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

[atomic charvel guy]

how do you feel? I just got back from my morning walk to get a coffee and some cigarettes, laboring all the way back.
the 4 block walk there isn't so bad but the last 3 blocks home are tough. granted i did get fuckin' plowed, and plowed hard by
a car not long ago while on my bike. was bed ridden for over 3 months, and am still not right whatsoever.

anyway, at 47, which is an absolute miracle, i never thought i'd make 30, then i thought i'd never reach 40,
and now pushing 50 in 2 and half more years, i'm thinking it's time to bag the cigarettes. it's really a simple
decision, they cost 3,000.00 a pack, and they kill you. but just from walking i could really feel my body and lungs just saying
"tommy, i appreciate all the baggage you've dropped off along the way the last 4 plus years, but can you please just
stop pouring filthy smoke down here, fuck!! for godsakes man! wake up!!"
through it all, i have retained a very youthful appearance, and trust me when i say i should look older than Keith from
the Stones with the way i raged for 43 years, but i must say i feel like i'm dying. from quitting all the other drugs, outside of pot,
(the only way for me to do that was when i finally got in trouble back in '08. and it wasn't for drugs or drunk driving etc.)
i think the only way is cold turkey. why do they call it cold turkey? i like cold turkey, it's pretty tasty in a sandwich.
they should just call it "cold". anyway, i still don't think i will make it to 50. not a chance. but is my punishment to continue living
without all the bells and whistles of the past to make up for said raging? I don't know.
but at least i know that i don't know. i need some serious input here on anyone
who has quit cigarettes. i'm a smoker, all the way, marlboro red soft pack, 1 a day. it's not good. why does it take this long to
figure that out? oh yeah, because i am fuckin' stupid, thus the asking for advice here.
can't go the electronic cigarette way, i'll be back on the reds in a day or two.
hope this monday morning is as beautiful outside for everyone as it is here.

[Gartron]

Hey it can be done ...I quit a 20 a day 10 year habit by cold turkey...rough as fuck for a couple of days but by the time your a week in its not to bad.

Personally I don't know how anyone can afford to smoke any more!!

[dvscool]

I finally quit after 25 years. I think this time I'm really done. Jan 1st/2011 I quit for about the 7th time. I used NIC gum. Then I got addicted to the fukin gum but I didn't care. At least I wasn't smoking. Now I'm running 3KM every other day. Lost some weight. Feeling pretty fukin good. I was pretty hard on my body (like alot of us) for a long, long time. It deserves a break....

It CAN be done dude. Its does suck. But it CAN be done.

[DonP]

I'll join you on the Highway to Hell Tommy. I used to be in great shape, working out at the Fullerton Gold's Gym. I was still working out until I had my head-on car wreck in 2007 which laid me up in the hospital for a month. Now I teater-totter in the balance between ok health and going down the shitter. I have the typical 3 - Type II, High Chloresterol, High Blood Preasure. I've cut out all "good stuff" and eat healthy now, but I just have no motivation to exercise. My leg is F'ed up from the accident - feels like a spranged ankle all the time.

Luckily I never got into smoking, but smoker's are usually not fat, so it's like pick your poison.

Oh, and I'm 1 year behind you at 46.

[atomic charvel guy]

great words here fellas. i stopped smoking once for 9 months back in'96, went to the florida keys to go tarpon and chick
fishing, the latter was successful, the tarpon were not, and i started right back up when i saw the captain of our boat thoroughly enjoying his cigarettes.
"i'm on vacation, it's no big deal, i'll stop when i get back home" - my friend josh was like you're such a moron.
i like hearing that you guys have left them behind and hats off for doing that. i'd say Philip Morris has a few beachfront
properties from my donations over the decades.
Don, i didn't know about your car wreck. nothing like one of those to throw everything into reverse huh? i want to exercise too but as you said
i also have no motivation. i'm 5' 10" and about 155 right now, i'm usually around 175-180, so if i pull this off somehow (after today of course, there's nothing you can do today that can't be done just as well tomorrow, ha haa!)) i could maybe come out of this thing looking o.k.
i'm 47, but i feel 75, and that's the truth.

[atomic charvel guy]

Garton,
i agree, there will be some major fallout and withdrawals, but after a week, if i can get that far, you definitley
have a shot. you just can't pour smoke into your body for a thousand years and not have some kind of disastrous results.
the sick part is i have known this my entire life, but did i stop? of course not.

[bonghits]

Hey Tommy. How's it going man? I don't really have any words of wisdom nor any good advices to offer but I just want to say that I'm happy that you're still with us. And I used to smoke, Camel Wides to be exact, and one day back in 1999 I ran out of smokes, was too lazy and broke to get some more and haven't had a puff since. Crazy, I know but that's how I stopped. I didn't have any plans to quit but that's how it happened for me and I hope that by doing so I can be around long enough to see my kids grow up and maybe even be a grandpa. Take care my friend.

