationship, you know its for the best, but its still hard as f*ck and you'll miss it.
For now, I feel better than the last couple of days and so I think i'll go stream for a while (twitch.tv/rootcatz) NOTE IN CASE YOU NOT VERY SMART: may not be streaming at the time you read this.
Your a stronger man than I am Catz, I stopped smoking about 2 months ago, and switched to electronic. then the kit I had died and said screw it. back to regular cigs again.
Everyone I know who has tried to gimmick themselves into quitting (myself included) has always failed. Everyone who decided to just stop has quit successfully. Now that you decided to quit instead of gimmicking, I'm sure you'll do it. First couple of weeks are rough but it gets better after that.
On December 08 2012 03:22 tofucake wrote: Everyone I know who has tried to gimmick themselves into quitting (myself included) has always failed. Everyone who decided to just stop has quit successfully. Now that you decided to quit instead of gimmicking, I'm sure you'll do it. First couple of weeks are rough but it gets better after that.
GL
This is very true in my experience as well, even personally. I picked up a pack a day habit my freshman year of college, and when senior year rolled around, I was tired of smelling bad and having trouble with cardio, so I said screw this and just up and quit. Now keep in mind, I "relapsed" a few times, but about 3 weeks after I first declared "no smoking" my cold turkey mindset became stronger and I haven't felt a craving for 2 years. Good luck Catz, it's all in your head, and once you can you can wrap your head around that fact (lol), everything becomes so much easier.
Maybe it's the psychological aspect of you getting really sick from the cigarettes, even if it was for a short amount of time?
Regardless, I hope you kick the habit Best of luck to you! Try to fill those intervals of "4 minutes 10-20 times a day" with something else instead of lighting up... either a walk around the house, chewing a piece of gum, listening to your favorite song, watching this... + Show Spoiler +
I managed to quit myself just three weeks ago now. I remember just deciding to quit one morning and did it. I haven't had a craving for two weeks. Even with my dad being a complete asshole and smoking inside in the room next to me hasn't gotten me to relapse. Which is strange seeing as I have a personality that gets very easily addicted to stuff.
In all honesty though, for me smoking for the last year has been more cons than pros and the "reward" I used to get just didn't come anymore. I was having insane migraines every other week, usually ones lasting two to three days all because of smoking. Since I quit, I've had ONE migraine and that was because of lack of sleep.
Best part though; I didn't gimmick myself to e-cigs or nicotine gum or any other shitty marketing way of quitting. I just went cold turkey and I'm determined to fucking stay that way. When I started smoking at 14 yrs old, I didn't know WTF I was getting myself into; I just thought it was being "cool" and "badass".
DjWHEAT's blog about his quitting was actually what got me into the mindset of quitting and Ret's blog about him quitting really sealed the deal.
CatZ; stay strong. Don't give into that asshole Nicotine. Tell him to go fuck himself and that you're done. Like DarkPlasmaBall above said, chewing regular gum made it a hell of a lot easier to manage the cravings in the beginning, especially the ones I considered the most important smokes of the day.
Anywho, thought I'd chip in with my stupid story about quitting. I truly wish you the best of luck in your endeavour and I hope to see you post a blog in the future, telling us that you've beaten one of the most disgusting habits in the world.
As you already mentioned, you need an activity that fills up the gap which nicotin and its habit left. I strongly recommend doing 100 push - ups / sit-ups / pull-ups when you feel the urge for nicotin. (You can have many break as you need) With this method i got rid of my bad eating habit.
I am fully aware that it depends on person to person how this method would work, but i am very sure that if you want to get rid of certain habit, you have to force yourself to new habit, otherwise you will end up going back to old habit.
The most important thing is that you need to be devote yourself to other activity that is challanging and need your full focus. AND you need to do this regulary (min is 1 month).
(p.s.: It doesnt have to be 100 push ups, but it should be something that makes you feel aware that this is a small new challange and its goal is making you the person you want to become.)
gl hf!
p.s.s.: The strongest weapon to dealing with bad habit is this one: Do I deserve such a threat from myself? Imo if your answer to this question is no, you should go deeper into yourself and repeat the questioning why you want to do this.
