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what made you finally do it?
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texas2step



Quit Date:
-

Posts: 793
Location: Texas

PostPosted: April 4, 2008 6:07 PM    Post subject: missed this one Reply with quote

Don't think I ever posted to this one....

What made me quit was suffocation. Pure and simple, I thought I was going to die.

We got stuck in the mud in our van on a country road and couldn't get cell phone service down in the little valley we were in. We had to walk up a slight incline to be able to phone for help. By the time we got to the top of the rise, a mere pitiful 40 yards or so I was so out of breath I thought I was going to pass out. I actually almost did black out.... scary.

It started bothering me then and I noticed other things I'd simply learned to live with like coughing so long in the morning I wasted 2/3 of a cigarette from the first puff because it set me to coughing. Like the fact that I couldn't go anywhere anymore that didn't allow smoking cause I couldn't bear to not smoke.... and I was smoking almost 3 packs a day....

Wasn't long after we got home from that drive in the country that I did an internet search for "quit smoking" - I got so lucky. Found whyquit.com and woofmang. I was saved and I ain't never goin' back to life as a slave to the breath stealing money wasting demon called smoking.

Bless all you woofers....and Kevin most for givin' us a place where the porch light is always on and there's warm hands to welcome us inside.

Texas
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Anonymous

Quit: 8/14/06
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tsjay49



Quit Date:
January 1, 2004

Posts: 1863
Location: Kentucky

PostPosted: April 22, 2008 10:12 AM    Post subject: Reply with quote

My strongest motivation to quit smoking was the desire to be FREE from the addiction to nicotine. I was sick and tired of my entire life being centered around my next "fix."

I had smoked from age 19 until age 54, most of that time at the rate of a pack and a half a day. There had been many failed attempts to quit smoking during those years, and I had even promised myself after the last one that I would never torture myself again with an attempt to quit. I'm sure glad I broke that promise!

I have now been quit for four years plus. I NEVER, not for even a moment, think that I would like to have a cigarette again. Nope, no more craves, EVER! I'm lovin' it!

The ONLY pleasure in smoking is the relief you are getting from your withdrawal symptoms, so if you overcome the addiction, you don't have withdrawal symptoms, and there is no need to smoke.

Tomster
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Gidget



Quit Date:
March 14, 2008

Posts: 693
Location: New Haven, CT

PostPosted: April 26, 2008 8:53 AM    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't think I ever told my story....

Cigarettes were always something that was mine and for me. I would use them as my buddy when I wanted to be alone. I smoked secretly where work was concerned and I rarely smoked in front of strangers and NEVER children, but I really leaned on them for 17 years. 10 years ago, I was much more open about my addiction, but it became increasingly more embarassing. I would carry mouthwash and handiwipes so I wouldn't stink (as if that helped hide the pack a day smell). I failed my quits. I couldn't really imagine my life without cigarettes. What about my friends? How could I be near a smoker and not cave? Each of the 3 quits I failed because I really didn't commit to the work involved. I didn't understand how I could overcome and it was never convenient.

10 years ago at Christmas time, I told my parents that my husband had been abusing me and we were separated. It was a cold Christmas in Iowa, my dad and I had been sharing a beautiful bottle of red wine. I was pretty shakey when I told him, not wanting to cry, not wanting to disappoint...My dad and I talked my mom into retreating into the basement so we could smoke and not catch a cold as I tried to walk them through a few of the (tamer)scenes that got us to the point of separation. My dad and I smoked and smoked and smoked.

A week later, my dad was in the hospital awaiting a triple bypass, he had suffered a heart attack and was very lucky to be alive. He quit smoking in Jan 1998 in the hospital, he had smoked for 40 years, he was 54. I didn't quit. I got my divorce, I went to graduate school, I continued to smoke.

I made a couple of efforts when I was 29 (2002-2003) but as I previously stated, I wasn't quite there. I didn't want to release the tight grip I had on a big black oozing cancerous friend, even worse, I didn't realize that it was my "friend" that had it's grip on me.

