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Author Topic: My ciggie habit  (Read 7814 times)

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Gina

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My ciggie habit
« on: January 04, 2013, 05:04:21 PM »

I don't know who it is on this forum (and I don't need to know who, so don't tell me) but very recently someone's been fervently (I mean fervently) praying for me about breaking my ciggie habit. 

Thank you, whoever you are.  I haven't stopped completely but the desire has been diminishing -- like, I'm getting bored with it or it's losing its grip.  I will keep you updated.

Gina
« Last Edit: January 04, 2013, 05:06:26 PM by Game Over »
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Samson

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2013, 01:50:15 PM »

I don't know who it is on this forum (and I don't need to know who, so don't tell me) but very recently someone's been fervently (I mean fervently) praying for me about breaking my ciggie habit. 

Thank you, whoever you are.  I haven't stopped completely but the desire has been diminishing -- like, I'm getting bored with it or it's losing its grip.  I will keep you updated.

Gina


Gina,

Your getting bored with it, maybe I should change my strategy and pray to God that smoking bores Me,  ;D, I'm being serious here, not being a smart Alec, My Dad quit smoking at the Age of 70 or so and I remember Him saying He got bored with smoking, I sincerely wish that it would bore Me too. Bored is better than being nervous from not smoking,  ;).

Kind Regards, Samson.
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Gina

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2013, 02:35:58 PM »

Exactly, Samson.

My dad quit smoking at 78 -- smoked since it was 7 years old (he told me he was 16 -- I don't believe it though, ha). 

He used to pile loads of red pepper flakes on everything (Italian).  I don't know if that helped at all but my sister swears that's why his lungs, heart and of course his arteries were clear of everything at the age of 75+. 

His death certificate says he died of "dementia."  But people don't die of "dementia."  They die from factors related to dementia.  Dad died after going into diabetic coma from not taking his insulin -- which he never needed because he was controlling it with diet and exercise.  That's not an option for everyone -- especially people who can't exercise.  But dad wanted to eat whatever he wanted to eat, so the doctor said, "Well let's put you on insulin shots -- that's what they're for after all!"  And he was dead within three years.
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Extol

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2013, 01:45:58 AM »

Hi Gina,
 
  I'm sure you've already heard about this/and or tried it, but I met a guy at the Renaissance faire last summer who said electronic cigarettes helped him quit smoking after decades. He was raving about how great they are and how they helped him quit. He said the addicting thing was not the cigarette itself or what was inside it, but the act of smoking (here he demonstrated by puffing on his e-cig.) With the e-cig, he could still have his puff, without the nicotine.

 I suppose the success of these devices varies wildly depending on the individual, and maybe e-cigs are just as bad for you as cigarettes. It was a nice story though and I felt happy for the guy. He obviously was very happy himself.  8)

 Anyways, I will pray for you also and please continue to update us. :)


 
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Gina

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2013, 02:06:40 AM »

Thank you Extol!  Yes, I know at least three men who've had great success with E-cigs. 

I've got an arsenal of E-cigs.  I haven't found the one that works for me, but I'm not giving up hope.

I've also known a few people who've used Chantix and it worked wonders for them, but I confess I haven't yet tried it.  The potential side effects are just as scary to me as smoking.  (Irreversible clinical depression with suicidal ideation?   I need that like I need a hole in my head. lol)

Thanks for the e-cig suggestion though! 

(Right now I'm using one of those Denicotea cig filters made in Germany.  I like it.  I've gotten to where I hate smoking without my filter and take it wherever I go.)
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gregorydc

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2013, 12:48:20 PM »

Hi Gina,
What I had to do (besides a lot of praying) was go to an all natural tobacco brand it has no additives to it. If you are smoking a name brand of cigarette they add chemicals to help keep you addicted to them, if you can get one with only tobacco in it and stick with that it will help(cause they taste like poo) .  That worked for me and it may (with Gods help) work for you too. Only drawback they are a little more expensive per pack.
Greg
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Gina

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2013, 01:42:47 PM »

Please PM me and tell me what you used.  Thank you!
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Gina

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #7 on: January 08, 2013, 12:14:55 AM »

Okay, I bought them.  They're the Spirit ciggies.  They're the mild flavored ones in the yellow packaging.  I don't think they taste bad, in fact I can hardly taste them.  (Nothing like the lettuce cigarettes I tried about a year ago.  Yep, I even tried lettuce cigarettes.  A brother here asked me what things I'd done to stop smoking and I told him I hadn't really done much, but actually, I've done a lot--I just haven't actually quit...  All in God's good time.)