Fight on man! It's lame being tied to something like cigs and worse yet, a lot of times you don't realize how bad you feel until you quit. I highly recommend trying to do some daily exercise, getting the oxygen pumping throughout your body really helps to overcome almost anything.
About those new 4 minute breaks...sounds crazy, but when my dad quit before I was born, like 20 years ago, he simply kept rolling cigaretts to keep his hands busy.
Maybe if you have rolled up about a few 1000 and look at that pile of wasted money, it will click for longer, if not, you got a few thousand really cheap cigaretts to start again ... win win :D
Easy to say since you were/are sick. Ain't saying shit until you actually do it for longer. Tough-love, but remind yourself of this feeling of determination when you are better and the going gets tougher. Kick some ass.
Godspeed, Catz. I smoke, and have quit* two or three times now, for periods ranging from around 3 months to over a year in one case. After about 3 days, the biological drive for a cigarette begins to ebb (the actual time frame for biological recovery can be 3 days to several weeks, I think) and you're doing pretty well. If you've got any habits associated with smoking (ie, eat food then cigarette after) that's the danger zone for starting again in the near term. Just keep an eye on that kind of process, and be strong man. Nicotine is a bitch, but you can dump her if you have the right reasons and good motivation to fight against all the ways it tries to get back in.
Illness is sometimes a good way to start to quit - at least it really underlines in bold why you should quit, and can give you a really strong incentive. (The last time I quit, for over a year, was when I had pneumonia. I couldn't, physically, smoke for over a week while I was in a hospital, with an IV and oxygen tubes. Hard to go outside to smoke when the tubes don't reach and the IV pump doesn't have a long enough cord. Oh, and the nurses would've beat me senseless.) It'll give you a decent start. Just stay the course, stay strong, and ignore any time your body starts to reach for one for whatever reason. Build better habits, and drop the ones that have tobacco attached.
Obviously, quitting isn't quite the right word, because I started again later. And am currently smoking now. I think it's largely due to why I started smoking in the first place, as it seems to be what causes me to start smoking again even after a long time without smoking.
I don't know if this helps at all, but when my grandpa quit smoking cold turkey, after 40 some odd years doing it, he picked up eating sunflower seeds and cashews in its place. This helped him fill those voids of time where he would usually be smoking, so maybe you could do something like that in between games ^^. Gogogo CatZ fighting~
Good job quitting. My dad has smoked for probably 40-50 years, quit in one moment's notice, and started smoking after a year again. I don't know what happened, must've been work stress. Just hope you can do better than my dad.
I was never into smoking, but why don't you stop smoking gradually? What I mean is, you smoke today, then you try to cut the amount, and in the long run it should be minimum or even better - you completely quit. I just don't think it's realistic to just "suddenly stop" successfully. It's like transitioning to democracy. It just cannot happen in one day. ^^
It's not as hard you can think, especially right now if you think you're not being healthy because of this. In 2 weeks you'll already forget about smoking altogether (quit smoking for 1 year and a half right now, and don't feel the need to smoke again at all).
A good thing to do while quitting smoking : Start running !!! Believe me it'll help you a LOT It doesn't matter if you can't run 1 mile, or 10. When you're starting to run, you've already did the worst job, and the rest will come naturally.
And last advice, probably the worst, but i always had a pen to play around me and doing tricks with it. It can helps you not think about smoking ? Or when you think about smoking, just grab something else like picking a fruit and eat it.
"Too sick to smoke" is the best way to quit. When you want a cigarette but you know no matter what it will make you feel bad. Then if you slip your brain remembers the negative experience.
after 3 days the little nicotine monster in your body goes away, after that its just the big nicotine monster in your head that you have to worry about. The mental part of quitting is really the harder part, the physical addiction is nothing. The mental dependence is horrifyingly hard to break.
Smoking is one vice that has no bright side. EVERYTHING that people get from smoking is bad or can be 'easily' replaced by some other activity. It's very hard to me to understand how informed and intelligent people despite their knowledge on the subject can pick cigarette after cigarette and smoke it. But if they do it, it's a sign that quitting it is very hard.
