Today, 21 June 2008, marks nine years quit for me. Thanks, AS3, I don't
think I could have done it without you.
I feel like I'm expected to share some of the wisdom I'm supposed to
have ac***ulated over the years. Therefore, I'm again reposting my OF,
DOF, and OOF speeches, because I think they say it best.
At this moment I can really think of only three things to add to what I
said in those posts:
One, now that I've moved, I can verify that, at least for me, quitting
smoking is indeed a lot like moving house -- increasing tension, leading
up to one incredibly stressful day, and then it slowly gets easier as
new routines for everyday activities become new habits.
Two, I saw the recent thread about "longest blown quit," and
writer272002's comment that "I guess we really ARE never safe!" It gets
easier, but don't relax your guard completely. I still show up here on
my "anniversary" each year and post something, not just to help others
here, but also to keep reminding myself that I don't smoke any more.
Third, those d*mn smoking dreams may go on for a while. Don't panic.
At least mine are no longer dreams of smoking but dreams of having
smoked, and usually what scares me most (in the dream) is having to tell
all of you in AS3 that I blew my quit.
~~~~~~~~~~
Anyway, if anybody cares, here's a brief outline of what's been going on
in my life over the past nine years.
June 1999: Found AS3, started posting even before starting my quit. AS3
had already been around for several years by then, and was much the same
then as it is now.
June 21, 1999: Quit day, as planned in advance. At that time I was
buying the cheapest cigarettes I could find, usually US $1.90 for a pack
of 20, or rather $19 for a carton. It looks like gasoline prices in my
state that week were somewhere between $1.10 and $1.17 per gallon. (As
far as I know, with the latest tax increase a gallon of gas is back to
costing less than a pack of cigarettes again.)
2000: I found my best friend dead. Anybody who has COPD and is on oxygen
and is still smoking is asking for trouble anyway.
2005: I was diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure (CRF). (This was a
consequence of long-term medication use inadequately monitored, and had
nothing to do with smoking.)
2005: Closest friend killed by drunk driver.
2005: Had to move. This was the first time I had to move an entire
household, even though it ended up being only seven miles. Oddly, the
"emblem" for my new town is a man smoking a cigarette. One point if you
can name the town. (Hint: He's using a cigarette holder.)
[I don't know HOW I managed to make it through 2005... but I didn't
smoke. Smoking wouldn't have helped anything anyway.]
2006: CRF progressed to End Stage Renal Disease; dialysis started. No
smoking during dialysis (4 hrs 3x/week); I don't know how I would have
been able to stand it.
2007: Death of near-legendary Allegra, "Great Girtha," basically old
age. Photo at http://mysite.verizon.net/adam707/Allegra.jpg
2007: Had gall bladder removed so I could get onto kidney transplant
list; still waiting.
This week: Minor car accident. No injuries, some car damage, have spent
much of week dealing with insurance company.
Also this week: My current ISP, Verizon, is dropping all newsgroups
except the "big-8", which means they're dropping all alt.* groups
including this one. Searching for new newsserver. (Anyone else who's
accessing this group through Verizon's newsserver will also have this
problem.)
Looking back, it sounds like a pretty lousy nine years. However, if I
was still smoking, I still would have gone through all of that, *in
addition to* trying to plan my entire life around that next cigarette,
worrying about running out, coughing, burning holes, buying smokes, and
all those things that we're all familiar with. I could have kept asking
myself, "How would smoking help this situation?," and the answer would
still always have been, "It wouldn't." Thanks, AS3, for helping me reach
nine years.
I stopped keeping a meter a long time ago, but nine years is 108 months,
so at 1999 prices that's roughly $10,800 saved and 108,000 not smoked.
Wow!
Adam
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Email: adam seven zero seven AT verizon DOT net
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