Greg, thanks for the suggestion.  Yeah, they're kinda expensive, but if they help who cares.
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Patric

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #8 on: January 09, 2013, 04:13:53 PM »

Started when I was 10....smoked til I was 21.....got challenged by a minister at the church where I was starting to go.....he said if I give up smoking for 3 days....they would baptize me on Sunday......I had Exams on Friday and the weekend.....LOL but here was my prayer....."Father.....I like smoking....in fact I do not want to give it up......you are gonna have to take this from me" I knew it was dangerous to my health and for the life of me I could not see Jesus going around smoking....so I had reason to quit....in fact.....I could reduce it down to before I went to bed and after dinner.....so 2 a day.....I guess you might say the addiction part was not very strong over me....cuz if I was in a place where you could not smoke.....I simply would not....and did not have to run out to do it......but I smoked about a pack of day of Marlboro......I have had dreams where I am smoking and I get mad LOL as if I lost or started again.....It no longer has a grip over my life.....but if I were to pick one up and do it......who knows perhaps like an alcoholic....it would be done in......on drink= cant stop.....so one puff = ? IDK.....but I am convinced it was taken from me....sure the first month or so was hard.....lots gum chewing and or eating more often but once past that.......seemed effortless.....btw they were about a dollar a pack when I quit....which I thought was outrageous LOL....seeing as how they were 50 cents when I first started....now like 4-7 dollars a pack for the brand I smoked.....If it be the Lord's will Gina ......and you are in agreement with it.....then that will be the day it happens.....until then u may go kicking and screaming as we do with most of his will for us lol......circumstances will present themselves for you to quit......and you make that choice.......my Dad quit....my mom quit......so maybe it was in the Genes? lol......but they both smoked for 40 years here I had 11.....
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Gina

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2013, 12:07:04 AM »

Thanks for your reply, Patric.  I realize it must be the Lord's will.  I just wanted to say thanks to whoever has been praying for me in this regard, really.

So, here's an update:

I bought those Spirit cigs the night before last after I got off work and I've still got two left in the pack and it's 7 p.m. here (normally I'd go through at least 3/4's of a pack in a day).  I like the way that they totally satisfy the craving.  Unlike the Marlboro lights I was smoking I don't feel like I need to light up and light up and light up -- in fact, I notice I smoke one halfway through and that's all I need (put it out and save the rest for later--glad my grandmother isn't here to lecture me about doing that). 

These lights are really light -- they don't give me that "throat hit," which is similar to the e-cigs I have.  So I'm thinking that switching over to the e-cigs, Extol, will be effortless.

I noticed my teeth are a little whiter just after two days. 

Bonus.

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Extol

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2013, 10:48:13 AM »

Huzzah, progress! Thanks for the updates. We love you. 8)
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Rhys 🕊

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #11 on: January 10, 2013, 07:00:04 PM »

I started smoking myself around the age of 20. Was quite keen to do it as well but just didn't like it and stopped within a week and glad I did.

I read your smoking post you had from a while back Gina and often have prayed for you. I can see that it's something you want to get rid of and I still pray that this will be the case. I'm sure God is working here and you will get through it. I pray for the day when you wake up and you just don't want another one. I hope the various methods you are trying will work soon.

 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 1 Peter 5:10

Rhys  ;)
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Gina

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #12 on: January 10, 2013, 07:32:22 PM »

Quote
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 1 Peter 5:10
  ~Rhys


I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar, my great army, which I sent among you. (Joel 2:25)


Thanks, Rhys.  (Only two or three so far today.  It's so odd.  And do you know that I actually threw away what Marlboro's I had left?! I have not thrown away a perfectly "good" ciggie ... ever!  God is good!)
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Gina

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #13 on: January 11, 2013, 12:05:26 AM »

Love you too, Extol, my brother!!  8)  Thank you!

