Day One

Today was the day. I slapped on a nicotine patch when I woke up today. We just went through a blizzard and are snowed in. That made it difficult for me - cabin fever + not smoking = craZy!! So I did smoke 3 or 4 cigarettes, but that's a huge improvement for me.

I'm feeling good about quitting. I'm thinking a lot about the freedoms I will gain. And I noticed that I didn't cough once today. I've been coughing for weeks from a respiratory infection in late Dec. It's nice that I already have that tangible thing to encourage me to keep going.

Trying Again

My only post on this blog was last August when I was thinking about quitting. I did try to quit in September. For a couple of weeks.

But I'm ready to try again. I am going to quit on Feb 1st. I am mentally gearing up and I'm taking zyban. Surprisingly it is actually helping the craving. I've been smoking a little less already. In Sept. I took Chantix. It had no affect on me at all. A big waste of $125!

So, I'm back here and I want to log as I go through quitting this time. Not only for my own help, but maybe it can help someone else, too.

How I Came to Smoke

Before I begin to chronicle my attempt to quit smoking, I feel like posting just a tiny bit of what the world was like as I grew up.

When you went to the Dr. the waiting room was full of ashtrays and people smoking. When you got in the Dr.'s office, he had an ashtray on his desk and you could smoke there. You could smoke any and everywhere. On buses, in taxis, restaurants, movies...everywhere. Why? Because no one ever talked about smoking being bad.

Here are a few ads which were all over tv, movies, magazines and newspapers as I grew up. This was very ordinary.

I've thought about this a lot as I considered quitting. The world...at least the world I lived in.. was a completely different place back then. It has been difficult to feel like some scuzzy person because I smoke. Sure, it's a bad habit, but I'm not a bad person because I have this habit. There is a prejudice against smokers and there shouldn't be.

It's like everyone smoked, everyone thought it was okay, even cool, to smoke. Then one day I wake up and everyone hates it and hates me because I smoke. It's been difficult, and my rebellion has kept me from wanting to quit. I wasn't going to quit just because some people with radical views didn't want me to.

Kindness, compassion and tolerance are ALWAYS more effective than laws, admonitions, and ostracizing.