Possible alternative for smoking

[mmosu]

she: "Excuse me, do you have a light?"
me: "sorry.. I don't smoke."

^+-+ Excellent, I bet it felt good to say that!

With all the back-slapping going on lately we're going to have a bunch of ex-smokers with shoulder injuries around here  ^+-+ :-X

[Binnatics]

hihi, that's a good one. But please, I have my ancle injured allready... and my knee isn't yet totally acting normal either. I've had my portion for this year I guess :-D

[nexor]

It's a slap on the back Binn, we wouldn't kick you on the kneecap, now would we.........??  :-D :-D

[Art Blade]

It felt very  good saying "No, I don't smoke"  :)

As to the back-slapping.. as long as no-one here intends to make us queue up and slap the last one so hard in the back that the imprint of his hand is still visible in the first guy's back without using blueprint..  ??? :-()

[Binnatics]

 :-X ^+-+

[fragger]

I don't mind all the backslapping, it's helping to dislodge the phlegm :-()

[deadman1]

 ^+-+

[Art Blade]

why.. I wonder how it got there in the first place and secondly, why did you keep all that phlegm on your back?

[Binnatics]

 ^+-+

Allways as sharp as a blade :-X

[PZ]

 ^+-+ ^+-+

[fragger]

 ^+-+

lol even as I try to repress the mental image that conjures up - eww...

[Art Blade]

ehehehe, my thoughts exactly, "ewwww"  ^+-+

[Art Blade]

By the way, last night I dreamt I smoked a cig. Not an entire cig, just like two drags before I put it out. In my dream I noticed that people I know had watched me smoking and I couldn't believe why I did what I did. It felt wrong and I was angry because of having stopped the until then uninterrupted period of time since I had quit smoking.

It was just a dream. I haven't smoked ever since I quit. Last time I went with a couple of smokers outside of the office and told them, "now you may observe how I don't care whether or not people are smoking next to me."  :-()

[Binnatics]

Hihi, that is an interesting observating quest. Some ex-smokers get most furious against any other smoker in their surroundings.
I don't think I'll be like that, and to be honest, I don't think you will be like that either.  :-X
I haven't had that dream yet, but I guess it will happen sooner or later. Something that has such a large impact on one's life as smoking is bound to be represented in dreams when one abandons that. I did have that dream the last time I tried to quit. Don't remember how I felt when I woke up then. This time it will be with relief. Thank god I didn't just kill my efforts ;)

This second week without tobacco is hard sometimes. Well, in general I feel okay. Don't miss it, besides the regular moments. I still try to enjoy the same things I did back then and that works. Now, after diner, I take a coffee and go out in the garden. Sniff the fresh air. That feels nice. But there were a few moments when I had a strong desire for a smoke. Especially with all this rage about rage. The damn game doesn't w@&k good, causing nothing but trouble.... that was a moment that I really longed for a cig.
Out of total frustration I desided to go have a walk outside yesterday night. The weather was horrible, lots of wind and heavy rain from time to time, but I needed to 'break free' somehow. I was able to pick up my monitor and smack it into pieces at that particular moment, so it was a good thing to do. Take some distance and blow off some steam.
Well, that worked. It was cold and I realised that I wanted to go back to my confortable and warm house, but I didn't. After like 10 min. I didn't feel the cold anymore and started looking around. I live close to a river, and when I go walking, I usually walk along side that river. On the "city side" of it. On the other side of the river there's nature. Groups of trees, meadows, a forest a little further... And I started imaginating how it would be as a sniper, out there in the middle of the night when there was a real war going on. I realized it would have been nothing fun. Too damn dark. The darkness in FC2 isn't even close to real darkness. And then the cold, and the rain. No, PC warfare is much more pleasont ^-^

I started to walk back home, and felt all relieft. The craving was gone, I was confortable with myself again. Today has been a good day with no craving moments at all. I remember when doing the weekend shopping I passed a guy who just lit up a fresh sig, and that was the first time I smelled the dirty side of a cig again. My daughter reacted, as allways, quite extreme to the incident, loudly coughing, and I realized that maybe even she got less customized to these moments now. We're moving the good way folks :-X :)

[nexor]

 there's hope for you guys yet......................... :-D

[Art Blade]

 :-D

When I quit smoking I would have those moments when I felt like smoking but at the time I discarded the idea. Now I pass a day and occasionally become aware of the absence  of such longings.

It is funny in a way that I think, "hey, wait a moment, this is when I used to have cravings of sorts.. now I don't have any any more."  :)

[JRD]

Dropping that habit made a huge, I mean HUGE difference in quality of life to me... breathing is everything, everything.

