Smoking, need ideas to kick it before I get really hooked

Have you tried beating off?

Seriously, I heard some psychological study 35 years ago say it is a great way to relieve stress, and I have been whaling away ever since.

 

We are supposed to believe hadn't already been doing that?

 

Well, I don't know Buck that intimately and wouldn't want to make assumptions.

 

I can't say that I have ever applied that technique within the context being discussed.

 

Pornhub, my friend.

But, it's kind of like replacing one addictive behavior with another. It can get out of hand.

 

Well played.

Out of hand.

 

I'm almost midway through day 32 right now.
I've certainly gone longer than this in the past, but I was reflecting on my numerous attempts at quitting over the years. I think over the past two years I have spent more calendars not smoking than I have smoking.
So although I've fallen off the wagon, I seem to be developing a propensity to start the quitting cycle again within weeks and months rather than years.

Added an app on my iPad - My Last Cigarette. Pretty cool, and I've been looking at it almost every day.

 

Shit.

Two packs this week.

Two people quit at work within a week of each other, and one was my desk backup. I'm overwhelmed in my job, and there's no help on the way. Very little interest in the job, few qualified applicants. It's a vital job to helping me get the print paper out every night, buy me time to design the weekly paper we alsonproduce, plus get two days off each week and take time off for sickness or vacation.

My backup temporarily is a 26-year old education reporter with a few design skills. The other 20-somethings in the newsroom all manger to graduate college and work at the student papers without even learning a few basics of design or how to open InDesign.

Plus, I'm going to have spinal fusion in early November. That placed is fucked because there's no backup plan for me leaving with no new hire.

I've been under so much pressure that I had to get a break, get a buzz, find some way of calming the fuck down.

I threw out half a pack when I got home. I gotta make it a month until surgery, then I will be off for three months and can rest and recover.

Sorry that I blew it. It's tough to quit.

 

I'm almost midway through day 33, and I had a craving hit me this morning during my Rotary breakfast.
Just briefly I thought 'I'd like to have a smoke.'

It's mental now, but they still crop up.

I'm 46. I had my first smoke when I was about 8, and I was an every-day smoker since about 16.

I've stopped for months at a time, even a year or more a couple of times, but I've always fallen off the wagon.

In my 20s, I was a two-pack a day smoker. In more recent times I'd cut to just a few per day.

Stress and emotion have been triggers for me. Coffee and alcohol have been coupling factors for me.

I might fall off the wagon again, but today I'm not smoking. That's my goal.
I'll worry about tomorrow tomorrow. Just not smoking today.

Best of luck.

 

It's not your problem to ensure that your paper has a backup plan for when you're out. It's on them. Take your two days off a week, take care of yourself physically and force your paper's brass to either find your backup or train them.

 

I'm in day 36.

According the MLC app, I've saved an estimated $109 and I have extended my life by an estimated one day and nine hours.