Day 1: Quit Day!

Day 1

I've talked about quitting for years. I keep telling myself it's too hard, and that I enjoy smoking (I don't).

First of all, who am I?

I'm a 27 year old Australian male, who was brought up in one of Sydney's lower socio-economic areas. I've been smoking for about 18 years, and have probably had an addiction for about 16 of those years.

If you're wondering if I really was around the age of 9 when I first started smoking, your maths are correct. The kids in my neighbourhood (myself included) would often steal smokes from our parents and go down to the park to share them. We thought we were really cool! If I had any idea of the consequences (mostly financial and health) I wouldn't have even considered 'lighting up'. I've always felt ashamed for stealing from my mother, even if the financial amount was insignificant.

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This blog is dedicated to my father-in-law, the late Richard Innes, who sadly passed away in April, 2013.

Richard was not only a father-in-law, but he was like a dad to me. He was a great mate who is missed greatly.

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Richard was an ex-smoker who quit 'cold-turkey' (without the use of nicotine cessation aids) and always encouraged me to quit smoking. Somehow Richard managed not to come across as pushy like everyone else does. This encouragement is one of the many things I miss about Richard.

I've tried quitting smoking several times before, but only once did I have my heart really set on quitting. I was 14 years old, and I was about to become a dad! (You didn't even need math this time).

I remember lasting a couple of days without smoking, but when I did give in and had a smoke, I was so worried about nicotine poisoning that I removed the patch and started smoking more frequently again.

I've tried to quit a few times since without being 100% ready to quit. I found the drug Champix to be very helpful, but the side affects were too many, and too severe for me to consider taking it again.

It's now it's the 7th January, 2015. It's quit day! I've not bought any cigarettes this year (I had a few packets left). I'm feeling nervous and stressed out. I have one cigarette left at around 3AM and I haven't gone to bed yet. I don't feel like a smoke at present, but I decide to smoke it so I'll have a fresh start when I wake up... I leave a note to myself on my phone via the My QuitBuddy app:

"Last smoke, scared and doubtful"