Update: 

It's 7:02 p.m. here and I've only smoked five cigs out of a new pack that I opened up this morning at 6:30 a.m.  I'm completely blown away!  I had my last cig tonight around 5:30, but then I didn't smoke before I got in my car to go home (I don't smoke in my car or apt.)  and I usually come home, change my clothes and sometimes not, but immediately will go out on my balcony and have a smoke, and I just realized tonight, I got home (around 6:30 p.m.), did my dishes and now I'm starting to make myself some dinner!  It's like I've forgotten to light up!  This is wild!  I'm elated!! (Can you tell?)
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Gina

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #14 on: January 11, 2013, 02:13:53 AM »

I hope you all don't mind that I blog, because it keeps my fingers busy. 

Idle hands are the devil's workshop. 

:) 

No pressure to respond!  No pressure to read.  Won't hurt my feelings in the least.   How would I know which one of you wouldn't at least read my posts?  So therefore, I won't know!  haha!  See?  That's the beauty of online communication.  And if this is just my ego, God will let me know. He always does.  But I really don't think it is. )

So, it's about 8:07 p.m. now and I just got finished having my first "after work cig" where typically it'd have been my third!  This is just unreal!  WhOEvEr YoU R ThAt'S pRaYinG fOr Me --  I just want to hug you.

Anyway.  It's not easy though.  Most of this excitement is coming from the fear of that feeling I get after I smoke a cigarette--guilty.  Wonderful feeling. 

When I quit last time--true to the thing Ray said (somewhere) I was dreaming hard about smoking cigarettes.  I was happy to have quit, but depressed at the same time because I had nothing to keep my mind off it (and I was terrified because I was out of work, and I was sick as a dog-which is what caused me to quit.  Then, I figured out that I didn't think about smoking as long as I was busy with doing something that had to be done.  So what I'm actually doing here writing all this is tricking myself into believing that someone will benefit from what I say and the only way to say it is to write it.  LOLOLOL  (I know I'm crazy.  But I'm not the smothering kind of crazy.  I take after my Dad!  He loves, loves, loves to write, and few read Him and fewer still understand Him.  And I can totally relate to that!  )

But the dreams convinced me that if I wanted to be free from guilt and worry (that I was going to be punished for smoking and deservedly so by some people's standards) I was going to have to quit smoking. 

It just seems like such odd behavior - Step 1.  grow a field of tobacco.  Step 2.  scratch head, wonder what to do with field of tobacco.  Step 3.  roll up tobacco in paper.  Step. 4  put fire to tobacco.  Step 5.  inhale.  Step 6.  Cough lungs out.  Step. 7.  Repeat steps 1 through 6 until you get it right and can't live without it.

And you can't convince yourself that it's okay to do it, so instead you working on forgetting what you're doing is wrong by everyone's  standards and needs to be corrected.  Just corrected.  Not punished.  Some smokers feel like they're being penalized heavily for their "choice" of habit.  I'm not one of those smokers because unlike them, I now understand that I'm not being penalized but gently steered away from doing something that I wouldn't want my child doing, but I wouldn't punish them for doing it.  I would make doing the right thing look just as attractive as doing the wrong thing, because when you get a "high" so to speak, by doing the right thing, it dulls the excitement of doing the wrong thing and so you naturally end up choosing to do the thing that brings you the most satisfaction.

And I was not satisfied waking up from those dreams knowing that the only reason I hadn't smoked in the last hour or two or three was because I was unconscious.  haha 

Listen, I would wake up from those dreams immediately thrilled to know that I hadn't really smoked at all -- that I'd just had a dream.  But then reality would set in and now I WAS AWAKE and not unconscious.  I would be very able to now go walk out on my balcony and grab a smoke and light it up.  And then the next thought was,  "But you can't because you're sick and the last time you tried to inhale the cigarette you almost choked...  Is that how you want to ... die?  Conscious that you're gasping for air?  Noooooo. You really don't.  So then I'd smirk and pull the covers back over my head and try to not "dream."   

