A table in non please.

[Slowfaller 0]

I'm driving home from work last thursday and after throwing my cigerette out the window i start to think. i think how i'm only 20 and i can't go up 6 flights of stairs in the building i work in w/o feeling like passing out, i think how i cant play football for more than ten minutes before i need a rest, and i think of a life thats only going to get worse as i age.
sooooo, i quit smoking the last cigerette i had was the one i threw out the window thursday night. i'm using the patch which is really helping me do this. that night i went to a bar (thank god for friends that bartend) and chewed up a couple of straws and did a lot of shots but did not smoke the usual 10 cigerettes. the whole weekend i was around smokers and fought the whole time. (and i thought the 1st jump was hard, HA.)
i'm not telling anyone to quit or feel bad for smoking, its just something i needed to do, just like getting my USPA license and jumping. One day i got the feeling that I just needed to.
(the typing gets my mind of smoking)
CHris

[freeflir29 0]

"i think of a life thats only going to get worse as i age."
I hate to burst your bubble but......this happens anyway. Not that smoking helps anything but...Everyday you live.......your body is slowly dieing........PS....Good luck...smokin is terrible for your health (as I leave for smoke break) "I got some beers....Let's Drink em!!!"
Clay

[hughbetcha 0]

yes, but not smoking will age your body lots slower.
congrats chris, stick with it, quitting smoking is as hard as quitting heroin i`ve seen both. don`t take those just one here or there smokes, they are gonna be the hardest to resist. and think how much money you can save for jump tickets now.
mark
mark

[skymama 35]

Way to go! I am SO proud of you!! Keep up the good work! Nothing turns me off more than seeing a guy with a cigarette, especially a young guy. Keep us updated on your progress. I'll buy you a jump if you make it!
Andrea
The brave may not live forever, but the timid may not live at all.

[Slowfaller 0]

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I'll buy you a jump if you make it!

Much appreciated, and if your on the load try to get extra alt. I know i can't be choosy but its worth a shot

Quote

don`t take those just one here or there smokes, they are gonna be the hardest to resist.

I agree and thats where my will power has to work overtime. I keep telling myself " don't even ask for a drag, don't even ask for a drag" the challenge is almost the fun part, let alone the fufilment after the craving passes.
CHris

[skymama 35]

LOL, I'll do my best for you! I did tell a friend here that he could have sex if he stopped smoking, but I didn't have too much faith in his willpower, and he proved my gamble right. You on the other hand, sound like you're going to make it, that's why you get the jump ticket. I'm a softie though...I'll throw in some beer too, in addition to the extra alt!
Andrea
The brave may not live forever, but the timid may not live at all.

[tigra 0]

Congratulations and good luck! Just think, you can use all the money you used to spend on cigarettes on jumps instead!
I'm proud of you. And I'm with Skymama. Guys who smoke are NOT sexy!
Maura

[canopycudler 0]

CONGRATS!! You know what.. that is the inspiration i need.. That is one of my new years resolutions! I don't smoke that much .. but any is too much!
Blue skies and deep breaths!! hehe
Tina

[Spectrejumper 0]

Congratulations on a wise decision Chris. As a fellow ex-smoker (10 yrs, pack a day for most of em) I totally understand the willpower required at the beginning. One positive note is that the desire to smoke decreases with time. At least it did for me. After a couple months I had almost no interest in smoking, except in high stress situations. Now, four years later, you couldn't pay me to smoke a cigarette. Well, maybe if you were offering tons of cash. :-)
Mike D-23312
"It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

[skybytch 259]

Congrats Chris! Best decision you've ever made.
Do the patches really help? I'm worried most about attitude when I quit. I went four days without a cigarette when I had surgery and on the fourth day I was seriously ready to kill something. I'd sure hate to put my kid, dogs and coworkers through that... but I'd also like to be able to have sex for hours at a time without breathing too hard!
pull and flare,
lisa

[unclbennie 0]

Chris, Stick with it, I quit one year and one week ago, after 25 years of a pack + a day. If I can do it, you can too!! The patch helped ALOT, keep us posted
Karen

