11.27.07

101 in 1001: 026 quit smoking [last cigarette: 11.23.07]
cessation goals are tricky. it seems terribly unfair and/or misleading to be able to say that i've quit smoking when i'm only talking about four days' worth of work (though it's certainly been work) thus far. also, there's nothing in the list item about whether or not the quit has to stick forever (though that's what i meant when i put it on the list). i mean, i could quit mensa and then rejoin in a year when i find myself missing the dogfighting and orgies, and it'd still be accurate to say that i quit today. i think the permanence i had (/have) in mind makes up for the only-four-days part, though, and the prospect of public failure and shame is a very effective relapse deterrent, so: hey internets! i quit smoking!

...for good. just you watch.

12 comments:

sara said...

good vibrations from the OC headed your way!

lauren said...

i need 'em. cold turkey is no joke, man!

Hannah said...

Mad props from Switzerland! Where, maybe, the kids still say mad props...?

Enjoy the crazy dreams, if you get em - both (ahem) times Steve has quit smoking, I've had at least a week of getting woken up in the middle of the night by strange thrashings on the other side of the bed, and then mumbly stories about how he was running through the forest with a tiger-rabbit in a horse trailer.

lauren said...

i've had no dreams because i've had virtually no sleep - for the first time in my life, i'm rocking the hard-core insomnia (i'm normally a very enthusiastic sleeper, to say the least; in college i once fell asleep in section while *i* was talking). i thought that my stave-off-the-cravings plan - to wit, i exercise like a madwoman whenever i want a cigarette (when i can't make it to the gym, i run around the block) - would exhaust me, but no go.

for how long did steve quit each time? is he, uh, quat at present?

tom said...

Quat?

Seriously: as a paid-up member of the tribe, I do wish you good luck. (I actually tried to quit once. It lasted a day and a half. Then I got real fidgety all of a sudden. Cessation over. Not easy, at all.)

Meg said...

Ambien.
That's my suggestion. I've been having sleep problems too, with my new crazy schedule. I do hate resorting to medicine, but it's useful in a pinch.
But more to the point, YAY YOU!! Thinking you strong no smoking thoughts. Just think how much cash you'll save. I mean, that alone... worth it.

babyjo said...

glad to hear it, lau! i think this is great, and i wish you luck in sticking with it.

valya said...

yay for you, lauren! i'm blanking on words of encouragement that are neither patronizing nor trite... so please know that i am proud of you and sending good thoughts.

enjelani said...

what valya said. go lauren go!

jen said...

yay!yay!yay!

you go, girl.

Hannah said...

(I'm so bad at following the comment breadcrumb trail - not that I don't know that it's there, I just forget to go back and look until days later and everybody else has moved somewhere else. Hello!)

The first time Steve quit, it lasted a week - we were both totally miserable, though I refused to admit it. The next time, it lasted four months, and it looked so solid and permanent but it was all undone by one drunken night. Beer, you traitor! Next time is coming up soon, or so goes the rumor, and I have a good feeling about it sticking....

lauren said...

that's the traitor i've been worrying about, really. fear The Drunken Bum (...that sounds odd)! i've been as vocal in person as i have been here about the quit, so hopefully if/when i beg someone for a cigarette after a few beers, i'll be turned down flat. it worked for ulysses.