A few more heartbreaks, more disappointments and a couple of victories, all lived through the haze of cigarette smoke. During the summer of 2006, my father was again ill. This time we weren't sure what was going on. He drank very little in the previous few years and wasn't smoking, but he was definitely ill. It took a summer to diagnose his trifecta of illness. Lung Cancer, Dermamyositis and an aortic anneurism. I was home for his biopsy which is when we finally received a diagnosis (Aug 2006). I remember deboarding the plane and NOT recognizing the old man who had come to the airport. How could this BE? I'd seen him 6 months prior and he was his strong, handsome self!!

My mom and I took my father home after the biopsy. The doctor had given us the diagnosis. My father encouraged my mom to go to the gym and do her "thing", which she did. I went out into the garage and smoked and smoked and smoked....I felt so sick. Out hobbled my dad. He wanted me to buy him cigarettes and he wanted me to tell him what the doctor had told us since he was too doped to remember and he didn't want my mom to recount it. We smoked as I told him what his diagnosis was. We smoked when I told him the doctor told us that my dad was the equivalent of a banged up used car.

I thought I would quit when he began his Chemo. I didn't.

I quit when, one day, I realized that my life has NEVER been enhanced in a good way by those stinking, damaging cigarettes. They were a constant embarassment and a constant reminder that even the strongest man I've ever known can succumb to something so wrong but so powerful. That day, I told my doctor, picked a quit date one week away and I haven't looked back. I did this for ME. I am worth the work that quitting takes. I am worth painful choices that lead to a better life.

Thanks for letting me share.

Gidget
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My choice; my responsibility; win or lose, only I hold the key to my destiny.
-Elaine Maxwell
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kannprint



Quit Date:
April 10, 2004

Posts: 4988
Location: St. Louis, MO

PostPosted: April 26, 2008 7:59 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for writing about your Dad, Gidget. Hopefully many others will read what you've written and take heart. I really like your last sentence -- you are definitely worth the work and the painful choices.

Again, thanks for writing and congrats on your quit.
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LIVE WELL, LAUGH OFTEN, LOVE MUCH.
Jo
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Snowlover



Quit Date:
-

Posts: 566
Location: Northern California

PostPosted: April 26, 2008 8:47 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gidget,
Glad you shared your story. I know it must be hard to talk about.

You're young and a lot of the effects of smoking will reverse. I'm so glad you made the decision to quit and are keeping the promise to yourself.
Your future is so bright, I gotta wear Cool ! I bet your Dad is super proud of you too.

Kaye
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Doggygirl



Quit Date:
February 26, 2007

Posts: 788
Location: Joliet, IL

PostPosted: May 8, 2008 12:28 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow. So many different circumstances.

Gidget, my Dad smoked too (but not Mom) so I can relate to some of the situations you describe. Thankfully Dad quit a couple years before I did and hopefully it was in time to avoid at least some of the consequences. I hope your dad is hanging in there.

There are so many more noble reasons to quit than my #1 reasons. The cost buying cigarettes. The knowledge that my own health was at risk (oh those horrid night time / morning coughing fits!) The second hand smoke inflicted on others. The burden we life long smokers put on the health care system. The love of our children, and wanting to be there for them. I appreciate and respect every single one of those reasons, and the respectfull list is longer, I'm sure.

My #1 reason for quitting was far less noble. Mr. Doggy quit smoking nearly 2 years before me. At first he was nice about my continued right to smoke, but over time he got sick of it. He made my life miserable due to my smoking. He forced me into a corner to choose him, or my dear beloved Laughing Demon . And for awhile there, I'm ashamed to say I kept choosing Laughing Demon .

I thank God every day that Mr. Doggy loves me enough that he kept putting more and more pressure on me to quit (or be ever more miserable smoking) and trusted that I would ultimately choose him over Laughing Demon . I know that sounds pathetic, but addition is pathetic.

I never forget to thank Mr. Doggy for pushing me to that dizzying place. I am a lucky Mrs. Doggy to have a man like him in my life.

And without intending too, I sure got even for whatever misery he caused me during the first [strikethrough]Raving Bitch[/strikethrough] Three Months of my quit!