[jtval 0]

congrats,
maybe this'll help you.
i quit two years ago. used to smoke 2 1/2 packs a day(dont know why) once you are able to separate the erge to smoke while you are drinkng it gets easier.
it was hard for a while but the urges get further apart(and stronger for the 1st few months)!! get past it.
i did push ups, ran more often, drank water like crazy. if you get passed the first 6 minutes of the urge, you'll 4 get you wanted one to begin with.
like i said its been two years. i dont remember ever being a smoker(i get sick if im around too much smoke...literally)
plus i save enough $$ to get my rig and jump like a fool. that was a HUGE help during my trial period.
Have fun, LIVE FREE, Skydive
JT

[fred 0]

I tried to quit about 3 months ago, lasted a couple weeks, and then slowly regressed back to where I was. I'm setting a new quit date for January 2nd, and I hope to stick with it this time.
I wish you the best of luck. It's really hard to quit smoking, but it is the best choice for health, appearance, and finances.

[Phil 0]

__________________________________________________
.. but I'd also like to be able to have sex for hours at a time without breathing too hard!
___________________________________________________
and I thought that sex was fun and not a work-out?!? I mean I like sport and there is nothing more fun that looking somebody in the eye while doing so but why cutting it short after 4 hours? Do you only jump half a day too?
Skybitch I'm looking forward to hear how your first jump went on the 29th. I'll be thinking about you.
blue ones
Phil

[riggerrob 561]

Way to go!
Keep up the good work!
Fifteen years ago I decided that beer and hangovers were interfering with tandems, so I reduced my beer intake, not an easy thing to do when you work in Bavaria!
Almost 5 years ago I woke up New Years Day with a hangover, but could not come up with a logical explanation as to why I had done so much damage to my body the night before.
So I quit drinking and have not touched a drop in the last 5 years.
The first month was the toughest, but in the long run I am healthier and happier, have saved plenty of money and now wonder where I used to find the time for drinking.

[freeflir29 0]

"I decided that beer and hangovers were interfering with tandems"
Yep...I must be getting old...I still drink plenty but I have started trying to get to bed by at least 1 AM Sunday morning. I don't free fly so well when I'm horribly hung over. I'd rather have fun jumping than stay up till 7 or 8 AM drinkin....Like somebody I know......No names.....Ummmm....AUFREEFLY!!!!!!!!! "I got some beers....Let's Drink em!!!"
Clay

[Slowfaller 0]

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Do the patches really help?

Yeah, these patches really help but what i learned is that you have too follow the instructions. I tried quitting w/ the patches about 2 years ago but i kind of used them when i felt like it and ended up smoking again. Now i've read all of the material and even listened to the tape they give you ( its a really stupid tape but funny as hell ) and i'm doing good this time.

Quote

I'm worried most about attitude when I quit.

Shit w/ a name like yours I'm worried too. People have told me i haven't been a pain in the ass too be around since quitting so i havent affected anyone, but my right leg is starting to get bigger then my left from the constant shaking i've been doing.

Quote

...and then slowly regressed back to where I was. I'm setting a new quit date for January 2nd, and I hope to stick with it this time.

I wish you luck dude!!
Thanks for the encourging words everyone And i know where i'm going on my vacation now, i heard flordia is nice in march

CHris

[chicagoskydiver 0]

I quit smoking using the patch and it's been almost six years now. I just took it a day at a time, the days turned to weeks, the weeks into months. The patch really does help, but I think you have to be in the right place mentally to be ready to quit. I think that's the real determining factor. It sounds to me like you're there!
Hackey

[skygeek 0]

As a non-smoker for 2 months now I'm with ya all the way.."One day at a time SWEET JESUS Im gonna hurt somebody...." The gum has been working for me.

[freaksister 0]