You, Catz, are one of my favourite SC2 player and personality so I can only say this: MAN UP AND QUIT SMOKING!!! Make us even prouder of your actions. Fuck the 'maybe'.
On December 08 2012 23:36 EdSlyB wrote: Smoking is one vice that has no bright side. EVERYTHING that people get from smoking is bad or can be 'easily' replaced by some other activity. It's very hard to me to understand how informed and intelligent people despite their knowledge on the subject can pick cigarette after cigarette and smoke it. But if they do it, it's a sign that quitting it is very hard.
You, Catz, are one of my favourite SC2 player and personality so I can only say this: MAN UP AND QUIT SMOKING!!! Make us even prouder of your actions. Fuck the 'maybe'.
THIS. IS. IT.
I don't think you actually get how it can feel to have a cigarette in the morning.... you can't "easily" replace that. And sure that kick is brought on by the addiction in the first place but still. The upsides are what makes it hard to quit. A vice with no bright side wouldn't even be a vice in the first place. That said it's still something nobody should do because it makes you sick and it's never worth it in the end. I use swedish snus now though, best alternative to smoking there is short of quitting.
all i can say is realize the upside is fleeting and doesn't help with stress aside from the moment you indulge, and that mental dependencies really suck, i keep mine at bay with healthier addictions .. but its the hole in yourself u need to fill if u will ever break the cycle, whatever that may be for you
Everyone needs at least one drug to keep going through (difficult periods in) life.
My mother's is religion (makes endorfin for her). My father's is alcohol. My stepmom, who I loved dearly and passed away from lungcancer this year, was smoking. Mine is cafeïn, in the form of quadrouple espresso in the morning, energy drink in the evening and cola during the day. My girlfriend's is dancing, a lot of it (makes endorfin for her).
None of us can / could stop and to be honest, you don't have to. Because in the end, we are all going to die, whether it be young or old. What's important is that when you look back at life, that you can tell yourself you enjoyed the ride.
Forcing yourself to live healthy but not enjoying it is not worth living life either.
I just hit the three week mark using e-cigs. I got the eGo-T. It's a good cheap e-cig. What kind did you try by chance? Was it the flavor that you didn't like about e-cigs? I've noticed even with the e-cig i'm getting over those times like driving and after I eat where I would instantly go for a smoke. It's also nice to smoke inside and once you get past the short bump of getting used to the e-cig you are pretty much golden. Well thats how I feel.
Good luck to you Catz~! "Take that maybe" out of the title fool!
On December 08 2012 03:22 tofucake wrote: Everyone I know who has tried to gimmick themselves into quitting (myself included) has always failed. Everyone who decided to just stop has quit successfully. Now that you decided to quit instead of gimmicking, I'm sure you'll do it. First couple of weeks are rough but it gets better after that.
GL
This is very true for any habit. Particularly weight loss.
On December 08 2012 03:22 tofucake wrote: Everyone I know who has tried to gimmick themselves into quitting (myself included) has always failed. Everyone who decided to just stop has quit successfully. Now that you decided to quit instead of gimmicking, I'm sure you'll do it. First couple of weeks are rough but it gets better after that.
GL
This is very true for any habit. Particularly weight loss.
Could you please elaborate on this ? Like doing a run just for the sake of it and not running because you want to lose weight ?
Quitting smoking for those of you who may not understand it, is like ending a shitty but long relationship, you know its for the best, but its still hard as f*ck and you'll miss it.
Electronic cigarettes are what did it for me. I looked into it, found that 90% of the information online is fake and planted, and so went to a local smoke shop and talked to the guys for a while. They suggested a brand, and I tried it out. I haven't smoked a cigarette in almost five months.
The craving is still there, but it's far gone enough that I'm ok with the ecig. The gross factor of cigs is enough for me to abstain entirely now.
Go go Catz! It sounds like you're not putting too much pressure on yourself. That's the best way to ensure success. Don't stress yourself out about it. Good job man!
On December 08 2012 03:22 tofucake wrote: Everyone I know who has tried to gimmick themselves into quitting (myself included) has always failed. Everyone who decided to just stop has quit successfully. Now that you decided to quit instead of gimmicking, I'm sure you'll do it. First couple of weeks are rough but it gets better after that.
