Yesterday at 8:30 a.m. I made a decision to stop smoking cigarettes. My sponsor and my mom both told me not to overdo it by trying to quit smoking and drinking at the same time. I kept telling myself I was going to stop and it was hard. Guess I felt I had given up one addiction, I "didn't have to" give up another. Well, my health is getting worse from smoking. My energy level has been really low and I have been barely able to walk any distance without having to stop and catch my breath. And I don't even want to talk about climbing steps and how I am on those! I have had to force myself just to do the least little things and I know it is the smoking.
So I am going to take this "one day at a time" like I do about not drinking. Tomorrow a.m. will be 2 days. It ain't easy, but I have to try.
I had really gotten attached to the things and miss them.
Well, I took your sponsor's advice, and told many others the same thing, and I wish I hadn't. I quit the smokes about ten years ago and went through three years of hell which I did not at the time connect with giving up smoking.
It was like going right back to early recovery. I developed anger issues and general dry drunk behaviour. I didn't know what was wrong. My doctor diagnosed depression. Coincidentally, about the time it resolvd itself, I got more active in AA. I met another AA of long sobriety who had the same experience and I began to put the pieces together. Smoking was my way of dealing with anger. When I stopped smoking, anger became a real problem. It was almost like I was not properly sober until I gave up the ciggys.
What I went through I would not wish on anyone. My advice today if anyone asks is to go for it if you feel the need. Why go through early sobriety twice? All the best:)
Thanks for the support, guys and yep, Fyne Spirit, I am noticing that I am having some po-edness and am trying to pray to my HP to remove it when it creeps in. I do know that one of the times I quit drinking and smoking at the same time, when I started one up I started the other, so I felt like a failure at two things--not one. I am on day 2 now and it helps having the same sober friend doing it along with me. We have the same sober date and now we have the same quitting smoking date. We encourage one another and talk about the nasty stuff (like coughing up cra*, stinky breath, being out of breath) and compare those things to the positive things--feeling better, sleeping better, tasting food and sense of smell coming back (whew! the car stinks of cigs! and wow! I can smell the flowers I planted!) and even having the energy to go on short walks now--we are up to 11 blocks this am and I didn't get out of breath at all--which is major for me!
the first 3 days is the hardest. After that, after the nicotine has left your body completely, it gets a little easier every day. The cravings get less frequent, and less intense.
I quit last year, after about 4 months of sobriety, and I found some of the same issues as Fyne Spirit. I started acting like an asshole, and, I'm really not an asshole. Not all the time, anyway. I made it about 2 months, and one day, after a lot of stuff went wrong over the weekend, I caved in and had 1 cigarette. That's all she wrote. I was back to a pack and a half the following day.
Cigarettes (nicotine) are just like alcohol. You can't have "just 1". If we were to have "just 1" drink, what would happen? We'd be back to square 1, drinking every day, in no time. My best advice to you, and this comes from someone who has struggled with cigarettes all my life (at one point, I had quit for 8 years), is to never "cave in" and think you can have just 1. Even after 8 years of being quit, one day, I had 1 cigarette. And by the next day, I was a full time smoker again.you can't have even "just 1" cigarette after you quit. It's just like drinking.
All that being said, tomorrow, I'm quitting. So, you, Hopefulone, I'm joining you. There's a book by a man named Allan Carr, called Easyway to Quit Smoking. It's a great book. He doesn't preach to you about all the pitfalls of smoking, all the health scares and all that. You already know about all the cancer and heart disease stuff, and if scaring you with all the statistics worked, you would have quit a long time ago. He basically just makes you see nicotine addiction for what it really is, and, like Tipsy said, it ain't that hard to quit. You just gotta remember 1 thing (and so do I, again): once you quit, you can't ever have just 1 cigarette, or even just 1 drag off of a cigarette.
Good luck to you. I'd get that book. It's only like $10, it's not $1000 hypno-therapy class. It has worked for me before, I'm gonna read it again tonight. I just gotta remember to NEVER THINK I CAN HAVE JUST 1 CIGARETTE.
thanks for the responses. I am still smoke free. Babie Louie--good for you! I wish you good luck in your quitting, too! I am feeling better every day. More energy, clearer headed, walked 14 blocks this am and not huffing and puffing! (Just aching muscles from sitting on my butt for years!) If feels great to be free of another addiction..."one day at a time".
Oh, went to my favorite sushi place yesterday and was amazed--the fishy smell about knocked me over! They have quite a few Koi fish in the front and if my sense of smell was that way off, I am shocked! Maybe it was a one time thing and they just didn't clean their "pond" that day. Anyway, the food tasted so much better but it was hard to get over the smell of those fish!
"the first 3 days is the hardest. After that, after the nicotine has left your body completely, it gets a little easier every day. The cravings get less frequent, and less intense."
Whoever said that is stupid. I'm on my 4th day, and it ain't any easier, less frequent, or less intense.
