My Excuses For Not Quiting

[Tim In Az]

Well I've been at this for a little over a month now and so far so good. No real urges to speak of.

I thought I'd share some of my reasons I couldn't quit in the past.

About 20 years ago in my early 20's my aunt developed Ulcerative Colitis shortly after Quiting smoking. She was told this was common for people that wer susceptible to get the disease after quiting. My grandfather had it, another aunt and an uncle. So there was no way in hell I was quiting. My first excuse.

Several years later I did quit for a few years. I did fine but never quite felt right. Just didn't feel like myself and eventually went back to it.

A couple years later my daughter got very sick with guess what- Ulcerative Colitis. My wife and I spent years in and out of hospitals and at one point the doctors wanted to put our at the time 7 year old on Nicotine patches or Nic gum to help control her flare ups.
We Actually considered this as we were willing to do anything to get our little girl better.

She eventually had her lower intestines removed and has been disease free and healthy ever since.
Me--at this point, there is no fricken way I'm gonna quit. My built in excuse and who's gonna judge me right.

My best friend has been vaping for two years now and I finally came around to be curious about it.
When I realized - hey - you mean I can still get my nic but none of the other crap a light went off.

No more excuses. I've made a commitment to myself that it's this or nothing. The good thing is as much as I enjoyed smoking I'm enjoying vaping much more.

I enjoy the variety of flavors. I enjoy being able to take my kids places with their friends without worrying about smelling.
I'm already breathing a bit better and my smell has improved which sometimes isn't a good thing.


Would love to hear some of your excuses ( if you had any) for staying on the death sticks.

 

[Iusedtoanalog]

Tim I applaud your candor in this situation. I smoked for about 22 years. Thing about that is that I had no excuses. My parents didn' smoke. Nor anyone in my family, until my stepdad. I began smoking a pack a week when I was 14.... Fast forward through my entire adult life(and my entire teens) struggling with being sick multiple times every year. Then one day twenty something years later I had a customer who showed me his new "ecig" after he had been out of touch for some time. I asked what he had bee up to otherwise, he replied "i had a piece of my lung removed and my doc told me its this or die" .... My light went on and the very next saturday was my first day vaping(and my last cigarette)

Good Job finally allowing the light switch to trigger the light. Good Luck. Happy Vaping.

 

[Johnnie Price]

I didn't have an excuse. I enjoyed smoking. I started vaping to save money when my wife lost her job and to improve her health and that of my 4 year old daughter.

I'm happy I did quit though. My wife has had fewer asthma attacks in the past six months, and my daughter hasn't had a major ear infection or bronchitis this season. And I only ever smoked outside or in my car, never in the house or near my family.

So remember, it's not just your health you are improving.

 

[wandawag]

welcome to ecf, and congrats on your choice. yes, we do make our excuses, don't we? you can learn anything you want to know about vaping at this site...it is a great support system with wonderful friendly people.......all any of us want is to stay off the stinkies and help others do the same. i have now made the 4 month mark (hubby too) today with the help of this forum......i too am enjoying vaping more than i did smoking, even after my 45 year habit! good luck to you...you are doing wonderful things for your health.

 

[Tim In Az]

welcome to ecf, and congrats on your choice. yes, we do make our excuses, don't we? you can learn anything you want to know about vaping at this site...it is a great support system with wonderful friendly people.......all any of us want is to stay off the stinkies and help others do the same. i have now made the 4 month mark (hubby too) today with the help of this forum......i too am enjoying vaping more than i did smoking, even after my 45 year habit! good luck to you...you are doing wonderful things for your health.

You are so right. I belong to many forums for my many hobbies and this is by far the friendliest! I've always found most smokers to be very social people but vapors seem to be even more so. Congrats to you as well. Breaking 45 year habit is awesome!

 

[StevesCVO]

Congrats on quitting. I smoked for 30 yrs and had no excuse for not quitting either. For the last 10 yrs or so I hated smoking but wouldn't give it up. They opened a vape store about a mile from the house and I kept telling myself I would stop in and check it out but it was there 4 months before I finally went in. When I finally did go in I tried the juices and found I really liked what they had. Spent about $100 getting supplies and juice. Best money I ever spent and haven't smoked since. Only regret I have is making excuses for not going in sooner.

 

[Yoda1]

Welcome to the forum. Courage!

