Commentüs on: Smoking / not smoking

By: Blogging in Paris » Smoking stories

Blogging in Paris » Smoking stories — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 14:56:35 +0000

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By: joared

joared — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 08:39:09 +0000

The “first time” I quit smoking, I recall being told “No one ever quits smoking, they just quit buying cigarettes.” That statement proved to be prophetic at that time, until I felt guilty and resumed buying my own. Why did those smokers so willingly give me a cigarette when I asked, knowing I was trying to quit?? The price cigarettes are today, they might not be so willing.

The “second time,” nausea in early pregnancy when I lit a cigarette, or sipped coffee told me that my body was telling me something, so I immediately ceased both with no problem…for ten years or so.

When I resumed smoking again, at a time when I could not possibly have been more well-informed about the health risks having just viewed colored photos and films of real life individuals in all states of hideous disease, some struggling for every breath, some smoking through a stoma, I realized as I lit the cigarette that this action on my part was an unconscious, now conscious, death wish.

Some ten years later, I concluded that I would stop smoking, finally. The method I chose, was to simply stop buying cigarettes, nor did I borrow any. I don’t know if the mindset that I wanted to quit smoking made the difference with the ease in which I accomplished this goal or not. I only felt any desire to light up again, at most, for two weeks after my last cigarette.

I don’t keep track of how many years it has been, since I believe focusing on such an anniversary is counterproductive, drawing unnecessary attention to the behavior.

Like you, Claude, I added extra pounds which I’m sure I could have avoided had I only weighed myself weekly, or at some regular interval, taking myself in hand when only a few pounds over.

I believe that if a true sincere desire to stop smoking is present, the smoker will be 100% motivated and will have little difficulty doing so. My mindset on the failed trys was not conducive to success. If the smoker is ambivalent success may be also.

I believe too many of us have received the message that stopping smoking is a much more difficult behavior to change than what it is. Pharmaceutical companies, for example, certain types of health care providers, celebrities, friends and relatives do their share in perpetuating this idea. People believe it. We live what we believe.

By: meg

meg — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 19:14:59 +0000

Well here I am chain-smoking and reading your blog. Quitting is easy, I’ve done it at least three times this year alone. Smiles to you Claude.

By: Bob

Bob — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 18:25:35 +0000

I remember going out to a doctor’s office in Creil with you, Claude, and Roland, for an acupuncture
treatment in June 1977. After the one session, I was able to quit but for most a good part of that summer,
I carried a pack of cigarettes around with me. About 4-6 weeks after the acupuncture, I remember giving
my final unopened pack of cigarettes (Gauloises filtres) to a friend whom I was visiting in Bergamo; Ken’s
memory of my having acupuncture comes from my telling about that memorable session. I don’t remember the
acupuncture being uncomfortable at all. Following the session which consisted of needles in the nose and
around the face and scalp, the doctor said that without willpower, the acupuncture wouldn’t be successful.
I recall really wanting to smoke for several weeks, but it did pass. Even now, 29 years later, I occasionally
catch a whiff of cigarette smoke and like it. But I don’t think anything could entice me to begin again.

By: Ken Broadhurst

Ken Broadhurst — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 03:55:18 +0000

Hi Claude, I smoked for 15 years, including 8 years when I lived in France. Everybody in Paris, it seemed, smoked back then. And I had grown up in North Carolina — tobacco country — where everybody smoked back then too. I quit in 1982, the point at which I was leaving Paris to move back to the U.S. and find a “real” job after years of knocking around Paris.

Quitting smoking was the hardest and best thing I ever did, I said in 1980s. And then in the 1990s, with the stress of my jobs, I started “messing” with cigarettes again. I never again got completely hooked, but I smoked on and off for 8 or 10 years. Now I’ve quit completely and am not even tempted, thank goodness. Besides the way it damages your health, it’s just too expensive nowadays.

I remember when our friend Bob had acupuncture to stop smoking. I vaguely remember him telling me you did the same, even though we had never met back then. –Ken

By: Mort Reichek

Mort Reichek — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 17:43:45 +0000

Re your question about whether I ever smoked the pipe I was given as a gift…
I don’t recall ever using the pipe very much while I was in the Army. Carrying all the paraphernalia a solider needs to carry–ammo belts, musette bags, rifles, etc.–there never was much room to carry the paraphernalia that pipe-smokers need to carry, such as tobacco pouches.But I did become a serious pipe smoker in college and while working. As an adult, I no longer was concerned about the “professional look.” But the pipe was a great source of comfort coping with the pressures and tensions that came with reporting. I stopped pipe smoking at least 20 years ago soon after the link between cancer and tobacco began scaring people. I still miss smoking the pipe and have often been tempted to resume using it. I gave all my old pipes to my oldest grandson, when he was a small boy, for use in blowing bubbles. Sherwood and other pipe-devotees would have been shocked by the desecration.

By: golden lucy

golden lucy — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 17:28:21 +0000

I’m so very grateful I never started smoking. I tried it a few times and just couldn’t get used to it. Then, when I started dating Jack’s father he told me he disapproved of women smoking because he thought it looked “cheap”. That was that for me.

I really enjoyed this post, Claude—esp the acupuncture ordeal. Like most folks who try to quit it sounds like you tried almost everything. So glad you finally kicked the habit and stayed around to enrich our lives.
love
lucyd

By: Terri

Terri — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 14:13:34 +0000

It’s not an easy thing to do. I’ve attempted it twice,
also due to being sick. And yes, I resumed smoking.
I know the risks, I know the downfalls, etc. and worst of
all, I’m an RN and should know the negative more than
anybody. AND yet…..my cigarettes and lighter sit beside
me here at the computer.