[atomic charvel guy]

mikey! how the fuck are you man? sometimes the simplest situation is the answer. think of how many thousand dollars
you've saved. nice job.

[Codex]

I smoked a pack of Kools a day for 23 years and quit cold turkey on my 35th birthday. A week later we found out my wife was preggo. Talk about perfect timing! I was one of those "I'll quit smoking the day I die" types and all of my friends and family had no hope of me quitting because I was so adamant about quitting when *I* wanted to quit and I had no intentions of doing so. That was almost 3 years ago and I haven't had one since.

Anyway, the only advice I have is that you will not quit unless you are absolutely ready to quit. If you're mentally prepared, it will make it that much easier.

[CMH (OH)]

Agreed. I quit about 5 years ago. Took a couple tries to fully quit and I went back to it a couple times at first, but once you are mentally ready and "want" to quit, it gets much easier. I did the patch for the first couple weeks to prevent murdering strangers, and after that I was finally able to quit for good.

Have to agree with the above sentiments on the costs nowadays. There would be no way I could afford to smoke anymore anyway.

[atomic charvel guy]

my biggest problem is just that CMH, after an hour if i don't smoke, i want to start lopping heads, but
the way i was breathing heavy today, i don't think there's really a choice here. we'll see what happens tomorrow a.m.
Vegas Line that i get smokes tomorrow- Even money, maybe 9-5, or worse, 8-5.
Vegas line that I don't get smokes tomorrow 15-1.
the mental want to stop is there, the physical end of things is a much different ballgame. not necessarily
that one is harder than the other, but with both to conquer, it's gonna take some balls on my part. i mean fuck,
i have six fingers on my right hand, two pinkys, one of them is a marllboro though, just gonna have to cut that finger off.

[dvscool]

I would use a patch or gum to get anyone over the hump, for the love of god don't try quiting without something, theres no need. They at least take the edge off.....

[ginsambo]

I ain't in the over forty catagory just yet, but I got to say if it wasn't for self harm via cigarettes and other vices I would seriously would have committed mass murder by now. I think there are several personality flaws or strengths in an addiction. You know the type, can't drink socially, goes out for the beer not the company and drinks 3 pints of Stella to everyone elses 3/4's, can't handle their liquor but can drink everyone else under the table. I do a physical job, have zero bodyfat and can work all day twelve hours straight humping or digging but you do begin to notice in your thirties that it does fuck your lungs aerobically. You only really notice the damage when you start running.

Problem is modern life is too banal and all the banal slickers are taking the fun, the money, but more importantly the humanity out of it.

If everyone jumped off a cliff every once in a while, or just went for a 10 mile run to get back in touch with themselves and what it is really about, then hopefully the good people of the world, who care, would see fit to do something about it rather than ritualistically abusing themselves instead and we would kick all these lame powertrip, narcissistic, egomaniacal, powertrip fuckers out of office and create a better, caring society, because most of them use people like we use cigarettes and they need to in order to support their tiny minds.

Problem is all the best people are in mental institutions and we are lions lead by donkies. It's an evil world and cigarettes are one misguided way fo dealing with it, rather than mind fucking yourself with the alternatives.

Think like a child again, do what the fuck you want, when you want, don't give a fuck about issues and other people and you'll give up the cigarettes, well either that or become a full blown alcoholic with a serious cigarette habit...it can go either way.

How people can become fat...well I just don't understand that one. If you are restless, you will never be fat. Fat like some overindulgent ant maggot in a nest being fed by workers ants, I know that ain't true but that is the image you convey, I just don't understand it. Take up smoking or something FFS.

But I understand that just like smoking and my words, it is all bullshit. But seriously, this isn't a self help mantra or anything but it is true, you don't owe it to yourself to be healthy, you owe it to other people, because without your influence, no matter how small or how occasional, the world gets out of balance and gets to be a fucked up place. When whole swaths of people start to take a back seat, it gets to become a nightmare.

PS: I heard that masturbating in public helps beat the cravings, at least you will be offending people at any rate.

[Ward]

I quit butts ten years ago at 32. Wasn't easy, but I'm glad I did it.

Assuming you're not quitting pot, you've at least got that. Not saying you should toke up every time you want a butt, but I know it made giving up tobacco easier for me knowing that I could smoke something

[atomic charvel guy]

DVS- i agree, why not limit the suffering? but at the same time, by suffering you can learn, and earn the mental
saying to yourself-"i never have to feel this way again" much like it was getting off of dope and pills forme,
which the last time in '08 took me about 54 days just to get to sleeping 3 straight hours in a night, my habits
were at alarming levels.

Ginsambo- I've thought like a child my whole life, i never grew up, I still haven't, I very well may never, but i
do understand your points, and thank you for them, i like to look at all sides of suggestions and arguments before
i ultimately come to my wrong decisions, haa haa!!