But then it would be time to get up out of bed, and I had no choice because I had to eat or whatever.  And like clockwork the fighting started.  I want a cig.  Can't have a cig.  What can I do to take my mind of the cig.  The cig. The cig.  That's all I focused on was the cig-- and how to NOT want it.  So inevitably I was constantly fighting it off because I always had the urge.

It's been a constant fight.  Constant struggle.  But I don't want to have to struggle.  I want it to just ... go away.  Bye-bye.  I'm done.  You served your purpose.  No more of you.  But it just doesn't happen that way.

Well, it's a pacifier is what it boils down to.  I may as well be doing deep breathing exercises in the heart of Los Angeles at the intersection of Hollywood and Vine in rush hour traffic. 
 



« Last Edit: January 11, 2013, 02:19:32 AM by Game Over »
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Rhys 🕊

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #15 on: January 11, 2013, 02:34:56 AM »

One person here just read your blog. Ha Ha ;)

Looks like that ciggy person's about to leave the building and praise God for the work He is doing in your life. I am sure many more will enjoy reading this.

Blessings

Rhys 8)
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Gina

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #16 on: January 11, 2013, 04:17:03 AM »

Thanks, Rhys. :)
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Gina

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #17 on: January 12, 2013, 10:44:22 AM »

Okay, folks.  It's about 5:40 in the morning here on the Pacific Coast and I just got up about a half hour ago and had my first ciggie. 

Out of this second pack that I opened up two nights ago, I still have two whole cigarettes left!  That means a pack of cigs has lasted me 2-1/2 days -- as opposed to one day (or 1-1/2 days at the most).    This is unheard of for me party people. 

(My sense of smell has even improved!  SAMSON ARE YOU READING THIS!!??  Do you believe what I'm telling you!?  God is so good.  This might be the thing that works for you, when and if you're ready to try them.  They really don't taste bad at all.  They come in full flavor and menthol too.) 

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gregorydc

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #18 on: January 12, 2013, 10:52:52 AM »

Thank God for great miracles!  Forgot to say I did smoke for 20 years before I quit. I know you can do it Gina. More prayers for you all around.  Stay strong and focused on God , He will drag you over this mountain.
Greg
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Gina

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Re: My ciggie habit
« Reply #19 on: January 12, 2013, 11:32:31 AM »

Well, Greg, see that's the thing.  It's like I'm not even trying to stay focused on quitting because I'm steadily losing  the desire.  I mean, I now find myself automatically saying, oh wow, it's 11 a.m. -- I guess I should go have a cigarette on my break (at work).  Whereas just days ago I was like, A ciggie and a cup of jo would be so awesome right now. 

I mean, I'm telling you -- it's been nearly effortless. The only thing I hate is after I break down and have one I fear that I'll break down and want to have another (like I'm afraid that I'm going to build up a tolerance to these) but that's not happening!  ;D    Honest!  It's the wildest thing.

Like now, it's 6:30.  I've been up since about 5:00 a.m.  Normally by this time I would have had to really struggggglllle to get through an hour without desperately wanting another cigarette or two - like the @$#@$ing things can't be found on every single corner in America!  haha,  And I  better smoke up just in case they actually disappear.  haha.  It's so screwed up.

But now I'm just chillaxing.  Totally effortless.  God is so good to me!! I mean, this is precisely the prayer that I have prayed for years!  God, please be merciful to me and make quitting effortless.  Don't let me experience that dreaded withdrawal (hey, that's the prayer my friend Michelle prayed and God answered her prayer).  So that's why I thought it would be a good idea to pray that.  I'm not a quit cold turkey kinda girl.  I need to be eased out of this so I don't feel like I've just had the wind knocked out of me.  Nome sayin?

Anyway, those Spirit cigs are the bombe!    :)
« Last Edit: January 12, 2013, 11:35:17 AM by Game Over »
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