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The latest news is, this page is obsolete — because I now have a blog at tomhartung.com. Please visit it today!

The latest in Colorado

As of July 1st, 2006, smoking will be illegal in most of the public places in Colorado. Yes!!! Therefore I am reverting to a previous version of this page about how I quit the habit a few years back, with the hope that this information will help someone do the same.

The Not-So-Latest News:
How I Quit Smoking!

After smoking for about 30 years, I quit on April 1, 2002! Actually, I quit a total of ten times that year, and the tenth time, on December 1, was the charm.

Since Sept. 11, 2002, I've had two ciggies (1/2 Marlboro Ultra Light each time, to be precise), one on 10/26/02 and one on 11/30/02. The plan was, since I'd mastered the habit, to have a final one on New Year's Eve. Well, I learned the hard way that you just can't do that with evil addictive shit like tobacco. Duh! So that's why everyone hates it so much!! Well I hate them now, too!!!

After having to re-quit after each "single ciggie slip," I decided that having one on New Year's Eve would only make things worse, so that makes 12/1/02 my official last quit date -- only 8 months after the initial quit date -- not too bad, it certainly could've been worse.

What Worked for Me

What worked for me, was:

• Getting the flu in March 2002, which prompted me to
• Buy three books on how to quit, and
• Having enough savings to drop out of the job search, minimizing stress.

Over all, quitting was difficult, but not as difficult as I thought it would be. There are many quit-smoking aids out there. A good book on the subject (something like Quitting Smoking for Dummies is great) will cover the pros and cons of each aid, and help you prepare to quit successfully. Many people have quit, you can do it too! The key is preparation.

My Two Cents

Okey, so I've spent a few months out of the last 30 years not smoking, that surely doesn't make me an expert or anything. And I am surely not going to rehash the information in the books I read.

But I would like to share with you a few things that weren't in any of the books.

• Don't be afraid to give it a try.
  Quitting was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Moreover, it's different for everyone. Listening to horror stories about how hard it is to quit kept me from trying to do it for decades. Don't be afraid to give it a try. It may be easier for you than you think.
• Start exercising first.
  All the books agree, any kind of exercise will help you quit. Maybe it will be different for you, but chances are you do not want to quit smoking and start exercising all in the same day. What I say is, if you want to quit, start exercising first, then you'll have those exercise-related reasons (wind, endurance) and that replacement habit (just do more of it) all ready to go on quit day. I found yoga to be extremely helpful in reducing the urges to smoke, and really wish I'd tried it sooner in life.
• Part of me may always want a ciggie.
  Some people say they still want a cigarette 10-12 years after quitting. I embrace that and realize that part of me may always want a ciggie. But having actually made a list (as the books suggest) of my reasons for smoking and my reasons for quitting, I can state with absolute certainty that a bigger part of me will always be glad I quit.
• The only reason I want to smoke is ...
  During the past few months, I have often ventured back and imagined when I was a teenager and started smoking. I did not have a good reason to start smoking at that time, and thought that surely it could not be that hard to quit, surely it would be different for me. The only reason I want to smoke is because I have smoked in the past. Slipping really brought this to my consciousness; I'm not sure I'll get the words quite right, but here goes. The only way to not want to smoke is to not smoke anymore. If you've quit and slipped and quit again, you probably know what I'm trying to say.
• Give moderation a chance. Hahaha.
  Maybe you are the one-in-a-hundred who can moderate your tobacco use. Don't you want to be the envy of all ex-smokers with your ability to smoke one per day, or just when you're drinking, or just on the weekends, or just on vacation? Of course, we all want to be like that. So go ahead and give moderation a chance. Hahaha. Just be extremely conscious of how many you are smoking and be extremely sensitive of how much it increases your urges. That's what I did, and I learned the hard way that I cannot moderate. Knowing that I cannot moderate my tobacco use has made quitting much easier!
  Note that the strongest urges may not come for two or three weeks after your last slip, so be careful when playing this "dangerous game."

If you'd like to know the titles of the books I read, please feel free to contact me.