GL
This is very true for any habit. Particularly weight loss.
Could you please elaborate on this ? Like doing a run just for the sake of it and not running because you want to lose weight ?
Weight loss, Like quitting smoking is a decision that you will only take when you are 100% ready.When your mind and Body is ready, it just happens.
quick fixes like Low Carb diets, intense exercise regimes, weight loss supplemants ect. They almost never work. The reason weight loss is so difficult for most people, is they just arent ready to actually make the sacrifice, the discomfort and have the willpower to do it. So they cheat their diets, or gorge themselees on healthy food, and dont make better choices.
So when he says, people decided to quit, and are just ready to quit. Its successful its because they have come to terms with what they need to do.
Quitting smoking and losing weight are not alot different. Its about a lifestyle change, and sacrifice. For me it really only took 2-3 weeks of struggling before I got used to my new exercise/diet regime. After that, the weight peeled off, despite trying to lose weight for years. Now I have no problem keeping the weight off because my mindset is different.
I never really realized how bad I was eating until I stopped doing it. So after portion control, healthy choices, and small amounts of exercise, I lost something like 40 pounds in 16 weeks, and another 15 in the next 20 weeks. Exercise is really only about 20% of weight loss. Diet control is the rest. When you are ready to make the change, I mean really ready, it will happen, it wont be that difficult. Until that mindset hits, you will struggle. Smoking is no different.
Finally somebody that doesn't say "oh it's just about nicotine". Nope. The hardest part is doing something else. I had no shakes, no nothing. I just didn't have anything to do. That was the hardest part. I'm out now for two years. Gonna stay that way. Don't miss it a little bit. Good luck.
I smoked for about 4 years while I was in the military/deployed. I told myself I was going to quit when I got out, and I did. Oddly enough, it wasn't that hard at all for me, so I can't relate to all the people who say it is hell. It probably helped a lot that I wasn't around any other smokers when I got out though.
I wish you luck CatZ. It's a smelly and expensive habit.
One thing I will say that helps is: look for new experiences. Whenever you smoke a cig, there's an opportunity cost of x amount of time that it takes you to smoke it. You could be spending that x amount of time doing something else. Now think of some things you'd like to do and go do them instead.
GOod luck, dude. I switched from cigarettes to snus. As soon as I get the money, I'll be switching from that to eCig. Friend of mine succesfully managed to stop smoking due to that.
On December 08 2012 03:22 tofucake wrote: Everyone I know who has tried to gimmick themselves into quitting (myself included) has always failed. Everyone who decided to just stop has quit successfully. Now that you decided to quit instead of gimmicking, I'm sure you'll do it. First couple of weeks are rough but it gets better after that.
GL
This is very true for any habit. Particularly weight loss.
Could you please elaborate on this ? Like doing a run just for the sake of it and not running because you want to lose weight ?
Weight loss, Like quitting smoking is a decision that you will only take when you are 100% ready.When your mind and Body is ready, it just happens.
quick fixes like Low Carb diets, intense exercise regimes, weight loss supplemants ect. They almost never work. The reason weight loss is so difficult for most people, is they just arent ready to actually make the sacrifice, the discomfort and have the willpower to do it. So they cheat their diets, or gorge themselees on healthy food, and dont make better choices.
So when he says, people decided to quit, and are just ready to quit. Its successful its because they have come to terms with what they need to do.
Quitting smoking and losing weight are not alot different. Its about a lifestyle change, and sacrifice. For me it really only took 2-3 weeks of struggling before I got used to my new exercise/diet regime. After that, the weight peeled off, despite trying to lose weight for years. Now I have no problem keeping the weight off because my mindset is different.
I never really realized how bad I was eating until I stopped doing it. So after portion control, healthy choices, and small amounts of exercise, I lost something like 40 pounds in 16 weeks, and another 15 in the next 20 weeks. Exercise is really only about 20% of weight loss. Diet control is the rest. When you are ready to make the change, I mean really ready, it will happen, it wont be that difficult. Until that mindset hits, you will struggle. Smoking is no different.
Basically you are saying "People quit when they quit" which is true by its own definition but not helpful at all.
