Smokers Anonymous

I quit smoking mid-December.

If these intense cravings don't let up soon, I'm going to be smoking again. Truly if I so badly lust for a cigarette every time I merely look outside, then I will eventually kneel before the power of instant oral gratification.

I heard the way to help yourself quit is to avert the instant oral gratification - go on the patch. The patch will fill the void that smoking occupied but transfer it to a place beside your mouth. That way, when you continue to quit, it won't be your mouth that wants the cigarette anymore.

Since oral gratification is always strong (as stated by Freud), getting rid of it helps.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Encephalon

Nevermind the oral gratification... I can honestly tell you that this is a fucking nasty habit to get behind. If you're in limbo about it, then I suggest you try your best to stay AWAY from it.

I try to. But it's inevitable. It's not only that I want to not smoke again, I want to resume normal life. I don't want to have to avoid smokers, I want to be able to sit before them as usual. I don't want to kick them out of establishments or anything. I want to be free of the desire of cigarettes, that's all it is.

Perhaps I can never get past the desire totally, but at the very least I don't want to crave a cigarette every time I see one. Shit, seeing RISING STEAM makes me want a cigarette.

I'm reaching a point where cancer, stroke, heart disease, etc, seem like a small price to pay for what would feel like freedom. Surely, "freedom" is a sticky word in this context, I have to be bound by cigarettes in this case in order to feel free. Even still, they possess me even when I reject them. So what's the point of all this suffering?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Not everyone gets old like that, dude.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Shonos

Indeed, alot of people actually look like they're 40 or 50 in thier 60s and 70s. Even continue to do the same activities witht he same energy levels. Keep yourself healthy, eat right, and work out. You'll find that you dont age as much as others.

You'd think this kind of stuff is bullshit, at least to an extent. We've all been fed "eat right and excercise, don't smoke or do drugs or drink and you'll be healthy" as a child but from what I've seen, once you reach about 40, this all becomes very true. Surely living unhealthily makes a difference internally, but externally the difference can be vast.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Encephalon

<3. Djarum Super/Cherry/Vanilla are mine.

It usually takes me about a week to go through a pack of cloves so the habit isn't really expensive for me, even at those prices.

Not to be an ass, but don't mostly women smoke cloves? I've only ever seen women smoke cloves, especially since they come in fancy boxes with like, red hearts on them. Don't get me wrong, if I were down and out at the airport before a long flight, I'd smoke a Virginia Slim with my asshole if that's all I could bum from someone. I didn't know men actually bought clove cigarettes, though.

I had one before, and they're delicious; nothing's better than a nicotine fix combined with the taste of candy. I heard they're worse for you than normal cigarettes, though.

Generally when men go for flavor, it's a black & mild "cigar" or maybe another brand of cheap cigar (generally the kind that are easy to put weed in [cigarellos, White Owls]). I avoid black & milds because they get stale so quickly and when they are stale they will make your lungs feel like poop if you take a single inhale... Truly sickening... You can hear the cheap papers crackling as you puff...

Shit, I haven't had one of those in a while. SHIIIIT. I need to get away from this thread.

Originally Posted by Encephalon

I have a friend who recently tried to quit drinking

Shit, aren't there enough things to deny one's self.

I was speaking idiomatically.