Experiences kicking nicotine addictions

A sobering story Dave.. I think we're of a comparable age (mid 50's) and I could tell a few very similar stories from my life. I stopped smoking tobacco in my mid 20's when my daughter was born.. I actually hated it, it made me sick and dizzy and have cold sweats and to be totally frank, got into smoking roll-ups from smoking joints! Ive meandered in and out of a bit of dope smoking over the years then went on to just occasionally enjoying it baked into something.. With drink, ive always enjoyed the odd glass or two (and make my own wine, have done for years) but just get woozy and nauseous long before I get drunk.. ive been lucky I guess in that ive always been able to manage these 'pleasures' in my life and never let them get the better of me.. 

Hi Cosmiclawnmower - thanks. Yes, we're both in our fifties, and of course, this is what happens. That was just one story, there are so many we could come up with.

I've walked into the pub, asked where one of my best mates was and been told he was dead, heroin, no one knew he was using, just started, miscalculated the dose, found by his mum, funeral was yesterday. Did no one tell you ? Literally dozens of stories like that. 

As I've got older, I've realised you have to start taking care of yourself. At some point, the party has to end and here comes the pipe and slippers. (No slippers as yet. ;-) ) 

One thing I absolutely hate, however, is that most addicts - of whatever substance - are pictured by society as weak or degenerate or all thieves or "lower members of society". Not the case. What particularly galls me is that smokers are now treated as worse than lepers. Yeah, well, that'll really do a lot of good. Worryingly, anti vaping sentiment is now coming along, so it seems that the intolerant will stop people vaping and going back to tobacco. Tobacco can much more easily kill you than vaping. Vaping is nowhere near the health risk of cigarettes. And these are your sons, daughters, parents, relatives and friends who are getting forced back into entrenched habits, of course. 

I also find that non smokers tend to usually talk sh*te about why people smoke, what's addictive, what's not, how to quit and how morally inferior smokers are. It's usually a sign of a deeper intolerance on all levels. 

Anyway. That's my $0.02. Based on 42 years of smoking (yep, started very early). Good luck to anyone who wants to give up any form of addiction. It can be done. It can be easy or hard, but it can be done unless you're one of the very unlucky ones with a personality or habits which preclude you doing it. End of the day, a cigarette is - real world - a paper tube containing burning plants, the smoke of which you inhale. That's all it is, if you make it more than that, you're inflating the problem. You can do anything you set your mind to, at the end of the day. Decide and do. 

No cigarettes, three days for your body to adjust. You're then clear of nicotine. 

I'm just under a month off of it now (4 days to go). While I still get minor cravings here and there, it's become very tolerable. To best describe my experience, quitting a drug can be compared to losing a loved one. You eventually learn to live your life without them/it, but you'll always have that thought in the back of your mind and it wont ever really be the same. Or at least I haven't reached that point yet. For me I couldn't really trick my brain to do anything, I just had to push myself. Gonna go off on a bit of a tangent.

I'm a young guy (18)but I've had some other struggles in my life that taught me the discipline needed for something like this. I've been overweight and I've been anorexic and I pushed myself extremely hard physically and mentally to dig myself out of those ruts. I think my strongest quality is that I trust myself to make the best decision for myself, even if it seems extremely spontaneous or ridiculous. I joined the track team as an out of shape overweight 8th grader and went from the slowest on the team and butt of all the jokes to running a 4:53 mile (1600m) in 2 years. I quit track when I was at my best ever because my heart wasn't in it anymore and I could no longer force myself to keep up a dead passion. When I quit I lost all my friends and connections. At this point I was 120 pounds (anorexic with a bad eating disorder and body dysmorphia) and I started going to the gym daily. My own parents were even vehemently against this, I remember my dad once saying "I would have never got you that gym membership if I knew you would quit track." I didn't care, I was lonely but I had something to prove. I bulked up till I was in the best shape of my life. I even decided to rejoin the track team for my final year of high school and had my best season ever. Deciding to go cold turkey was one of those things that I just knew I had to do. I feel like this has been another important event in my life that showed me that I still got it in me to push myself and be disciplined. Of course, theres no correct way to quit a drug, as long as the result is the same the means of getting there don't matter too much. 

I'm indifferent on pot use, I took 2 weeks off and felt really good. However recently I've gotten back into it and i'm finding that the effects are slowburn and buildup over time. It kind of messes with your reward system, but smoking a joint while listening to some sabbath or a visit to newport hospital is admittedly a lot of fun. To follow up on the friend I mentioned. I must've been having some cranky withdrawals when I typed that, because I no longer resent him and he is my best friend and I know neither of us really want to see that end over something like this.