 

[Slots]

Not an excuse, a for real fact. I smoked to control my weight.
I was born fat and the only time I wasn't fat, my mom found out the dog and I had worms !! Back to fat ...
I was raised in a time period that "fat" was looked down on, they had a small department in the stores for "chubbies"
My parents did everything legal they could to slim me down to no avail
I'm in my 70's now, and to this day I still have a lot of emotional scars hidden inside, that surprise me when they get their buttons pushed.
As a teen and into adulthood, I did everything, took everything etc etc I could to lose weight.
In the 70's, I finally found a diet I could live with the rest of my life, that kept my weight under control.
Along came "hot flashes" ... I was put on medication to help it and all of a sudden I started to gain weight again.
After 10 years of controlling it, my diet didn't work anymore.
I went into a panic, cut back more and more, but over a period of a year, shot up over 200 again.
Nine years later, I read a small article about how you could gain 5 to 10 pounds on the meds I was on .. Yeah right !!!
So I started to wean myself off the meds, and the weight started going down.
It took 3 years to get it off .
My bod likes to "hoard".
Forward a few years, and I decided to quit smoking (my last vice) and be totally healthy.
Same thing again ... quit for 2 weeks and put on a few pounds. Two more weeks, another few pounds. the diet quit working for me again
I didn't start chewing gum or changing portions. If fact I panicked again, cut back on the food etc ... still kept gaining.
I knew how long and how hard the weight would be to get off.
I was in tears, and starting to withdraw into my shell again so I picked up a cigarette.
I wasn't going to let it get out of control this time. I believed that the lack of nicotine was what had caused me to gain the weight
Sure enough, the diet started working again. It took over a year to lose a mere 25 pounds.
I felt really cheated. Why couldn't I do what was good for me without being "punished" for it.
After all, I had given up a lot to control my weight for the last 36 years, and all I was doing was trying to get healthy.
Forward another few years ... allergy attacks, sinus problems, shots, xrays, steroids, breathing treatments (all for allergies),
coughing 24/7.
Doc says signs of COPD damage, and to look forward to being on oxygen.
I have always chosen being a slim smoker over being a fat non-smoker, mainly for how being fat changes my personality
But .. the morning I got up and the phlegm I was coughing up contained blood, I knew I had to give up the battle.
Oddly enough, the night before, I had seen a "blue" advertisement. Never knew there was such a thing.
I left the doctors office, and picked up some "blues" on the way home.
I had stopped coughing within 10 hours, Sinus quit before that.
It was a miracle to me. I could give up smoking without gaining weight, because I was getting the nicotine my body needed.
It's been a long road (and story), but I'm slim and smoke free all because of "vaping".
Thanks for asking, writing this has been good therapy for me .....

 

[Tim In Az]

Slots,
Thanks for sharing your story.

 

[SteamDaddy]

Now there is no excuse, not to quit.
wish these were around 30 years ago.
damn i'm old...lol

 

[Thayamax]

Smokers usually either love smoking and/or have excuses for not quitting. I was both. I love smoking so much I worked my way up to nearly 4 packs a day!

Excuse #1 - I love to smoke.

Every time I tried to quit I would turn into a cranky, nervous, weepy puddle of goo. Then I would go back to smoking more than I had before I tried to quit...to make up for lost time.

Excuse #2 - My family (and myself) can't stand to live with me when I'm not smoking.

When I found out I had Type 2 diabetes I went on a diet and exercise regimen and lost 75 pounds in six months. I kept it off for 2 years, then had the bright idea to get totally healthy and quit smoking, too. I started eating anything that didn't run away from me and I gained 20 pounds in 1 month! I started back smoking and still gained another 20 pounds in the next couple of months anyway since my diet was blown.

Excuse #3 - I'll gain weight if I quit smoking.

My doctor is anti-smoking and tried to convince me it was damaging my lungs after 30 + years of smoking. He sent me for a chest x-ray...all clear. He sent me for a lung capacity test...I passed with flying colors. He gave up.

Excuse #4 - I'm super-human. Smoking can't hurt me.

Fast forward a decade after being laid off for 2 years and smoking almost constantly out of boredom. Coughing up phlegm, wheezing and short of breath after 1 flight of stairs. Tightness and a dull ache in my chest that was a little scary. Could it be I'm not super-human after all?

The fact is that any excuse will do when you don't really want to quit smoking. The fact is that smoking will kill you eventually, excuses or not. Vaping is a valuable way to get a lot of what you need from smoking, but in a much healthier way. I won't pretend I'm not smoking anymore, but I've cut down dramatically with vaping and hope to eventually give them up altogether.

If I can only get rid of all my excuses!