DG
14+ Months Quit
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Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same. ~Francesca Reigler
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chris2quit



Quit Date:
September 22, 2008

Posts: 5

PostPosted: August 26, 2008 11:14 PM    Post subject: why i decided to quit Reply with quote

Beacause im scared..man im just scared is all
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Wanderer62



Quit Date:
April 30, 2014

Posts: 69
Location: Western New York

PostPosted: October 27, 2008 1:38 AM    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm scared too. Right now I'm in relapse where I'm scared to quit and scared not to quit. I thank Kevin and everyone for sharing their reasons and stories. It's helping me to redirect myself. I quit last year because I was sick and tired of being chained to a cigarette. I felt like I was in jail and I was. My quit went well and I stayed focused and clean for 10 and a half months. In some ways that last quit was easier because I was so tired of the addiction. Now I'm not smoking full time, but heading in that direction big time. I quit again in a week and this time I'm going to keep in touch with the quit smoking message boards. This is a great place and I feel so thankful.
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nicfirth



Quit Date:
July 17, 2008

Posts: 383
Location: England

PostPosted: October 28, 2008 6:47 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

What made me do it!

Well I do martial arts, and on a martial arts forum someone asked if anyone smokes and if it affected their training.

I said I did, and that my training was not badly affected and in fact it was a bit like altitude training having less oxygen in the blood.

When I started to read back what I was writing and the defences I was arguing I could clearly see that I was an addict in denial, at that point I had a moment of clarity and made a choice to take back control.

The rest as they say is history.
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jimotter



Quit Date:
November 19, 2003

Posts: 2411
Location: Everett Washington

PostPosted: October 29, 2008 5:43 AM    Post subject: Reply with quote

How many times have I been to these boards, and never posted to this. Well, it is not what I did, but something I saw that finally convinced me to get the quit right. I tried so many times before but failed many times. When I saw that man in the hospital in September 2003 walking down the hallway pushing and oxygen tank on a rack with the mask secured to his face walk outside and light up after removing his mask just long enough to take a drag, well that convinced me I had to quit or that would be me. Oh, by the way, the day I saw that man was a Tuesday, I pickd up my wife two days later when she was released I found out that same man had passed away, he had lung cancer.
Jim
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Never give up on yourself. We are so worth the effort. Smoking creates nothing but misery for us and those around us. Smoking is socially unacceptable everywhere we go.
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kevin
Site Admin


Quit Date:
-

Posts: 9538
Location: cincinnati, oh

PostPosted: October 29, 2008 8:52 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

when i was in music school, we used to have 2 recitals every semester, and many of our parents would come to watch. i remember one time seeing a friend's father rolling his oxygen tank out into the theater lobby and turning it off long enough to smoke a cigarette during intermission: i thought, "how foolish is that? he's on oxygen already and he's still smoknig?" (of course, the irony of the fact that i was smoking while thinking this was lost on me at the time)... Wink
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keep choosing life!

kevin

the zen of the quit
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roundasapound



Quit Date:
-

Posts: 44
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow

PostPosted: October 30, 2008 5:45 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

One day I got up and thought enough is enough, that's it.

The rest is history.
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Needing someone is like needing parachute, if they aren't there the first time, chances are you won't be needing them again!
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Elarya



Quit Date:
November 18, 2008

Posts: 36
Location: Illinois!

PostPosted: December 4, 2008 7:50 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

For about 6 or 7 months, I put my mind to it that I wanted to quit before my birthday (which is today). My biggest reason for that decision though was for my kids. Though my son is a teen, thank goodness he despises the habit, but I will not get lucky twice. And I know my daughter will pick it up. I was tired of being a slave.. but mostly, for my kids. I never ever want them to go through this, nor this process of quitting...
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pinkpearl



Quit Date:
June 30, 2007

Posts: 1667
Location: Illinois

PostPosted: December 4, 2008 9:28 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELARYA!!
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Elarya



Quit Date:
November 18, 2008

Posts: 36
Location: Illinois!

PostPosted: December 10, 2008 1:25 AM    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you Pinkpearl!!
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