Hi Baba....Just checking in with you. Hope you are still hanging in their with the not smoking. I am still sticking with it and I am feeling better and better each day. Walked 24 blocks this am.
(Except I do have the urge to go bite a dog in the butt, LOL. I heard it is normal to be ticked off for awhile.....)
Oh....don't be too hard on yourself. I have talked to quite a few people who have told me that they gave up alcohol easier than cigarettes. I know you are not "hopeless" at all. If it were me who started smoking again, think of what you would say to me....would you call me hopeless?
Well, I took your sponsor's advice, and told many others the same thing, and I wish I hadn't. I quit the smokes about ten years ago and went through three years of hell which I did not at the time connect with giving up smoking.
It was like going right back to early recovery. I developed anger issues and general dry drunk behaviour. I didn't know what was wrong. My doctor diagnosed depression. Coincidentally, about the time it resolvd itself, I got more active in AA. I met another AA of long sobriety who had the same experience and I began to put the pieces together. Smoking was my way of dealing with anger. When I stopped smoking, anger became a real problem. It was almost like I was not properly sober until I gave up the ciggys.
What I went through I would not wish on anyone. My advice today if anyone asks is to go for it if you feel the need. Why go through early sobriety twice? All the best:)
Bingo!
Anger is associated with smoking AND quitting smoking. It's so insidious...
Well, I took your sponsor's advice, and told many others the same thing, and I wish I hadn't. I quit the smokes about ten years ago and went through three years of hell which I did not at the time connect with giving up smoking.
It was like going right back to early recovery. I developed anger issues and general dry drunk behaviour. I didn't know what was wrong. My doctor diagnosed depression. Coincidentally, about the time it resolvd itself, I got more active in AA. I met another AA of long sobriety who had the same experience and I began to put the pieces together. Smoking was my way of dealing with anger. When I stopped smoking, anger became a real problem. It was almost like I was not properly sober until I gave up the ciggys.
What I went through I would not wish on anyone. My advice today if anyone asks is to go for it if you feel the need. Why go through early sobriety twice? All the best:)
Bingo!
Anger is associated with smoking AND quitting smoking. It's so insidious...
To put it simply, I have come to the conclusion that doing anything that puts your life in danger that produces no benefits is not sober behavior, not even smoking.
Tanin, you're a little short sighted on the anger!
Give me a break, doing anything that puts your life in danger that produces no benefits is not sober behavior? I don't know where you come up with this stuff. I quit smoking after I'd been sober for 3 years, and it wasn't because I was using it to deal with anger, or had anger issues. I was addicted to nicotine. Once I was on solid footing in AA, I was ready to take on the herculean task to giving up smoking. I was using it as a crutch. Instead of always having a drink in my hand, I always had a lit cigarette in my hand.
By your statement, SoberInMI, non-sober behavior would include, not wearing a seat belt, skydiving...
Give me a break, doing anything that puts your life in danger that produces no benefits is not sober behavior? I don't know where you come up with this stuff. I quit smoking after I'd been sober for 3 years, and it wasn't because I was using it to deal with anger, or had anger issues. I was addicted to nicotine. Once I was on solid footing in AA, I was ready to take on the herculean task to giving up smoking. I was using it as a crutch. Instead of always having a drink in my hand, I always had a lit cigarette in my hand.
By your statement, SoberInMI, non-sober behavior would include, not wearing a seat belt, skydiving...
Not wearing a seat belt yes. Skydiving, because there are benefits to it, no. Sober people make good decisions. 2nd step "sanity" = sound mind (making sound decisions) and body. Doing something with no upside is indisputably NOT sober. PERIOD! Stick around long enough you will lose your anger and arrogance and you will see it!
Your admission that you were using nicotine "as a crutch" is an admission that you weren't living life on life's terms, you weren't sober!
-- Edited by SoberInMI on Thursday 29th of June 2017 05:34:14 PM
I am neither angry nor arrogant. I have been around for a long time. I take issue with people like you who like to constantly demonstrate how everyone else should stay sober in accordance to some rule they made up that appears no where in the BB. Show me where it says if you smoke cigarettes you're not sober in the BB. It's not there, and that's why when you go to any meeting, there are 20 drunks standing around smoking in front of the door.
I am neither angry nor arrogant. I have been around for a long time. I take issue with people like you who like to constantly demonstrate how everyone else should stay sober in accordance to some rule they made up that appears no where in the BB. Show me where it says if you smoke cigarettes you're not sober in the BB. It's not there, and that's why when you go to any meeting, there are 20 drunks standing around smoking in front of the door.
Where does it say we should go to meetings? Where does it say that we should get a sponsor or be sponsor? Where does it say that taking drugs or other mood altering substances while abstaining from alcohol does not a sober alcoholic make? These are unwritten, but generally understood as part of the AA program.
