Do a lot of you smoke? When I'm smoking I'm thinking, "this is a lot like drinking...an addiction, harming myself, out of control from the addiction, something I don't want to do and isn't good for me or anyone else, something I run to that distracts me from my pain or stress, something that may be keeping me from feeling and dealing with things I need to deal with". What do you guys think?
It took me a year and a half of sobriety from alcohol to quit smoking cigarettes. What you are saying is true....but there is a saying "First things first" and that means focus on sobriety from alcohol. Build a program of recovery and learn more about your alcoholism, then worry about smoking later.
I was able to successfuly quit smoking only because I built a strong AA foundation by going to lots of meetings, working steps, having a sponsor. I used the same tools to quit smoking and to stay abstinent from that.
Mark
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It's on my 'to do' list. I was told by a couple of people not to worry about anything but sobriety in the first 12 months and then when I'm feeling a bit more settled I can think about doing something about the smokes and my ever increasing coffee intake.
It seems sensible to me so that is the plan I'm going to stick to.
No I don't smoke, but though you may be powerless over your addiction to cigs, ask yourself if your life has become unmanageable because of it. Maybe, but probably not. That's kind of how I feel about coffee. I drink coffee in the morning and admit to being addicted to caffeine, I get a headache if I skip it...but I've never lost a job, had a car wreck, gotten arrested for driving while under the influence of coffee, caffeine-dialed ex boyfriends in the middle of the night looking for a hookup, I don't drink so much Starbucks that I can't pay my rent...or other unmanageable behaviors.
I think if you decide to quit smoking for health reasons, that is great. I'm not saying that smoking is a good habit or healthy...but you got to pick your battles. Best wishes! Heather
all addictions do essentially the same thinq, they cause the brain to release endorphins. Of course nicotine is addictive. Zyban and a couple of others block the neuro receptors from collectinq the endorphins which makes smokinq useless. It does cause severe depression in some people, but other than that it's very effective.
It took me a year and a half of sobriety from alcohol to quit smoking cigarettes. What you are saying is true....but there is a saying "First things first" and that means focus on sobriety from alcohol. Build a program of recovery and learn more about your alcoholism, then worry about smoking later.
Mark
Well put Mark. First things first. I accept that there are things I'll probably never give up...smoking being one of them. I'll never steal food from my kids to get my smokes. No one I know of has ever been thrown in jail for "smoking and driving". I like what Dean said about what happens in our brains when we partake in whatever chemical we are putting into our bodies. I no longer get a buzz from the ciggarettes, but my body 'depends' on the chemicals it gets from the smoke. Quitting means discomfort to me, and I don't like to be uncorfortable, so I haven't attempted to quit yet. There might come a day when enough is enough for me, but until I'm ready there is NO point in beating myself up for doing it. I recently had a discussion with a coworker with 28 years sobriety about "everything in moderation". Right now, that's not how I'm wired, but changes are still happening. I ALWAYS look at my motives first, and decide if it's a good or bad thing depending on what my sick twisted brain tells me. If I'm doing it because of old addict behaviours, it's time to stop and check my spiritual condition. There are 2 things in my life today that will get me drunk again... my ego, and losing contact with the God of my very limited understanding.
Brian
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Nothing ever truly dies. The universe wastes nothing. Everything is simply, transformed. :confuse:
I would echo other's share here of 'First things first'. I am in the process of getting fit at the moment, losing weight etc. I could not have attempted this early on in my recovery and had enough to do to keep sober. My primary purpose is to stay sober and I too have not harmed anyone under the influence of a burger or a cream bun. I cannot say the say for alcohol.
The common wisdom is to just worry about drinking early on.
Smoking is not a good habit but it isn't going to ruin your life and relationships and get you in heaps of trouble like drinking. Get right with yourself via the program first, that's where the mind should be. We then have the opportunity to work on the other things. "First things First" is right.
I quit smoking a few years into soberiety, started working out and eating better. Was only able to do this because of recovery from alcoholism.
Take Care,
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Rob
"There ain't no Coupe DeVille hiding in the bottom of a Cracker Jack Box."
It took me a year and a half of sobriety from alcohol to quit smoking cigarettes. What you are saying is true....but there is a saying "First things first" and that means focus on sobriety from alcohol. Build a program of recovery and learn more about your alcoholism, then worry about smoking later.
