Don’t drink, don’t smoke, what do you do?
Okay, so the first part of that title really isn't true. Every smoker knows that the urge to smoke is the strongest when you have a drink in your hand. This weekend, I went to a gathering where everyone was drinking, including me, and yet I managed not to smoke! I am so proud.But alas, I cannot take all the credit. I did want to smoke, at one point, I am ashamed to say, I even begged for just one puff. But my husband and my friends kept reminding me of the progress I had made and that I wouldn't want to negate all my hard work. One of my friends gave me a swizzle stick to chew on to alleviate some of the cravings. By the end of the night, I had one seriously mangled swizzle stick, but no smoke breath. The following night, we got together again to watch the UFC fight, and I asked for another swizzle stick and mangled that one as well. Hopefully I have crossed a line that will make this easier now, if not, I'll just need to invest in a swizzle stick company.
Do you have any tips or tricks that helped you avoid smoking while you were trying to quit?
Posted by
on 11/19 at 10:59 AM
I was living in Fort Mill, SC and working in Charlotte when I quit in August 24, 1997 @ 11:54 p.m. For me, the hardest time was rush hour traffic on I-77 and not having something to occupy my hands,other than steering the car of course. I went to McDonalds, got a handful of their straws, cut them in half and pretended they were cigarettes. They are the right circumference and I cut them to cigarette size. I’m sure people thought I was crazy driving down the road puffing on a straw, but actually most people just try to stay alive on that road so they probably didn’t even notice me. It helped me having something in my hand. My husband smoked and this made it harder. He would go outside after dinner and smoke and I would get busy cleaning up the kitchen and then jump on my treadmill. He eventually quit in January of 1998 when he had a heart attack. Looking back I have to say it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done because I smoked over a pack a day, but I’m really glad I did. I haven’t had bronchitis since I quit and only an occasional cold. Unfortunately even though my husband quit in 1998, he passed away in 2004 with lung cancer. I know I will never smoke again. Hang in there, it gets easier. Good Luck!