David

On quitting smoking

Wednesday, March 21, 2012 12:55:45 AM

Okay, I'm posting again in spite of my vow to lay off for a while. But, I have some time on my hands right now, so here is the straight skinny regarding the cigarette habit, and how to get rid of it for good (at least in my case).

First of all, ask yourself why you are doing it.

I started when I was 14 years old because my dad did it, and there was a bit of hero worship going on there. When I was about 12 years old, he caught me pilfering individual cigarettes from his pack of 'Lucky Strike' smokes, and lighting up in the garage. He made me smoke several in a row; a sort of aversive conditioning designed to make me green around the gills and very sick. It might have worked, except for the fact that this guy burst onto the movie scene a few years later:

Now, I know I was confused; smoking didn't make me more handsome, but I thought doing it would make me just as cool with the ladies. Just bullshitting myself, but what the hell; I was young. My Dad quit smoking when he turned 30. He just up and quit cold turkey; substituting a stick of gum when he got the urge to smoke. His older brother continued to smoke big fat cigars until the day he died from a lung condition.

As for me, over the years, I have 'tried' to quit on various occasions for various reasons, failing miserably each time. The reason was that I was bullshitting myself about quitting. For example, I tried tapering off gradually, getting down to only three ciggies a day. But guess what? I was simply maintaining my habit at a very low level, and it always came back to bite me in the butt until I was back to a pack a day. I even tried switching to cigars and smoking a pipe. No luck there either.

I can now say that I have thoroughly quit smoking tobacco in any form. I quit last year and it was very hard, as I have been smoking for some 55 years.

I did it by quitting cold turkey just like my Dad did. For the first week I took Chantix pills. They do cut down the urge to smoke! It turns out that the addiction to tobacco is as great or greater than being a Heroin addict. It takes at least 72 hours of non-smoking to get rid of the physical addiction, and maybe a lifetime to get rid of the urge to smoke. I don't know. I DO know that the really intense urges are becoming infrequent, and I can deal with them by shifting my mental focus to something else. In a few minutes the urge goes away.

As I now have a fairly chronic case of Emphysema, I merely have to imagine my lungs rotting away and my wife crying over my coffin.

I am still amazed how my father made it look easy to quit. But then, he was an amazing man. He was an occasional wilderness guide for a few Hollywood actors and he was friends with Robert Redford. I think he consulted with him on the making of the movie about Mountain Men,'Jeremiah Johnson'. Yesterday, I was looking through one of the old photo albums I inherited of my childhood , and found a photo of one of the actors that I suspect had the hots for my mother(if not for her looks, for her cooking. She was without a doubt the best camp cook I have ever known). Here is his photo:

Taking my mind off of the wind damageWill extremism become the norm?

Comments

Stardancer # Thursday, March 22, 2012 1:36:09 AM

Congrats on stopping the smokes, David. It's a hard, hard thing to do.

I stopped in May, 2006. Cold turkey, just like you, after 31 years and two-and-a-half to three packs a day. Both of my parents smoke(d). My father is deceased from something else, but my mother now has COPD with emphysema, and still smokes. When they caught me smoking at 15, they made me stand in front of a mirror and watch myself smoke a cigarette. All I could see was the both of them behind me, smoking away. Boy, was I mad! Needless to say, I didn't stop.

The urges get fewer and further between. Avoid stressful days, if you can. I would just about have killed for a drag this past Monday, but I got through it.

We stop smoking one urge at a time.

Every day of our lives.

And you can do it.

DavidRavo # Thursday, March 22, 2012 2:05:21 AM

Hi Star, thanks for the visit and your support. It is indeed a tough thing to do but as you must know you are rewarded in many ways for doing it; from the return of acute senses of smell and taste to more stamina and fewer sinus troubles. Plus, you smell better and become more kissable (if that is possible).

devansdevans186 # Thursday, March 22, 2012 9:43:18 PM

Congratulations!
I can say that because I know you will now always find a way around that urge that only lasts a second.
Ken Curtis.........I met Ken many years ago while working on one of those motion picture things.
Heck of a nice fellow...........gone now.

DavidRavo # Thursday, March 22, 2012 10:27:44 PM

Hi Dave, I never got to meet Ken, but my parents thought highly of him. I remember your movie work--those were the days, my friend--getting lost in the desert, and loving it!