Just today I finished a 10k race under a bright sunny day by the beach in Rio with the sugarloaf mountain as background... I made my best time so far: 59 minutes... less than an hour, with an average pace of a bit more than 10km/h. Breathing heavy and with high rate of heart beats 8)

Breathing like that makes me feel really hard what I was doing to my lungs during the many years I smoked... how stupid I was  :D

As nexor said... there's hope for you lot.  :-X

[fragger]

I wish I could say I don't have cravings anymore but I do, every day. I know I can handle it though. My best defense is the knowledge of how disappointed with myself I'd be if I started up again, as well as how it would be a letdown to all my friends and family who have been so supportive and congratulatory.

I also think about how much dough I'm saving, as well as a bit of extra lifespan :-() I think about how I allowed those things to take over my life and I get angry at the thought that they can still have such a hold over me. I'll be damned if I'll allow myself to become a slave to that weed again >:((

At the same time, I don't want to become a typical "reformed smoker" and start preaching to people. I can talk about my experiences, but I'm not about to start telling anyone how to live. I still believe that if tobacco is a legal product, people have every right to partake of it without harassment or vilification. I have no problem with anyone smoking.

Having said that, I was out walking the dog yesterday afternoon and I saw a couple of teenage boys lighting up. I felt like saying something but I knew they wouldn't listen - I didn't listen when I was their age - and anyway it wasn't my place. But it made me sad to see that nonetheless. Here I am trying to quit and here they are taking it up, solely for appearances' sake. I took it up for the same reasons they did, I thought it would make me look grown up and cool. But all I could see were a couple of young twits who weren't fooling anyone except themselves - just like I did when I was a young twit ::)

[nexor]

Back in 1964 I started smoking because my dad, mom and older brother smoked, and to me it was the right thing to do at the time. My dad smoked very little and he believed that one should only light the first sig of the day after breakfast, we were living in a house that belonged to the company my dad worked for and the house was 5min walk from my dad's w@&k, he came home every day at 10am for breakfast and would only light his first sig after breakfast, he never smoked after dinner either. He always told my brother and I that if we really wanted to smoke, to only light a sig if we really going to enjoy it, if not then get rid of it........ ???? 

That was my motto all the years when I smoked, I never for one moment believed that I was addicted to it, for the first four years after I stopped my three brothers in law and I would have a cigar each when we got together for new years day...... 8)
I have a few friends who smoke, and they all smoke in my presence and so does my wife, I will never preach to anyone because I didn't allow anyone to preach to me, and I will always support people who want to quit.
And fragger my friend the craving will be there for some time to come.............. :o 

[PZ]

Best of luck fragger - addictions affect different people in different ways; stronger in some than in others.  We know you can do it!

:-X

[Binnatics]

Strange to say, but somehow it's kind of a relief that I'm not the only one still experiencing the craving. I was affraid that the whole 'stop smoking' thing was just a passed thing to you (Fragger) and Art, and that for the rest of it I would be the only one still struggling every now and then.
I still am 100% done with smoking, and won't start again, but the moments of doubt are still there. They are less that the last time I tried quiting, but sometimes they still bother me.
What helps is thinking; "What if I lit up a cig? The frustration of the moment wouldn't be gone (I remember numerous time sucking totally angry on that cig leaving it all too hot to handle and unsmokable) and indeed, I would have been super disappointed with myself.

I wouldn't preach to anyone either, allthough I would give some advice sometimes. In fact, where I w@&k, are a lot of drug-addicts. They are our customers so to speak (in prison) and we try to convince them to quit. How would I ever have the guts to get a drugaddict to quit while I can't even stop smoking myself?
Answer: To be honest. I tell them how I quit MJ, and what that was like, and also how I couldn't quit tobacco, after trying.
Well, next time I will tell them I quit tobacco too. Somehow I will change my story.

Anyway, I believe we all will hold on and finally free ourselves of that cruelty. I do really feel the relief allready when I realize that I can still enjoy a 'few-minute-brake' with a cup of coffee in my garden ^-^

[fragger]

Thanks for the bucking up guys, it helps a lot :-X

Binn, you're definitely not alone with your cravings, it's a struggle for me too but it's one I'm determined to win, and will. You will too, I know :)

I've been doing the same thing as you, hanging around outside like I used to do when I smoked and having a cuppa or playing with the dog a bit, then coming back inside after a few minutes. It's kind of like fooling my brain into thinking I've just been out for a smoke and it does help. Gets me out in the fresh air too, without using it as a smoke medium :-()

[nexor]

You guys might think I'm nuts or something         :o   sometimes when you see a very sexy woman walking past and you think to yourself, HELL!!! I'd like to have a roll in the hay with her      >:D  but then as she disapears so does the thought     :-\\ :-(   
I used that method when I got the cravings, hell!! a sig would be nice now, but then I put it out of my mind like seeing the woman disappearing from sight     :-D :-D    it worked for me   ;D     Hang in there guys.... 

[Binnatics]

Thanx for all the support Nexor, I'll remind thatone ;) Seems to help anyway, thinking of sexy ladies  :-D

[nexor]

It's a pleasure mate, all in a day's w@&k      :-))