The 2nd step talks about restoring us to "sanity" (soundness of mind and action). So how is smoking, unlike alcohol which is not harmful to the body in the beginning, a sound or sober thing to do when it damages your body with the first and every use? Why is there a 12 step program for smokers/nicotine addicts? Strange NA doesn't consider nicotine addiction under its drug addiction umbrella. Nevertheless, those alcoholics smoking outside meetings violate the 12th step because they are not practicing the AA program principles "in all our affairs."
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Bill W., with all his years of sobriety died of emphysema. Wouldn't you think that a sober rational person would stop smoking before it kills them? You going to dispute Tanin's motto:
First, deal with the things that might kill you.
I couldn't go 2 ways with this. The first is that it is understood that we alcoholics need to remain teachable. The second is that you appear to be in denial.
I think this will help you:
Paradoxes in AA: The apparent SELFISHNESS of being UNSELFISH. And others.
The comments I got earlier about getting to grips with seeming paradoxes in AA, (The apparent SELFISHNESS of being UNSELFISH in the AA tradition for instance) reminded me of a time when I thought there was only ONE answer to things. A RIGHT answer and a WRONG answer.
It took a while to see the existence of contradictions. Seemingly contradictory 'truths'. Not just in AA, but in life generally. I cant [sic] remember when it happened exactly, but there did come a point when I stopped looking for the ONE AND ONLY right answer. Now I see many (seemingly contradictory) 'right' answers to any ONE problem.
Part of my desire to find only ONE answer to things was fuelled [sic] by a deep lying insecurity that I would not find the 'right' answer. In truth this was a reasonable fear, as I HAD spent many years trying to find a solution, and failing. Simply to become more and more agonized in the process. So it is hardly surprising that there was a lot of anxiety about finding the 'right' answer!
As I became more secure in my recovery, I just stopped being threatened or offended by other world views. My 'house' wasn't build [sic] on sand anymore. [sic] It [sic] was built on rock. So it was safe to explore other interpretations. I no longer feared extinction if I got it 'wrong'.
I find rigidity both in myself and in the other people I come into contact with seems to be rooted mainly in FEAR. A DEFINITE view just doesn't seem rational to me any more, as I simply could not subscribe to the view THAT ALL OTHER INTERPRETATIONS ARE WORTHLESS. So instead I see a degree of truth in many different viewpoints.
It takes time and work to create a 'safe place' in ones [sic] own recovery, that allows us to consider new ideas without fear of extinction. But I much prefer being free to think in many different ways. Being secure enough in myself to be flexible I suppose.
Be careful here, the writer apparently just pounded out his/her thoughts and wasn't careful about the expression thereof. The writer is telling you that he/she thought that his/hers was the only "right" answer and admitted where that was coming from. I believe you can identify with this. I hope this helps.
-- Edited by SoberInMI on Wednesday 5th of July 2017 12:36:19 PM
Whatever, in one part of the avalanche of stuff you quoted above, you say smokers violate the 12th step. Then you go on to say we need to remain teachable, but that I am most definitely in denial. Who knows, maybe in real life you're a treat to have a conversation with, but I have a feeling it would be more like a lecture. Carry on.
Whatever, in one part of the avalanche of stuff you quoted above, you say smokers violate the 12th step. Then you go on to say we need to remain teachable, but that I am most definitely in denial. Who knows, maybe in real life you're a treat to have a conversation with, but I have a feeling it would be more like a lecture. Carry on.
AA is a simple program, but so many complicate it by self-interpreting it to suit themselves despite the suggestion that we don't:
Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program . . .
I am not going to cosign your B.S., I am faithfully carrying the AA message! AA is a simple program, but nobody said that it was easy or even palatable, just life saving.
Who knows, maybe in real life you're a treat to have a conversation with, but I have a feeling it would be more like a lecture. Carry on.
It's a troll. Stop feeding the dang thing.
You have the right to be wrong and the two of you exercise that right frequently! Good for you for not being passive-aggressive! I take it that you guys subscribe the forever "recovering" theory, and it seems to be the case, while the forward to the 1st Edition of the Big Book talks about "recovered" alcoholics. I wonder how much you guys would hate me if I was a Big Book thumper? Certainly more than now!
You need to grow up and realize not only that you need to be open minded and teachable, you know, AA program principles, but realize that you don't have all the answers and that you are not always gonna be right; its called being "mature" and accepting life on life's terms.
If I upset you so frequently, then I might suggest that you do some self-reflection.
The 2 of you might want to consider the fact that when you point a judgemental finger at somebody that you have 3 pointing back at you:
It's a troll. Stop feeding the dang thing.
-- Edited by SoberInMI on Thursday 6th of July 2017 06:33:43 AM
Tobacco is the most worthless drug there is. I doesn't make you feel better, hallucinate, or improve physicality. Quitting will probably mean irritability and weight gain. Quit anyway. My doctor told me that the weight gain was nowhere near as unhealthy as smoking. Good luck.