 

[Tim In Az]

Wow Thayamax 4 packs glad to hear you've cut back a bunch.
The part about being cranky when not smoking is another one of my many excuses I had.
I can't tell you how many New Years Day's came and went with my excuse of " just one more day"

Sounds like you are real close to quiting altogether. You can do it!

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

GREAT topic
My excuse was I don't drink, use funny stuff had no sense of taste or smell and analogs were the only sensory activator I had in my life. Had tried many times with diff smoking cessation progs and was always "white knuckling" even after 6 months no analogs. And of course there was always the excuse "next week".
Now breathing great and have about 50% sense of taste and smell back. Life is good and I owe it all to a good friend that introduced me to vaping 1 1/2 yrs ago. Indebted to him forever and no matter how much free juice and/ or starter kits I give him and his wife that debt will never be paid IMO.

 

[indianajames]

I'm already breathing a bit better and my smell has improved which sometimes isn't a good thing..

I've said this, too. Some things you just don't want to smell.


My excuse was generally pretty simple, when I was honest about it: I wanted to smoke.

 

[Wizzlefits]

Excuse #1 - I love to smoke.

Yeper! My #1

Excuse #2 - My family (and myself) can't stand to live with me when I'm not smoking.

The last time I tried to quit, it got so bad my wife bought me a pack and even lit one up for me.

Excuse #4 - I'm super-human. Smoking can't hurt me.

Real bubble buster getting knocked off that pedestal. (And finding out we're not 18 anymore.)

 

[jfalbanese]

with the exception of 4 months of my life that i was unable to smoke because of bad decision making. the cigs have been my absolute best friend since i can remember. started at 9. 41 years total. they have been my primary coping mechanism since i needed a coping mechanism. they literally killed every male member of my family. still go back to 5 years and 2 surgeries after my father was diagnosed with bladder cancer. there he was sneaking into my room to steal my cigs. and what are you going to say to your father? no??. i think not. my main excuse was that i was a tobacco lover, and remain so to this day. i also used the old -" i know i'm going to get cancer, so what everybody dies. it's my choice." not to mention the other things i spent a lifetime ingesting, but don't want to get in trouble by talking about it. even though the two subjects are directly related to each other. as with many other people on here. after so many failures at stopping, i just gave up, and decided i would be a lifetime smoker. and then the neighbor kid was over my house 2 months ago, and totally changed my life. here i am today- 51 days no cigs, 11 days no nicotine.

 

[Thayamax]

The last time I tried to quit, it got so bad my wife bought me a pack and even lit one up for me.

The same thing happened to me! My husband bought me a pack of smokes, lit one up and put it in my fingers. Now that's pretty bad.

 

[Mstr Mashnst]

Have a heart attack at age 47. Lay there on the lining room floor, not able to move and you can't get any air in your lungs. You can hear the siren off in the distance. Hoping they are for you. You make a deal with God to save your life and part of that deal is to quit smoking. That is one promise you should keep. Not something I recomend to quit smoking but it worked for me.

 

[Thayamax]

with the exception of 4 months of my life that i was unable to smoke because of bad decision making. the cigs have been my absolute best friend since i can remember. started at 9. 41 years total. they have been my primary coping mechanism since i needed a coping mechanism. they literally killed every male member of my family. still go back to 5 years and 2 surgeries after my father was diagnosed with bladder cancer. there he was sneaking into my room to steal my cigs. and what are you going to say to your father? no??. i think not. my main excuse was that i was a tobacco lover, and remain so to this day. i also used the old -" i know i'm going to get cancer, so what everybody dies. it's my choice." not to mention the other things i spent a lifetime ingesting, but don't want to get in trouble by talking about it. even though the two subjects are directly related to each other. as with many other people on here. after so many failures at stopping, i just gave up, and decided i would be a lifetime smoker. and then the neighbor kid was over my house 2 months ago, and totally changed my life. here i am today- 51 days no cigs, 11 days no nicotine.

Wow! No cigs and no nicotine? Kudos to you for your achievement. I can only hope to reach your success one day.

You also used one of my excuses. "You have to die from something, it might as well be something you enjoy." That's a lot easier to believe when you're younger, though.

 

[Tim In Az]

Have a heart attack at age 47. Lay there on the lining room floor, not able to move and you can't get any air in your lungs. You can hear the siren off in the distance. Hoping they are for you. You make a deal with God to save your life and part of that deal is to quit smoking. That is one promise you should keep. Not something I recomend to quit smoking but it worked for me.

Wow, glad you are able to stick around to make that deal. That is definitely a wake up call!