for the over 40's here, how do you feel? (another cigarette thread)

[RobRR]

Good luck man, I REALLY hope it works for you! When you start, dont expect it to work immediately... it takes a bit, slow and steady youll start cutting down withouot even trying. I found it best for me personally to not set a quit date, cause its just a day to not look forward to, to dred... instead, I just said Ill stop when Im ready, and sure enough right around that two week mark that they suggest, I was about ready.

Ya know whats really awesome? Looking at those people outside smoking in 12* weather (I know youre in Cali and dont get that ) and thinking "I used to be one of those poor bastards!" Its nice to be able to go to the movies without freaking out because I wont be able to smoke for 2 hours, its nice to go out to dinner without getting up between courses for a smoke... its nice to not have to figure out the math of when youre going to run out and where youll be near to buy them... there are a TON of awesome things Ive discovered about quitting, but I havent found one reason why I shouldnt have. Im pullin for ya man, some say its harder to quit nicotine than heroine... Ive never done heroine and heard the withdraw for a couple days is painful as fuck, but I do know that people can quit any drug on earth while continuing to smoke... thats a powerful addiction right there. It becomes a part of every single event in your life from waking up to going to bed, so quitting smoking really is something to brag about! I had better hear you on here bragging in a month or two!

[atomic charvel guy]

thanks Rob, i mean that. at the apex of hell, daily i was eating 6 xanny bars, 5 plus shots of dope, and everything else on top of that.
i went 0 for 7 on the first 7 times i tried to clean up, only when my freedom was taken away (that all depends on what you call freedom, personally the only choices we truly have are smoking or non smoking, paper or plastic, etc.)
did i finally get free of that shit, so getting in trouble in the long run was a good thing as it so far has eliminated living like that, but at the same time
i'm still just a ticking time bomb, i'm very early into my not numb for 24 -7 part of my life. started partying early, and i mean early. when you're
the youngest of 8 kids, you emulate what the cooler older kids are doing, and i never stopped, for any long period of time at least, so i am still learning alot
even though i'm still a pot head. i never , ever mismanaged my life from pot though, and this morning, i felt the mismanagement of the heavy weight
of the cigarettes after all this time. i'm going for it, i have to try at least, i owe it to myself.
thanks again for the encouragement. all of you.

[straycat]

Hang in there Tommy you can do it.I went cold turkey years ago and did fine.10 years later took smokes up again.
Cold turkey'd a second time.Picked it back up in 07 and went to e cigs last year/no real smokes and doing fine.Slowly cutting that down too I never inhaled the e cigs because they are pretty strong.
I put my body thru hell too alcohol in excess,Cocaine,Heroin,Pot. Ditched the dope 25 years ago because I was at the bottom. I mean the bottom where you don't care if you live or die and would prefer to die to be honest.
I got my shit straight thank God.
Had a seizure in 01 and one last Feb that sucked but I'm still here.

Be 60 next month and feel pretty good.Yeah I'm an old fart so what? I can still hang to some degree just know my limits homie LOL.

[atomic charvel guy]

fuck that shit stray, 60 is one hell of an accomplishment. i always have had respect for my elders no matter what the age.
if they are older, you can learn from them. sometimes i think i was born 10 years too late, i'm a huge 70's fan.
always have been, so if you're 60, the 70's was your decade to really let loose, and that was the antithesis of the summer of love and hippie movements.
even AM radio in the 70's was fantastic. that was the beginning of the real excess to follow. i lived through it too, as i stated, i was the youngest of 8,
and my house was on fire at all times with all kinds of traffic in and out daily. i had a blast growing up, too much of a blast that i thought to live any other way
was just not in the cards, and it never was until a few years back.

[atomic charvel guy]

picking them up after 10 years scares me though, not just about the cigarettes, about everything, thus my
ticking time bomb theory. i haven't even tried to quit yet, i should definitely shut the fuck up until i pull off
something significant.

[Hellbat]

Cigarettes were the peak of science in the 20th century man. I think they worked hard to make them as addictive as possible until the mid 80's until insurance companies figured out it was going to cost them money. It's really the formula for wealth in todays world. Make something super addictive and get it out there with marketing to make it young, sexy, and fun. Profit until it gets regulated.

[atomic charvel guy]

in the mid 80's, they got up on national t.v. and stated it wasn't addiciting. righto.
when you can go up and lie like that and not get in trouble, that clearly shows if
you have the money, which they certainly do, you can buy your own justice.
but then again, nobody ever held a gun to my head, it was my poor decision to start,
so i can't get too pissed off at them, in fact, that's pretty much par for the course
when you're talking about those kind of empires.

