martin and the cigs

[swkieran]

martin i read somewere that you quit the dreaded ciggies :),how did you go about doing it,what methods etc,ive been trying to quit for a while but cant lol,ive cut down.did you use patches and gum or did you just decide to quit one morning and use will power,ive tried alternatives like smoking cigars and a pipe.wb i hope a few others can gain something from this thread :)

[jus_young]

My wife tried a couple of times to give up, even succeeded for a while but struggled like hell the last time round. She resorted to hypnosis a few weeks back which wasn't really hypnosis but more like emotional turmoil and blackmail! However it seems to have worked as she hasn't even spoken about the ciggies for the last couple of weeks and thats with me still smoking! It seems like its my turn now to give up. Pretty sure I can do it. Gave up for two years once but ended going back to them rather than killing an apprentice that was working for me. Should have chosen the latter really as I ended up sacking him anyway.

[Martin]

Kieran, I'm so glad you asked. It's a fairly long story but hey, I've got all night.

It all started just over 2 years ago when my dear friend Matt, the quarryman moderator, told me he had stopped smoking. I was impressed but felt the same as you that I just couldn't do it. Matt told me he had read this book and that he would lend his copy to me. A few weeks later, when we met up, he passed me this book called Easyway to Stop Smoking by Alan Carr. He promised me that, if I read this book, I would stop smoking and would never want to smoke again!! I, like you I'm sure, couldn't believe it was possible. In fact, I was so sure that it wouldn't work for me that the book remained unread by my bed for months. Every time I saw Matt he asked how I was getting on with the book. It became embarrassing to say that I hadn't even started it, but that was the fact.

The bottom line was this; I hadn't read the book because I was scared. I was scared of never being able to smoke again!!! It was then that Matt explained to me that far from never being able to smoke again, I would never want to smoke again. He explained that he hadn't given up smoking, he had stopped smoking. The difference? The difference is that 'giving up' suggests that you are missing or sacrificing something. What was I sacrificing? The cost? The smell? The long slow painful death that my Dad suffered over the last few years of his life? Not much of a sacrifice is it?

So, I decided that I would sit down and read this book, which I did just before Easter last year. Well, it was like a light bulb had been switched on!!! I didn't need to read far, in fact I only managed about 2 or 3 chapters before I just 'got it'.

On April 9th last year I stopped smoking. I didn't replace the nicotine with other nicotine as that would be totally self defeating. I am now clear of the addiction to nicotine. I know, with every last cell in my body, that I will never smoke another cigarette in my life. I don't miss it, what is there to miss after all?

The other good thing about this is that the smell of cigarettes doesn't get me wanting to smoke, as I have no desire whatsoever to be addicted to that filthy drug again. What's more, I actually feel sorry for people who are still addicted to it. I don't envy them, I actually pity them and wish everyone could free themselves of the drug. Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti smokers. I totally believe in the principal of freedom of everyone to live their lives as they like.

Anyway, I've rambled and eulogised long enough on this subject. There is another member on here who has stopped with the same method. I won't name him, I'll leave him to 'come out' of his own accord, but he assured me the other day that he'd stopped smoking since the Cornwall RV using the same method. :)

Martin

PS. Check out the Alan Carr website here http://allencarr.com/

[Ben Casey]

I llike the way you have managed it hat of to you mate

[swkieran]

thx martin :),that was compeling to read,and youre right smokers will defend the drug in there mind,i like matts way of thinking of dont look at the negatives,look at the benefits and positives.i'll certainly give it a go myself, yes youre right again about substituting actuall smoking with other nicotine products,i reckon you must feel a 100% better, fitter more energy after giving up

[Martin]

thx martin :),that was compeling to read,and youre right smokers will defend the drug in there mind,i like matts way of thinking of dont look at the negatives,look at the benefits and positives.i'll certainly give it a go myself, yes youre right again about substituting actuall smoking with other nicotine products,i reckon you must feel a 100% better, fitter more energy after giving up

Kieran, there are no negative aspects to stopping smoking. There are only benefits. Do it!!! (Don't be scared)

Martin