On December 08 2012 03:22 tofucake wrote: Everyone I know who has tried to gimmick themselves into quitting (myself included) has always failed. Everyone who decided to just stop has quit successfully. Now that you decided to quit instead of gimmicking, I'm sure you'll do it. First couple of weeks are rough but it gets better after that.
GL
This is very true for any habit. Particularly weight loss.
Could you please elaborate on this ? Like doing a run just for the sake of it and not running because you want to lose weight ?
Weight loss, Like quitting smoking is a decision that you will only take when you are 100% ready.When your mind and Body is ready, it just happens.
quick fixes like Low Carb diets, intense exercise regimes, weight loss supplemants ect. They almost never work. The reason weight loss is so difficult for most people, is they just arent ready to actually make the sacrifice, the discomfort and have the willpower to do it. So they cheat their diets, or gorge themselees on healthy food, and dont make better choices.
So when he says, people decided to quit, and are just ready to quit. Its successful its because they have come to terms with what they need to do.
Quitting smoking and losing weight are not alot different. Its about a lifestyle change, and sacrifice. For me it really only took 2-3 weeks of struggling before I got used to my new exercise/diet regime. After that, the weight peeled off, despite trying to lose weight for years. Now I have no problem keeping the weight off because my mindset is different.
I never really realized how bad I was eating until I stopped doing it. So after portion control, healthy choices, and small amounts of exercise, I lost something like 40 pounds in 16 weeks, and another 15 in the next 20 weeks. Exercise is really only about 20% of weight loss. Diet control is the rest. When you are ready to make the change, I mean really ready, it will happen, it wont be that difficult. Until that mindset hits, you will struggle. Smoking is no different.
Basically you are saying "People quit when they quit" which is true by its own definition but not helpful at all.
Actually I was saying people quit when they have the emotional readiness and mindset to quit. The reason most people fail at diets or quitting smoking is because somewhere in their mind they are not fully behind the change in lifestyle (they cheat). When they are ready, it happens.
On December 08 2012 03:22 tofucake wrote: Everyone I know who has tried to gimmick themselves into quitting (myself included) has always failed. Everyone who decided to just stop has quit successfully. Now that you decided to quit instead of gimmicking, I'm sure you'll do it. First couple of weeks are rough but it gets better after that.
GL
This is very true for any habit. Particularly weight loss.
Could you please elaborate on this ? Like doing a run just for the sake of it and not running because you want to lose weight ?
Weight loss, Like quitting smoking is a decision that you will only take when you are 100% ready.When your mind and Body is ready, it just happens.
quick fixes like Low Carb diets, intense exercise regimes, weight loss supplemants ect. They almost never work. The reason weight loss is so difficult for most people, is they just arent ready to actually make the sacrifice, the discomfort and have the willpower to do it. So they cheat their diets, or gorge themselees on healthy food, and dont make better choices.
So when he says, people decided to quit, and are just ready to quit. Its successful its because they have come to terms with what they need to do.
Quitting smoking and losing weight are not alot different. Its about a lifestyle change, and sacrifice. For me it really only took 2-3 weeks of struggling before I got used to my new exercise/diet regime. After that, the weight peeled off, despite trying to lose weight for years. Now I have no problem keeping the weight off because my mindset is different.
I never really realized how bad I was eating until I stopped doing it. So after portion control, healthy choices, and small amounts of exercise, I lost something like 40 pounds in 16 weeks, and another 15 in the next 20 weeks. Exercise is really only about 20% of weight loss. Diet control is the rest. When you are ready to make the change, I mean really ready, it will happen, it wont be that difficult. Until that mindset hits, you will struggle. Smoking is no different.
Basically you are saying "People quit when they quit" which is true by its own definition but not helpful at all.
Actually I was saying people quit when they have the emotional readiness and mindset to quit. The reason most people fail at diets or quitting smoking is because somewhere in their mind they are not fully behind the change in lifestyle (they cheat). When they are ready, it happens.
again you are saying it and you are also saying when they can't do it they can't do it.
EPT
. I have faith in Catz's personal willpower to quit smoking. Its just a silly mental addiction, you can beat it!
and you are also saying when they can't do it they can't do it.
