Topic I've Avoided

[artifactos]

My immediate family is full of addictions, and I'm happy to see you admit yours and have a plan to overcome it.

My father was a smoker and an alcoholic. My little sister is a heroin addict and a smoker. My mother gambles.

I've wondered what my addiction will be, or if I will have one. Maybe I'm addicted to exercise? The internet? I don't think I have a tendency toward addiction, because it has always been very easy to take a break from something I become heavily involved in. If I'm not feeling good, I take a few days off from exercising. If I'm busy, I don't touch my computer for a few days.

Maybe self awareness helps me overcome the tendency toward addiction? Hopefully your cycling and other fitness goals will help you overcome your addiction and replace it with a more healthy lifestyle!

[arielmoon]

I admit I can be one of those judgey people... It's one thing to have smoked when I was growing up (I smoked on and off in high school but was never addicted) when there weren't so many known risks of smoking and of second hand smoke.

Today, I really have a hard time seeing young people smoke. The worst though, is people smoking around children. It boggles my mind to see someone smoking in a car with kids in it. It really gets my blood boiling!

/rant

So you have been smoking a while and that does make it harder to quit. From what I know, most of it is about replacing the habit with another one. Hopefully a healthy one. Not like gastric bypass patients who become alcoholics. Meep.

How about saying to yourself "I will do this incredibly healthy thing for myself today because I deserve it!!" Instead of thinking "I wont smoke today."

Even if you fall off the wagon, tomorrow is another day to try again.

I think the fact that you have come here and owned it is a step in the right direction. Maybe you werent ready before and you are now!

Best of luck to you!

[BeeLady]

I smoked for 25 or so years - two packs a day. My most recent (I never say last) cigarette was about 22 years ago.

I made a 3 lists: everyone I knew that had quit smoking and seemed able to cope without cigarettes; the benefits of quitting; and the consequences of continuing to smoke.

Then I memorized the following and used these lines regularly:

Smoking a cigarette to stop an urge to smoke will only create another urge.

I'd like to smoke a cigarette; the choice is up to me. But I want and deserve the benefits so for now I choose not to smoke.

(I paid $600 for a non-smoking course for this stuff).

Anyway good luck. And better to be a smoker who exercises than a smoker who is a couch potato.

[Bike Chick]

I smoked for 25 years. I quit several times only to start again later. I was also a closet smoker for years. I finally kicked the nasty habit 6 years ago and bought a bicycle to help me keep the weight off. Little did I know how addicted I would get to the bicycle! I traded an unhealthy habit for a healthy one. Six years later I'm no longer smoking but I'm still bicycling and hope to for the rest of my life!