I was able to successfuly quit smoking only because I built a strong AA foundation by going to lots of meetings, working steps, having a sponsor. I used the same tools to quit smoking and to stay abstinent from that.
Mark
Amen...I've been smoke free for 9 years, thanks be to God and AA.
-- Edited by Mr_David on Friday 27th of May 2011 02:16:09 AM
You actually have to be a smoker to answer the question, "does your life become unmanageable because of it?" I am clean from Nicotine and havent been clean for that long after my last relapse back into it and happy that I am clean now...right now." I lied cheated and stole for nicotine. I scrounged other people ashtrays where ever they were at and picked up butts from gutters, sidewalks and bathroom floors to get a hit. I saved old tobacco from time to time and wrapped my own from time to time in binder paper. I've stayed up and couldn't sleep because I didn't have a smoke and felt more degraded because of my nicotine addiction than my alcohol addiction. People can easily understand drunk because of alcohol and not crazy because of nicotine. My relapse several years ago involved me going over to cigars because a cigarette could not fulfill the need my body had for the drug so...cigars and inhale every drag and hold it and keep doing that until the cigar stub was wet, slimey and burning my lips just like Camels and I use to do in my teens. When I dropped a slobbery cigar stub into the dirt at my feet with tens of alcoholics standing around at a celebration and wanting so desperately to pick it up and dragging I felt again the humiliation of being owned/addicted to a chemical...nicotine. It kills just like alcohol does and there are tons more legislation against it than there is alcohol. It's a huge problem and the only person I can change is me. I relapsed with another fellow in AA on nicotine. He has more sober time than myself. Add our sober time together and we hold over 60+ years in AA sobriety. We said we were going to do it together and we said it with a smile...just like there is humor in a chancey promise. I was amazed that the choice to "go back out" took only one suggestion by accident and less than 10 seconds and there I was again...hitting like there wasn't enough nicotine in the whole world to satisfy that empty hole I had created by stopping temporarily. I'm nicotine free right now...just for this moment...and I hang with relapsers in AA and NA. I have humbly come to the realization that I'm no big deal to my addictions when they come knocking at the door. If I'm not right on top of the program "the next time I drink I die"; so said the nurse that checked out my assessment. If you don't smoke...you cannot know.
(((((hugs)))))
I once heard Zig Ziggler say to a group of Canadian adolescents that a smoker was "a fool sucking on fire". Thanks Zig you always were clear sighted.
-- Edited by Jerry F on Friday 27th of May 2011 01:58:48 PM
I like what you said Brian about the two things in your life that will get you drunk again - your ego and losing your contact with the God of your understanding. Thanks, and I will also remember "first things first".
I smoke a little bit, and after being caffeine-free for a long time I'm back on it now that I have to get up at 5:45a to work out before work... :/ Anyway to me the big difference is that neither significantly alters my personality, helps me forget about my problems, lets me "check out" emotionally, or will kill me if I have too much of it (in the short term). It's a whole different ballgame from alcohol...
I started smoking in rehab. Never smoked my whole life, even while drinking.
I'll simply ditto most of the comments: If it helps you stay sober don't stress about it too much. At least for a while. The big difference, as posted, is it is not mood altering.
Certainly horrible for you, but I don't know anyone living under a bridge because of their cigarette habit.
I started smoking in rehab. Never smoked my whole life, even while drinking.
I'll simply ditto most of the comments: If it helps you stay sober don't stress about it too much. At least for a while. The big difference, as posted, is it is not mood altering.
Certainly horrible for you, but I don't know anyone living under a bridge because of their cigarette habit.
Bill
I speak only for myself in that smoking greatly alters my moods. If I'm out or otherwisw unable to smoke, I get grumpy anf irritable. It also affects my mind, in that the more I know I can't smoke, the more I tend to obsess about it. Again, I speak only for myself. Sure, it doesn't make me hallucinate, but the nicotine does produce a slight "euphoric" feeling...that slight buzz I get after the first smoke in the morning. I believe the National Institute on Drug Abuse does classify nicotine as a "mood altering" drug, but then again I've also been told that sugar and caffeine also considered "mood altering". If that's really true, then my mood is altered all the time!
Brian
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Nothing ever truly dies. The universe wastes nothing. Everything is simply, transformed. :confuse:
If that's really true, then my mood is altered all the time! 