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I know that if I can quit, anyone can!

January 5th, 2009

Continuing on TwitterStars.com, Iâ€™m publishing a series of guest posts with stories authored by several of my Twitter followers on how they quit smoking. I quit smoking just about two months ago and thought featuring stories from other people about how they quit cigarettes would be a fun project for the blog.

cars4causes I know that if I can quit, anyone can!

Guest Blog Post by Virginia, @Cars4Causes

On December 3rd, I tweeted a comment of encouragement to @markdavidson on his efforts to stop smoking, and he responded with an invitation for me to write a guest post on how I quit. I agreed to write the post, but then I had to try to remember how I did it. I thought that first I should tell you about how I came to start before I say how I came to quit.

At one time in my life everyone I knew and almost everyone in my family were smokers. I come from several generations of addicts, and certainly am one myself. For me, cigarettes have been a long-term addiction, both in length of time and in quantities consumed. I believe I started stealing cigs from Mom and Dad around age 9 or 10. My sister was four years older, and I had already busted her doing it, and hiding out on the side of the house in the backyard smoking with friends. I swore under penalty of death that I wouldn’t tell, but I also wanted to try it.

By the time I was 14, I was a full-time smoker, it was easy to obtain them, from my parents or older friends. I was up to a pack-and-a-half by my twenties.

I quit immediately and cold-turkey upon learning I was pregnant, but started again in the “terrible two’s”, citing stress as the cause. I still had many friends who were smokers. I had another child four years later, and this time I quit for several years. When I started again, it was worse and I was topping 2 packs a day.

One day I woke up with my smoker’s cough and trouble breathing, and realized I had been smoking over half my life! They had just come out with the nicotine gum, but the patch had not yet hit the market. I couldn’t stand the gum, so I decided to trick myself into being able to quit. You know those “essential” cigarettes? The first one you need in the morning. The one you smoke after lunch, or dinner, or sex. Well, I started by cutting out 2 a week from the “other” category, and relishing the essential smokes. I skipped the one in the car on the way to the office. I skipped the one in the car on the way back from the office. I replaced my oral fixation by eating sugar free mints, and munching on rice crackers. Each week I reduced by 2 non-essential smokes until I had only three a day that I was still smoking. Once I had reduced from around 20 a day to 3, I came to the realization that I didn’t really need those 3, I only thought I did, I was hanging on to them for dear life, but it was all mental at that point. I gave up the last three, and would like to say that was the end. It wasn’t quite.

I continued to be what I called a “social smoker” who would bum one here and there from friends when we were hanging out. The last time that happened I became physically ill from it, and that really was the end. I haven’t smoked since, and am so glad!

My overall health has improved, and I can breathe easily now. I bike for exercise, and am able to exert myself physically without getting terribly winded as I used to. I was so addicted to cigarettes, looking back now, I can’t believe it. I know that if I can quit, anyone can! So keep at it, and don’t give up.

Guest post for Twitter Stars by Virginia, @Cars4Causes

Virginia is the real-life human being behind the Cars 4 Causes Twitter account. We are “The Charity That Gives to Charities”. Also on the web at http://www.cars4causes.net.

Tags: addiction, cigarette, Cold turkey, health, Nicotine gum, smoking cessation, substance abuse, The Nicotine Asylum, tobacco
Posted in Behind the Blurbs | 18 Comments »

The Walk in My Shoes

December 24th, 2008

This month on TwitterStars.com, Iâ€™m publishing a series of guest posts with stories authored by several of my Twitter followers on how they quit smoking. I quit smoking just about a month ago and thought featuring stories from other people about how they quit cigarettes would be a fun project for the blog.

estanczak The Walk in My Shoes

Guest Blog Post by @estanczak

I thought I was invincible. Certain actions had no consequences. Tragedy couldn’t happen to me. Well, up until 3 years ago, I used to think this way.

Yes, it’s an addiction. The nicotine causes adrenaline to be released in to your body each time you inhale, and, at the same time, it increases your blood pressure, respiration, heart rate and keeps your blood sugar levels constantly elevated. Wow, what great effects. And did you know that the calming effect you feel is actually a withdrawal symptom rather than a direct effect of the nicotine? Again. A withdrawal symptom.

