Your Mileage May Vary in Generally Speaking...

For those of you who follow me on Facebook, and briefly mentioned in my previous entry, you know I have quit smoking by using an electric cigarette. Today marks 52 days and counting, and I just feel like explaining some things for the record, so to speak.

I've never really been a quitter. I recently read the sequel to The Shining, Dr. Sleep, and it deals with AA and alcoholism, and if you know anything about Stephen King, then you know that he battled alcoholism and thus, when you read something like that, even if what you are reading is fiction, you know that the author cannot help but to draw on their personal experiences in their writing when they write that close to home.

There's nothing like AA for smokers. We aren't generally referred to as smokeaholics. There is a perception that smoking is something that people want to/like to do so much that they could easily quit doing it but they choose not to. I bet even some smokers think that, that they genuinely want to keep smoking, and that there will come a point where one day the want will turn off like a switch and they will quit. It won't be as hard as everyone makes it seem. And I imagine there are a lot of people who are rudely awoken when they find that it's EXTREMELY hard to quit.

Speaking of Stephen King, I am reminded of an oldie of his, Quitters, Inc., about people coming to your house if you slip up and cutting off your spouse's little finger for a first warning.

The point of all this is that quitting smoking is a LOT harder than people think it is. Only people who have done it know that. I was one of those people. I "tried" to quit a couple of times, but none of those times lasted more than a day. The pull of nicotine is STRONG. So much so that it feels like the addiction is woven into your veins and pulling on your muscles when you test it.

I can tell you, I thought about quitting a lot lately. Like, the six months before I actually did it. I noticed that all my friends were quitting. Marty came down here in the summer, and he had quit using hypnosis. I was very excited about this, until I realized I couldn't find anyone here to do it. What most appealed to me was the idea that you walked out a nonsmoker, with no cravings whatsoever.

So, some time passed. New Year's came around. Now, New Year's is a cliche time to quit things, but at the same time, there's a reason people use it. It's SO EASY to keep track of. On December 31, 2013, I stopped on my way home and bought two packs to keep me through the holiday. I prefer to spend New Year's Day in my pajamas, watching the Twilight Zone marathon, not having to go out in impossible weather to get cigarettes. I even asked at the gas station how much one of those Blu starter kits were. When I heard they were $50, I declined, and plunked down 1/5 of that to get me through a day.

That's an important thing to notice. That a lot of people are unwilling to spend a moderate amount of money for a one time thing that may or may not work in favor of a cheaper alternative that will definitely work. When Will got home, he told me he had not had a cigarette since the night before, and that decided me. It's a LOT easier to quit if we both do it at the same time. So I called around, found the starter kit for $35 and purchased it that night. I came home, charged it up, and decided to start using it when my packs were empty.

And that's what I did. Now that I look back, I see that I must have spent that time mentally quitting, but it wasn't some big dramatic thing.

I was sold the next morning when I didn't crave a cigarette. When I didn't stumble outside in my pajamas and a coat in the freezing weather because I HAD to have a cigarette. I didn't. And I haven't since. And that's what I always wanted. A way to quit that was as easy as it was to start.

Will on the other hand, had a hard road. He tried cold turkey, but he was physically hurting. Those not in the know may not realize that Will has anklyosing spondilitis, a form of rheumetoid arthritis. The smoking in his case was actually keeping his disease in check. The nicotine was keeping his inflammation down. I felt bad that I was having a grand old time quitting, no cravings, no weight gain, etc. while he suffered, but after going to a vape shop with me and seeing me get better equipment, he snuck a puff on my strawberry personal vaporizer (ecig, PV) and that was all she wrote. A little research and a conversation with his doctor, and we learned that it can be a form of therapy for chronic pain. Who knew?

So now, 52 days in, my Facebook is full of contest, pictures, information about vaping. And I get tons of private messages for more information. I guess I want to think about sitting down and giving that information out in a nice format. I am happy to explain my experiences. I'm lucky I found this, and that it worked for me.

So, I am working on an information entry.