Giving up Smoking is the Easiest Thing in the World

"Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times." ~ Mark Twain

Hoo Boy! Day Care was rough today.
Now to relax with a nice smoke.

I myself have quit smoking so many times over the past thirty some years that it does seem like thousands of times. Turning your back on that tobacco demon is an easy thing to do that is true. However, stopping oneself from turning right back around to that ash tray is the difficult task. Even most regular smokers say they don't really like smoking and that it is too expensive. Tobacco smoke stinks, it infiltrates your clothing and your hair. It even stinks up your car and your home.

Someone told me this (or it was as close to this as I can recall) "Smoking cigarettes is hurting my ability to breath and when I go hiking I get short of breath. I want to quit but I just can't. I have been smoking too long."

I started sneaking around with stolen cigarettes or an occasional cigar when I was around 11 or 12. By the time I was 14 I was a regular smoker and burned up a pack or so a day when I had them - and I usually had them.

When I was a kid it was common for folks to send their kids down to the store to get their tobacco. There was no age limit on the purchase of cigarettes, Prince Albert, cigars and other fine lung poisons so we could buy what we wanted without concern.

Of course since it was a small town we did have to be careful that certain people didn't see us buying our smokes or they may inform our parents. But then again some kids I knew had parents who didn't care if they smoked or chewed and so they did.
Well, since some time in January I have smoked very little. Between now and then I have snuck a hit here and there, but the last time I did that was close to a month ago. Throughout all this time I have not once said that I quit smoking. That way if I do decide to quit I will have already gotten a good head start! Whew! Just writing this makes me want to go out and have a smoke. Yeah, my wife smokes so they are around and I smell 'em and that does make it a little tough at times.

No one has told me that I am nervous or grouchy and as far as I can tell I'm eating pretty much the way I always do. In fact my clothes are getting a little baggy.

My method is just straight "cold turkey," that is I'm not using any patches or pills or anything like that.

Do you smoke or have you ever smoked that evil weed tobacco? How many times have you quit smoking? Did you use pills or patches or some other help?

A billboard in New Albany, Indiana

Check out this old magazine ad from the May 1934 issue of Modern Mechanix:

Tobacco Information

CDC - Smoking and Tobacco Use ~ CDC's Office on Smoking and Health offers information related to smoking and tobacco use.

Huron Indian myth has it that in ancient times, when the land was barren and the people were starving, the Great Spirit sent forth a woman to save humanity. As she traveled over the world, everywhere her right hand touched the soil, there grew potatoes. And everywhere her left hand touched the soil, there grew corn. And when the world was rich and fertile, she sat down and rested. When she arose, there grew tobacco... From Tobacco History

Tobacco info on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cigarette Smoking and Cardiovascular Diseases from the American Heart Association

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