Who's out there

roddie wrote:I'm out here. For quite some time now; I've felt like I've been really far away. When I look back; this feeling started last year. I caught the flu.. in December of 2017. I was sick right thru the holiday-season.. and halfway thru January 2018. I had been a smoker (cigarettes) up until the flu-onset.. at which point I quit the butts.. and they've been in the rear-view since.

I've been wanting to write about it.. and this thread struck a nerve. I'll be 60 years old next year. Mentally; I still feel like a young man.. but my body is reminding me that I'm not. My mind is also not where it was a few years ago. I don't have near the patience that I used to. When I quit the "butts"..... I lost a coping-tool. This has affected my outlook on many things that used to give me pleasure.

I've resisted the urge to start "puffing" again.. but I miss the way I used to feel.

As a former smoker to a former smoker.....

Congratulations

! On extending your life span. The moment you stopped smoking, your lungs began to heal, your ability to exchange oxygen improves, your chance of having a fatal heart attach diminishes greatly.  I’ll admit it felt like I was living wrapped in wax paper after quitting, don’t know how else to describe it. But, I no longer hacked, and coughed and hacked to get breathing in the morning. That 1st cup of coffee still tastes great, even better with out the smoke in my eyes. Every day it was easier to not smoke, to not think about wanting to smoke. Eventually the urge disappears.  I still enjoy the smell of a fresh lit cig, if someone near by lights up, but my mind automatically decides it doesn’t need to smoke one.  I think a pack of New Ports were about $1.75 or $2.00 when I quit. It became my “hobby” money. Now when I see gas station advertising $5.95 packs of Basic Menthols, I have no second thoughts on hitting the “buy it now” button for a Cox model or engine, geeze it is less than two cartons of cigs!. I know I’ve saved more than what Ive spent in the hobby, but HEY, I’m still vertical on this earth, I can breath easily and am having fun doing what I want to do. I will admit I was a grumpy while still have to go to work, but finally making it to retirement opens up a lot room for happiness.
I know I don’t miss how I used to feel, I’m glad to be alive, unlike my Father, and many other friends who are no longer with us.  Yeah, OK we’re getting older, back, hips knees all hurt, takes a bit longer to recover from a injury, I may need the Ipad or On Star in the car to tell me what day it is.  Don’t think of Quitting as losing a coping mechanism, but as losing a Crutch.  You can walk, talk, work and have fun without the inconvenience of smoking getting in your way....ever drive past a shop or store and the employees are all standing out on the sidewalk (off Company property) trying to enjoy a smoke?  I wanted this to be a uplifting blog to encourage you to be proud of your accomplishment of becoming a Non-smoker. Don’t say, I miss it,  but , now I have more time, healthy time,  to be with my loved ones, and do more of the things I enjoy. So, do it!!

In 1972, barely sixteen, I left school and went into the workforce as an apprentice Automotive Electrical Engineer and, like most kids, had been having the odd cigarette.
At work, 90% of the people smoked and when I went to the working mans pub down the road it seemed like everybody smoked with the blue haze almost to the floor. My smoking habit took off like wildfire, I guess that wanting to fit in pressure, along with, it seemed like that’s what men did.
Over the following years I smoked tailor-made or roll you owns, a pipe and cigars. Cigars were an attempt to cut down but it soon became that I was smoking as many cigars a day as I had been cigarettes.
In early 1996 my second wife said she wanted to start a family and she was stopping smoking.
I said I would too, as soon as I finished my current pouch of tobacco. As that pouch seemed to be lasting a lot longer than normal, I just said I stop Thursday night, finished or not. Thursday night, after 24 year of smoking, just before I went to bed, I put the lighter on top of the fridge and threw the tobacco and papers in the bin and I have never smoked since.
In a matter of weeks my sense of smell and taste became so strong that some of my favourite foods became overpowering. I was grumpy for a while and for a month or two, sucked sweets like no tomorrow but I could feel myself improving daily. As time went on, I found I could beat a cold in a few days instead of taking weeks.
My son, born May 1997 is now 22 years old and I have been a non-smoker for 23 years.

I congratulate you Roddie for making the decision to stop smoking. Only you can do it, so hang in there, you will never regret it and the benefits are enormous both health wise and financially.

Wow, I seldom hit the "greenie" button but from tico…….. on down greenies.

Victor and Dave reality and good humor should be rewarded.

Roddie, Rene, and Dave again. Congratulations and admiration.

Wife and I never smoked. My brother quit drinking and smoking cold turkey after a heart attack some 15 years ago. He's 87 now.

Bob

Well done guys.  Roddie, don't believe the nicotine lie.  It's a drug far more addictive than many illicit drugs.  Even though you quit so long ago, it's still trying to tell you that you were better off when smoking- not true.

I grew up with two parents who smoked all the time in the house.  So did my wife.  Nowadays I can see that I must have stunk when I went to school as a kid.  I worry about how it might have effected my young lungs.  I've never been tempted.  In fact, I find it repulsive.  

Sadly, after watching their Grandpa slowly die over 2-3 years from emphysema and virtually drowning in his own phlegm, both our sons now smoke.  I won't have them on our property.  Rain, hail or shine they have to walk up the road and sit in a bus shelter if they want to smoke.  They're not allowed back in the house unless they go and brush their teeth.  It just makes me sick.  Stupidest thing a person can do to themselves.

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