Quit Smoking

I chewed more nicotine gum since my last entry, but probably not for a week or so. I decided to pay attention to the instructions on the gum package & dutifully stuck my little stickers on my calendar (pretending like it was my first day on the gum!). But as soon as I started paying attention to how much I was chewing, it was simple to just substitute regular chewing gum instead.

So now I chew like a cow, but only Orbit citrus mint. And I think my chewing gum habit has become possibly more costly than the nicotine gum. Not to mention the dental implants I’ll probably need when I’ve ground my teeth down to nubs. But still not smoking!

I didn’t have any Nicorette yesterday. Of course, it’s always easier to abstain on weekends. I’ve been just tracking my use of the nicotine gum, not specifically trying to cut down, but I’ve found that just awareness of how much I’m chewing & substituting regular gum has made cutting down effortless and should make quitting altogether fairly simple. I’m not worrying too much about that yet . . . much better to keep chewing the gum than to relapse & smoke again.

I’ve been chewing nic gum like crazy, though. Sometime I’ll need to actually follow the instructions for cutting down.

After posting my last entry over a year ago, I’ve been on and off and on and off. Never very many in one day, but very few days with none at all. We went on vacation on 12/22, and I haven’t smoked since then, almost as an afterthought, since it’s so hard to travel in airports and smoke anymore these days. Since coming home, it’s occurred to me to start again, but I thought since I have this nice 11-day run, I’d try to stick with it one more time.

and counting.

If my entries under this goal have been somewhat uninspired lately, it’s because I hardly think about smoking these days. I probably ought to think of something more motivational to say, because I know that this stage of being uninspired is dangerous: Keeping up the good fight in the face of adversity isn’t a motivation anymore, and I risk becoming overconfident that I’m going to stay quit.

I think Allen Carr would say that knowing I’m never going to smoke again is a good thing, but I’ve “known” that before and relapsed anyway. So right now my motto is:

Ever vigilant!

2 months, 13 days, 7 hours, 10 minutes and 43 seconds
I’ve not smoked 1040 coffin nails and saved $260.84 along with 3 days, 14 hours and 40 minutes of my life.

Think I’m going to have to add that weight loss goal soon. Between Thanksgiving, holiday snacks at work, and the typical quitting pounds, it’s going to be either lose some weight or buy new clothes!

Still quit.

Had a killer migraine yesterday. The last time I quit, the migraines all but ceased. Guess that’s a lesson that I should never have started again.

I’ve been quit for
1 month, 21 days, 5 hours, 7 minutes and 42 seconds
I’ve not smoked 731 coffin nails and saved $183.14 along with 2 days, 12 hours and 54 minutes of my life.

I survived a business trip without relapsing.

Don’t know why. Maybe I’m getting close to the length of time when I relapsed before? I thought about smoking a lot, did a lot of telling myself “just not the next one,” and tried not to get into that stupid argument about going to buy a pack. Went through two packs of Orbit gum (and at $1.89 a pack, that’s not a much cheaper habit!). But I’m still here pluggin along, quit for:

1 month, 15 days, 2 hours, 8 minutes and 40 seconds
I’ve not smoked 631 coffin nails and saved $158.11 along with 2 days, 4 hours and 36 minutes of my life.

1 month, 1 day, 4 hours, 13 minutes and 26 seconds.
I’ve not smoked 436 coffin nails and saved $109.26 along with 1 day, 12 hours and 22 minutes of my life.

I’m pretty sure I spent at least $109.26 on Orbit gum instead. :-)

Aside from now chewing like a cow, I’ve been doing pretty well. Hardly even think about smoking. But I’ve got to be extra cautious at these times, because I think it’s when I let my guard down that I’m most vulnerable to relapse.

I’ve still got my old quit meter running, as a sort of object lesson. If I hadn’t relapsed, I’d have been quit for 3 months, 1 week, and 6 days. I’ve seen people cross this goal off with that much quit time. I’m starting to think I might jinx myself if I ever cross this off, given my track record of relapsing after years.

But I think I’ll stick to my original intent of crossing it off after a year. It should be interesting to see where I’m at in a year.