Seven Days

Sometimes you just have to know when to quit.

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It’s only been about seven days since I quit smoking, but I haven’t actually wanted a cigarette in years. That’s one of the (many) problems with smoking: it doesn’t take long for it to turn from a vice into a full-blown addiction.

Where I’ve always failed to quit before is by thinking of it as giving something up. Even though I didn’t ever enjoy it any more, I’d gotten convinced that I’d be missing something if I quit. So here’s all the stuff I’ll really be missing:

  • Having every cold last an extra two or three weeks because I can’t stop coughing
  • For that matter: being absolutely miserably sick with a cold, coughing so bad I’m retching, and still feeling the need to go outside for a cigarette every hour or so
  • Walking a few steps behind whatever group I’m with, so the smoke doesn’t blow on them
  • Missing the last minute or so of every conversations because I’m already planning how and where I’m going to have a cigarette as soon as the conversation ends and I can get outside
  • Instinctively reaching for the cigarette pack the moment I step outside, whether I want one or not
  • Making people wait for me in or around smoking areas before we can go inside or keep moving
  • Leaving my new bike in the garage, since I always had a permanent excuse not to exercise
  • Finding stray cigarette buts all around the trash can in my kitchen
  • The big black spot on the heel of my shoe
  • Having to go through security twice on flights where I have a layover, since I have to head outside the moment the first leg of the flight lands
  • Getting rained on
  • Getting rained on in the cold
  • Teeth the color of butterscotch pudding
  • Having a layer of ash that looks like dandruff on the chest of every dark shirt
  • Taking five times as long to write anything, since every time I get stuck I have to go outside and have a cigarette

I can’t get excited about saving money yet, since I’m still on the nicotine patch, and those things are at least as expensive as a half-pack a day. But that’ll be another bonus in a few weeks, once I no longer need to be able to furiously rub the patch every time I have a craving. Not to mention all the other crap that nicotine addiction adds to the mix.

Of course, I won’t look nearly as cool as I used to, sucking down a known carcinogen that gives you bad breath yellow teeth and can cause high blood pressure and impotence, but that’s a sacrifice I’ll just have to make.

4 thoughts on “Seven Days”

  1. As a nonsmoker, I can tell you from experience that the bicycle one may not be smoking related ๐Ÿ˜‰

  2. Hey I just noticed your last name sounds a lot like tobacco isn’t that weird lol.

    And yeah, I’m sure I’ll be able to find all kinds of excuses but for now it’s nice to blame the cigarettes and psych myself into getting all fit once I’m smoke-free. One lifestyle change at a time.

  3. Congratulations, sir. Having seen several friends quit over the years, I realize it’s no cakewalk…the good news is that they’re all still quit-ed.

  4. I actually thought Tabacco’s name meant tobacco >.> I guess that’s because it’s “tabac” in French.
    Congrats and good luck. As a French person, I’ve been around a lot of smokers, and a lot of people trying to quit. It’s always very impressive to me, as I’m terrible about changing my own habits, even for little things.
    Thanks for the insight though. I’ve never smoked (well, I did a couple of times, but I never was a smoker) so it’s the kind of things I don’t really think of. It’s nice being able to see things from a different angle every now and then.

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