I tried over and over to quit, but it just wasn't happening. Then I started cutting down my number of cigs I was smoking and also the nicotine content. I ended up on some nasty old super ultra light menthols...and didn't even realize I was only smoking one a day or so. I had been smoking 2 packs of Marlboro Reds per day - or a few non-filter Lucky Strikes (YIKES!!) but over just a few months I cut down a lot. Once I realized what had happened, I decided just to quit altogether. I thought, well hell, I am only smoking half a cig a day so why not just quit? I did and never had a withdrawal since. The exception to this was that when I was drinking, I craved smokes. Never after food, or sex, or in the morning anymore, ONLY AFTER drinking. So I did that a little while, then switched to clove cigs for about a year, and then for some unexplainable reason, I quit those too, cold turkey. I was basically just ready to quit. Its a mental process, that is more than half the battle...but of course your physical dependence comes into play as well. If you are REALLY READY to quit, you can cut down enough (using patches, gum, electric shock, butt plugs covered in tabasco...LOL) Or any other deterrent to help you along. I cut down the intake so much it wasn't really a problem. That is what you gotta do.
6 years later, I am still smoke-free and hate it more than ever. I do not ever allow it in my house for ANY reason, and can't stand the sight or smell of ashtrays. It is bizarre how you react once you've quit. I have heard a lot of people say they just get SICK around cigarettes and/or their smoke. I totally agree. Makes me think of an old G-N-R (Guns & Roses) song..."I used to love her, ooh yeah, but I had to kill her...now she's six feet under and I can still hear her complain...."
Good luck dude,
Sis
I feel so alive,for the very first time-and I think I can fly! - P.O.D.

[jfields 0]

Quote

butt plugs covered in tabasco...LOL

Umm... Sis.... How did this help you quit smoking?
Seriously, I'm lucky enough to have never started smoking. Watching my grandmother die agonizingly of emphysema when I was little cured me of ever wanting to experiment with tobacco.
However, I'm sure once you have started, it is pure hell to stop. I really respect the people that fought and won, and are now smoke-free.
[LOUD APPLAUSE]
Justin
My Homepage

[lummy 4]

Way to go Chris!!!
I quit cold turkey 8 months ago after trying Zyban twice before. withe the Zyban, I'd make it about a month but the crap would wig me out. As soon as I stopped taking it , I would start smoking again.
I guess for me was that I needed to do it on my own without replacing one habit for another. Tough job but can be done
Pulling for ya
Gary

[SkyDekker 1,150]

I quit cold turkey on January 15th, 2001 at 8:00 pm, walking into the ER because I kept passing out while driving my car. After smoking more than 1 pack a day for 15 years (I started when I was twelve lighting cigs for my mother) and the nurse telling me she could not her my breath sounds because of the gargle my lungs were making, I decided it was enough. All the praise should go to my fiance who bore the brunt of my abuse during the first 6 weeks. The cravings get milder and further apart, but they are still there almost 1 year later.
Now I quit smoking, I lost 40 lbs and feel great.
It can be done...hang in there Chris, we are all cheering for ya....
SkyDekker
"We cannot do great things, only small things with great love" Mother Theresa

[SpeedRacer 1]

Quit smoking when I was 17 & have had absolutely no desire to ever go back (I'm 37 now). Tried a puff on a cig about a year after quitting, YUCK!!
Speed Racer
What contemptible scoundrel has stolen the cork from my lunch?!
-WC Fields

[Slowfaller 0]

Believe it or not but it's already been over a week!! Taking it one day at a time is making the time fly right by. These patches are giving me the most cinematic(sp?) and vivid dreams I've ever had. They are always between the 9 minute snooze alarms. The one I had this morning was crrraaaazzzzyyy.
I'm in this shitty building watching TV and this guy that I know but have never seen before leaves and says he is going to the D.M.V. All of a sudden I'm outside the the D.M.V seeing that guy getting out of his truck. He doesnt park his truck so when he gets out the truck continues down the street and plows into traffic at the intersection.
I walk down the the accident and these two cops grab me and the whole time they're dragging me to this picnic table behind a building but you can see the D.M.V. which is across the street. They keep asking me who that guy is and where is he going and I tell them that I don't know who he is and that he's going to the D.M.V. and I point to the building across the street. The cops look at me like I'm crazy and drag me down to the edge of the street, like kinda behind a fence. They tell me to look at the D.M.V. building and wait. I see a whole bunch of beautiful women going in and out and the cops then tell me its a whore house.
So all these hookers are walking around this building and then they turn into wearwolves and start killing pedestrians (I think I've been playing Grand Theft Auto 3 too much) I roll to my right and see two guys w/ pitch black noses w/ the tip missing (must of been a saigon whore they visited) and that totally freaks me and the cops out so the 3 of us run up to the picnic table.
All of these dogs come from my right and up to me so I'm yelling " get 'em Rocky " (my dog's name is Rocky) and the dog would run away. Then another one would come and I'd do the same thing and they would run away and so on.
then my alarm went off. It was like I was in a movie or something
CHris