Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Quitting or lack there of

So six weeks ago, I quit smoking. Cold turkey, no patch, no gum. And I did really well for a while. It also helps that when I quit I had the mother of all chest colds and couldn't breath without horrible rattling noises coming from my chest. Well I got over the cold and still didn't smoke. Apparently the first three days are the hardest, after that the nicotine is out of your system and it's all mental. Uh, maybe it's just me, but the mental part is way harder. Hell if I had self control I'd be a size 4.
During these six weeks I've probably smoke about a pack or pack and a half of bummed or pilfered cigs. Not bad for someone who used to smoke a pack (or more) a day. The worst time is when I'm drinking, I get drunk and I just don't care, I want to smoke. But during the day, I really don't want to. Until the last couple of days that is.
Today I bought a pack, the first one in six weeks. I didn't have anyone to bum any from and for some reason just really wanted to smoke. So I did. And it was damn delicious. But now I have an almost full pack in my purse. Very dangerous. I don't know how to limit myself to just one or two a day. I don't want to fall back into the routine of smoking when I get up, after eating, out drinking, etc. But it's so hard. Pretty much all of my friends smoke, which isn't that bad most of the time. But when everyone leaves the bar to go outside and smoke, I just want to do it too. Especially when I'm bartending and I want an excuse to get away from lame customers. When I wasn't smoking, I immediatly didn't like the smell of smoke. My nose started working waaay better and I could smell smoke on everything.
And it's not like I don't know the danger of smoking. My dad died of cancer. Had nothing to do with smoking, but it's the same horrible death.
I always half joke that if I get knuckle tattoos, they would read DONT QUIT. Because I like smoking and drinking and I have a habit of staying in unhealthy relationships (work, personal) much longer than I should because I don't like to quit things. But it's also fairly optimistic, don't quit living, trying, doing. Maybe I should focus on the positive side and try not to quit quitting.

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