quit smoking

l.m.orchard says in his opml blog:

Dave posts about how long it’s been since he quit smoking. It’s been since January 2002 for me. Let’s all cheer for quitting! I quit cold turkey one day after 7 years or so of smoking, finished the last in the pack, and then just worked through the next 12 weeks or so of withdrawl and panic attacks. Granted, 7 years isn’t as long as many people have gone, letting smoking get claws in – but ever since then, I’ve used this cold-turkey quit to remind myself that personal change is always possible.

I’ve been off the cowboy killers for about 15 years, Les. After 8 years of smoking. It’s like anything else: ya gotta wanna. I was sick of smoking and smelling like smoke, and I was offered $1 extra an hour by my boss to quit.

Back then cigarettes hit $2 a pack. I used the 21 day program by the Lung (or Cancer) Association. The main thing that helped me was to realize that the urge to smoke lasts about 20 seconds, so if you can occupy yourself for those 20 seconds, your mind can move on to something else.

My brothers and I lost both parents in the past few years because of smoking. We just observed the one year memorial of my mother’s passing the other day. She lost her battle with cancer at 61. Dad died of a heart attack at 66.