I had an experience with cigarettes almost 6 years ago that made me give them up completely, cold turkey, and I have not had the least desire to smoke a cigarette since. I still like the smell of cigarettes wafting through the open air outside, but not even that triggers in me a desire to smoke cigarettes. I'm going to tell the story. It might be tedious to some, but I am going to tell it because I am looking for a similar experience that will eliminate my desire to drink alcohol.
For about 15 years I was a pack a day smoker. I was anti-smoking until I started going with a girl who smoked. Little by little I started taking up her smoking habit. No coincidence, I suppose, that we were drinking pals too. Long story short on that relationship, it didn't last. But I carried the smoking habit forward with me. Eventually I became a pack a day smoker, roughly, and if I went out drinking in the evening I could easily smoke another whole pack in one evening over beers.
Now, cigarettes are expensive in the USA. I don't know what they cost now, but at that time they were about $5 to $7 a pack where I lived. But then I conveniently moved to a place in South America where cigarettes cost less than $1 per pack. So my tightwad instincts, which were always needling me about the financial cost of the cigarette habit, were no longer activated as motivation to quit smoking.
About 6 years ago I was in the USA and visiting a friend for a few days. We were out drinking beer (of course), and when we got back to his house we sat outside on the pool deck to have another beer or two before retiring. As we were drinking and talking I lit up a cigarette just as naturally as you please, just as natural as the 10 or 12 others I had smoked in his presence throughout the evening. As the lighter went out and I blew out the first drag, my friend looked at me and said, "You know, Billy, you look absolutely ridiculous with that cigarette in your mouth. Do you know what a fool you like holding that thing, sticking it in your mouth and breathing the smoke?" I was stunned. I had, and still have, great respect, admiration and affection for this friend. We've been good friends since high school, college roommates, adult bosom buddies. And he had just made me feel as low as a worm.
I had heard all the anti-smoking stuff before and I knew all the downsides. I knew smoking was bad and I had quit for short spells over the years, even months at a time, but I always had an excuse to light up again. But this was the first time I had ever been told that my smoking made me look like a ridiculous fool. Maybe it was the insult to my vanity/appearance, but that remark cut me to the quick. In that same conversation my friend suggested that if I really was that addicted to the nicotine dose, then I should at least try vaping so I wouldn't be getting all the carbon monoxide and other nastiness of the cigarette smoke.
We carried on with our delightful visit. My friend, his lovely wife and their six kids (that house is a three-ring circus) all showed me a great time. And I even smoked a few more cigarettes over those next two days while a guest in their house. But that remark my friend made about me looking like a ridiculous fool with the cigarette in my mouth never left my thoughts. At the end of that visit I drove three hours to stay with my brother.
It just so happens there was a vape shop about three blocks from my brother's house. So I, still thinking about my friend's cutting remark, went to the vape shop to get a vaper and give it a try. I thought I would walk in, pick up a vape thingy (I knew nothing about it), and use that to replace my cigarettes. When I went in, though, it was like I was going in for a medical appointment, filling out forms on a clip board and everything. Then I consulted with the guy and he asked me about 40 questions - what do you smoke? what brand? how much? what time of day? do you burn them down to the filter? and on and on. I've had shorter consults with my proctologist. (Just kidding, I've never been to a proctologist. But you get my point.) At the end, about $25 later, I walked out with equipment and supplies to become a vaper and, hopefully, no longer a smoker of cigarettes.
So I went back to my brother's house and got my vaping gear set up. I thought, "This is great. I no longer have to go outside to get my nicotine dose because this is just odorless water vapor going into the air, not cigarette smoke, so I can do it right here while sitting at the dining room table. Much more convenient."
So I started vaping. And vaping. And vaping. And vaping some more. After about one day of this, and still continually thinking of my friend's cutting remark, I asked myself how ridiculous I must look as a nicotine addict tethered to this stupid little toy designed to inject fast-acting chemicals into my lungs so they can be immediately transmitted to my brain so that I can.....what?? Immediately want more? This is bullshit."
After entertaining that last thought for a long while I stuffed the nicotine injection toy and accoutrements into my travel bag and refused to inject any more nicotine into my system, be it from a vaping toy or cigarettes. Since that moment, on 5 September 2015, I have not had the least desire to smoke a cigarette, or vape.
They say vaping can help people stop smoking cigarettes. It certainly helped me, though not in the way the vape purveyors advertise. When it came time for me to pack up to go back to South America after my visit north, I found the vaping equipment, took it out of my bag, and tossed in the bathroom trash can. Looking back, that may be the best $25 I ever spent.
On September 5 every year I remind my friend that he was the inspiration for me to break a long-standing and highly addictive cigarette habit, and I thank him for caring enough about me to speak to me with such direct, unadorned truth. He takes no credit, of course, and just tells me he is glad I did it. "You'll live longer," he says. I hope so. Because since then I have gotten married and have two young kids of my own.
Now, I am looking for that wake up moment with regard to my consumption of alcohol. My life is great. My wife and kids are great. Career, money, etc., all great. I enjoy many blessings. But I drink too much beer. Lately I find myself wondering a lot about how much better, life could be without beer or any alcohol at all. Or if not better then maybe just different. What will I do with my time and energy if I am not drinking beer?
I am going to give it a 30-day try for the month of April. I'm glad I found this thread. And it makes me happy to see so many of you making strides toward your goals.
Month of April. Dry. Wish me luck!