[tomanyjacksons]

41 now, started smoking when I was 15. Only quit twice in my life, once for basic training in 89 restarted once I was able to and once during my second marriage for 18 months because I was tired of them and went and got Smoke Away only to start again while going through our divorce, of course heavy drinking and other things ensued. I also figured out it's now time to quit and I'm gonna try the electric cigs and Nicorette gum so I have both parts of the habit. I recently tried Smoke Away again and it's different. I'm not sure why they changed it but they did, damnit. Yes I'm basicly trading habits but I think it's a healthier route. Good luck sir, I wish you well.

[atomic charvel guy]

it's definitely healthier, but awfully costly as well. thanks for the well wishes, let's see what kind of balls
are on me tomorrow a.m.

[Hellbat]

Balls are the secret. Every time you have a craving, reach down and give your balls a loving caress. When they are nice and taught, give them a nice gentle Bill Z Bub style shaving.

[Franx]

I'll be 50 in a couple of months and I've been smoking for 30 years now. Never quit, never tried to...
Of course it would be "healthy" to quit, - BUT nothing (well, almost) beats the 1st cig after a gig,
or sitting in the rocker, watching the sun go down and having a smoke (and a beer) !
So, cut it down to those 3 or 4 cigs a day, that would be my plan for the next 50 years

[atomic charvel guy]

don't get me wrong Franx, I adore everything about smoking, all of it, the ripping sensation down your throat,
the exhale of smoke rings, using the cigarette to help get your argument across when barking with friends,
i love all of it, but i didn't like the way i was breathing this morning, i digress, let's see what happens tomorrow, time to light up now though.

[Franx]

... but i didn't like the way i was breathing this morning...

That's something different of course; I am lucky to have no problems so far.
I don't know, - maybe I'll make up my mind, when the doctor says "Quit now, or...", my family would appreciate it !

[vampire dark]

Hey man look its all about getting the power of your spirit and going against that fucking addiction....If you want it you CAN, if not then forget about it.You said that you didn't like the way you heavy-breathed today....I'm sure you don't wanna end up beign a mass of fat walking around the streets heavy breathing and with almost rotten teeth......and even if you have some of those symptoms go on and do it, change the fucking way of living....Its the power of WILL is wat you need ,cause if you want something you get it...you have to be more confident about your self and understand that you like it only because it has poisoned a part of you brain to say such things to you...and the whole thing of going like "in my life I'm going to do whatever I want and take commands of nobody", which is what everyone wants from their lives , (to be free of course) is ironic as long as you smoke, cause you already have someone controlling your life even if they don't have a mouth to say it to you,they just do it without asking you. Maybe you're almost in your 50s ,but I really believe that its really fucking early to start living you life.Its the time when you stop working ,take a pension and go on to live a beautiful life (no matter how many years you are going to live).Its not about being attractive to ladies anymore, its all about your fucking self and feeling good with who you are...

My point in life (although I'm fuckin 16) , is that whatever makes me feel bad for doing it ,I stop it and I change it,cause I know that I'm going to be honest with my self in order to have a good time in my life.I want you to live a long time cause one of my dreams is to leave my country and visit the world and America, so I would really like to meet you when I go there and many other guys from JCF
The difference between suiciding with a gun and smoking cigarettes is that the latter takes a longer time to kill you, tricking your mind in order to accomplish it....
Remember that what you hold on your hands isn't a friend , just an evil fucker that was created to be evil and showing you something that it sin't full of fake pleasures. an addiction.
Even me talking to you right now knowing you from the net ,am more of friend than this thing is.
Hope you will make , my father did and hasn't smoked for 6 years ...he's 51,and my uncle quit a whole life addiction with drinking
Hey!!! start a hobby its gonna help
P.s :Sorry for being caustic

[xenophobe]

41 now, started smoking when I was 15. Only quit twice in my life, once for basic training in 89

I'm 44 now, I started smoking when I was 14. I only quit once in my life, that was in Basic Training and Infantry training in 1990. I shit you not.

I've realized that I'll never be able to quit smoking. I'm in prime heart attack age and haven't had one *knock on wood*. I have decided to get healthy though. Even though I've been addicted to Coca Cola since I was a child, at one point doing at least a twelver a day for several years, I've recently cut back and started eating more healthy. In the past 6 months I've lost about 35-40 lbs just from changing my diet and reducing the amount I eat along with just a little excercise. I'm 5'7" and I was at 225 ish and had a heart attack scare while riding my bike. I've cut out almost all junk food, no more fast food, just natural healthy unprocessed food and cut out my soda consumption. Now I have maybe 1 Coke a day sometimes 2, but I often skip days without having it. If I go more than 3 days without a Coca Cola I go nuts. For the last week or so, I've been hovering at 189. My goal is to get back where I was most of my life, until my early 30's, I was between 155-165. 165 is my goal now. I'm more than halfway there.

I can ride my mountain bike at about 15-18mph average on flat land for about 15 miles before my legs get noodlely. Just cutting weight improved my speed, cadence and distance.

So I was a fatass, now I'm just a bit overweight. Hopefully by the end of the year I should be close to my target weight.

Tommy, good luck with you. I hope you can succeed where I cannot.