Giving Up Cigarettes

[Ierrellus]

I was a teen when I first met
The demon lover--cigarette.
I was a teen; I was a fool;
But he was popular and cool--

For he was loved by movie stars
And soldiers sipping beer in bars.
No surgeon general warned of death
For those of us who breathed his breath.

At his first kiss I coughed and choked;
But, being obstinate, I smoked.
This was no friendship formed in haste;
I had to cultivate his taste.

He followed me for fifty years,
With food or drink, with joy or tears.
Through good relationships and bad
He was the closest friend I had.

Now as I try to break his spell,
He tortures me with living hell;
But time can heal 'till I won't miss
His intimate and toxic kiss.

[WendyDarling]

Enjoyed your poem. Quitting strengthens one's willpower tremendously.

[Ierrellus]

Enjoyed your poem. Quitting strengthens one's willpower tremendously.

Thanks. I've read that it takes 72 hours to get the nicotine out of one's system and about 90 days to rid oneself of the psychological dependency. I've not had a cigarette so far today (Sept. 20th); but I feel the torture of the devils of addiction already. I must get past the urge.

[WendyDarling]

Nearly six years have passed and the desire remains. The actual separation took two weeks initially then an additional six months or so following to wrap it up.

[Ierrellus]

I did a three week separation. During the first week I smoked 1 cigarette per waking hour. During the second week I increased the time between smokes. During the third week I was down to 3 cigarettes per day. I figured I could quit at that rate. The urge gets strongest after I eat or drink something. At those times I try to find a distraction from the craving. So far, so good. One smoke free day so far. May I add to it.

[WendyDarling]

Stick with it Ierr. You are definitely gonna be jonesing for a good bit. Avoid the people who are known to cause stress. If coffee and cigs were your thing, now you export your tastes to hot tea or cocoa. Change other parts of your routine that included cigarettes. PM me if you're struggling.

[Ierrellus]

The demons wail as if I were torturing someone I love. Day 4---I sleep well. Fill the new pockets of desperate time with Vonnegut. Indulge in ice cream and Werthers. Hell comes from the thought that I am giving up something after having had to give up so much. But that's the adversary's rant. Day 4 hurts from losses of loved people, places, things.

[Pneumatic-Coma]

Enjoyed your poem. Quitting strengthens one's willpower tremendously.

Indeed, try and think of it as a long term gift to oneself. pointing that out take time for yourself and not your habit. I wish you much luck and the best with it.

[Pneumatic-Coma]

The demons wail as if I were torturing someone I love. Day 4---I sleep well. Fill the new pockets of desperate time with Vonnegut. Indulge in ice cream and Werthers. Hell comes from the thought that I am giving up something after having had to give up so much. But that's the adversary's rant. Day 4 hurts from losses of loved people, places, things.

Breathtaking yet almost made me wanna break down...

[Ierrellus]

3 weeks, 4 days--no cigarettes. Still wish I had one.

[Meno_]

And then there is the sobering thought, which helps to overcome longing of another day- what if You don't quit? With me it s liquor, and we all know the consequences of defying sobriety.

[Arminius]

Ierrelus, if it is true that you are now 74 years old and still smoke, then I ask you: Did you never have some problems because of your smoking when you were some years younger?

[WendyDarling]

Congratulations Ierr!

[Ierrellus]

Ierrelus, if it is true that you are now 74 years old and still smoke, then I ask you: Did you never have some problems because of your smoking when you were some years younger?

Not really. The problems now are expense and rhinitis.

[Arminius]

Ierrelus, if it is true that you are now 74 years old and still smoke, then I ask you: Did you never have some problems because of your smoking when you were some years younger?

Not really. The problems now are expense and rhinitis.

Do you really want to give up smoking or not?

[Ierrellus]

Ierrelus, if it is true that you are now 74 years old and still smoke, then I ask you: Did you never have some problems because of your smoking when you were some years younger?

Not really. The problems now are expense and rhinitis.

Do you really want to give up smoking or not?

Yes. But this habit is a major demon. Each attachment, mental or physical, to smoking has become a hungry mouth, screaming for its erstwhile satiety.

[Arminius]

It is not easy for you to give up smoking. Right?

When I - as a moderate or average smoker - gave up smoking in 2005, I first did not intend to give it up but to just smoke less, and after some weeks I smoked merely a very few cigarettes, then I thought „if so, then I can also smoke no cigarettes“. The whole process took merely some weeks. It began without the intention of giving it all up, and then it just happened with a little help of my friend: logic.

[Ierrellus]

And then there is the sobering thought, which helps to overcome longing of another day- what if You don't quit? With me it s liquor, and we all know the consequences of defying sobriety.

It's been eight weeks and five days since I had my last taste of alcohol--this after at least a quart of beer per day for over 45 years. For me the alcohol was no problem to give up, but the cigarettes were and are.

[Ierrellus]

It is not easy for you to give up smoking. Right?

When I - as a moderate or average smoker - gave up smoking in 2005, I first did not intend to give it up but to just smoke less, and after some weeks I smoked merely a very few cigarettes, then I thought „if so, then I can also smoke no cigarettes“. The whole process took merely some weeks. It began without the intention of giving it all up, and then it just happened with a little help of my friend: logic.

My method for giving up cigarettes was a three-week program. During the first week I smoked one per hour and increased the time between smokes in weeks two and three until I was down to three per day. So far I've gone four weeks and three days without a smoke.

[Arminius]

It is not easy for you to give up smoking. Right?

When I - as a moderate or average smoker - gave up smoking in 2005, I first did not intend to give it up but to just smoke less, and after some weeks I smoked merely a very few cigarettes, then I thought „if so, then I can also smoke no cigarettes“. The whole process took merely some weeks. It began without the intention of giving it all up, and then it just happened with a little help of my friend: logic.

My method for giving up cigarettes was a three-week program. During the first week I smoked one per hour and increased the time between smokes in weeks two and three until I was down to three per day. So far I've gone four weeks and three days without a smoke.

But you still smoke.

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Still smoking over here. I'll quit maybe next year when I'm thirty. Not in a hurry quite yet.

[Ierrellus]

It is not easy for you to give up smoking. Right?

When I - as a moderate or average smoker - gave up smoking in 2005, I first did not intend to give it up but to just smoke less, and after some weeks I smoked merely a very few cigarettes, then I thought „if so, then I can also smoke no cigarettes“. The whole process took merely some weeks. It began without the intention of giving it all up, and then it just happened with a little help of my friend: logic.

My method for giving up cigarettes was a three-week program. During the first week I smoked one per hour and increased the time between smokes in weeks two and three until I was down to three per day. So far I've gone four weeks and three days without a smoke.

But you still smoke.

No I do not smoke. 5 weeks, 1 day--absolutely no tobacco. Funny thing, I dream I'm smoking and drinking. The dreams are vivid.

[Arminius]

Still smoking over here. I'll quit maybe next year when I'm thirty. Not in a hurry quite yet.

Yes, that's ok. How many cigarrettes do you smoke per day?

[Arminius]

But you still smoke.

No I do not smoke. 5 weeks, 1 day--absolutely no tobacco.

Welcome to the non-smoking club then.

Funny thing, I dream I'm smoking and drinking. The dreams are vivid.

Funny thing - in fact.

You want to smoke and drink again. Right?

[Ierrellus]

Part of me wants to smoke and drink; part of me doesn't want that. I went to an AA meeting for help. At the meeting, before and after, everyone was outside smoking. It wasn't a place I wanted to be.