I won’t go on spouting out additional statistics because we all know that cigarettes kill. Not to mention if you smoke around those who don’t smoke, they are drastically being harmed.

I quit 6 years ago in the early months of 2003. Even though I only smoked for 6 years, I never thought I could quit. But I did. My inspiration came from my Dad. He quit a few months before me, and had been smoking for 30+ years. So I thought, if he can do it, I can definitely do it.

He quit cold turkey, and I did the same. I kept telling myself the following: If I can go one minute, I can go one more. If I can go one hour, I can go one more. If I can go one day, I can go one more.

The thought process got me through.

Two years later, tragedy strikes.

On August 25, 2005, a doctor who I didn’t know from a hole in the wall came out of an operating room and told us that my Dad in fact had pancreatic cancer, and that there was a 5% chance that he, the man who was (and is) the light of our lives, would live beyond 5 years. Again, I thought we were invisible. This can’t be happening.

Less than a year later, at the age of 59, he passed away. MY DAD.

If you haven’t lost a parent, think of your worst nightmare turning in to reality and multiply it by an infinite number. ABSOLUTE ANGUISH.

The doctors verified that smoking was a cause of the cancer.

And I’ll never forget when I was younger; it was just another day when my Mom was trying to convince my Dad to quit, and she said to him, “You know, I don’t want to be a young widow.” And now look. IT happened.

Unfortunately, the alarming statistics and personal stories aren’t going to make someone quit.

You have to really want to do it.

So find motivation. Seek advice.

By thinking “there’s no way I can do this,” you’re setting yourself up for failure. You can do this.

Your family, your mom, your dad, your partner, your kids, your brother and your sister want you to be around in the next few years.

Nothing should have that much control over you.

Take each day, each minute as it comes. Don’t think what it will be like in a few days. Concentrate on that day, that minute.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, is that bad that you need to rely on cigarettes as a so-called stress reducer. I never knew that adding to your body’s demise was a stress-reducer.

As you research online to find solutions, statistics can bog you down. Don’t think of the odds. Think of how you’re going to quit and what you will gain.

Take this opportunity as the greatest challenge that you will ever embark upon; document it, blog about it, scream about it.

Employ the help of your doctors, your family, your friends; they want to see you kick this.

Keep busy, chew gum, eat more, join a gym, become a philanthropist with your new found savings.

And reach out to someone who has been there. They may not have walked in your shoes, but they can certainly guide you down the right path.

Guest post for Twitter Stars by @estanczak

Marketing Communications Consultant at Consulting, Chief Marketing Officer at Babyspot.com, and Marketing Communications Officer at Kidz-Med Inc.

Tags: addiction, cigarette, Cold turkey, health, Nicotine, smoking cessation, substance abuse, The Nicotine Asylum, tobacco
Posted in Behind the Blurbs | 3 Comments »

Pearl Harborâ€¦the last cigarette

December 18th, 2008

jonathan Pearl Harborâ€¦the last cigarette

Guest Blog Post by @JonathanGunson

December 7^th 1941 Pearl Harbor

Glorious sunny day. My Dad’s frigate swings calmly and slowly at anchor alongside the battleships USS West Virginia, and the USS Oklahoma.

They tilt and slow ride, creating gentle reflections in the vast blue ocean. Standing below the ship’s bridge he looks across the harbor. Fragments of Glen Miller jazz whisper faintly from somewhere on board. It’s a radio.

Peacefulâ€¦peace.

He goes ashore, sunglasses, Italian looking, he is beautiful. An officer too. No wonder my mother fell in love with him. He scratches a match on his Navy belt webbing. Bright red glow as he draws deeply on a Camel cigarette, part of his daily free rations, handed out to calm nerves.

Then from the corner of his eye he catches sight of a plane approaching, high up, and far off. Strange. The fleet aircraft are all on the airstrip. Thenâ€¦30 more planes. My Dad starts to run. But, within seconds a vast explosion ruptures the hull of the Frigate. The concussion throws him off his feet and onto the dockside. His ship. Oh my God.

Flames and a vast cloud of black smoke. Acrid fragrance.

Screams. Explosions. More planes. All around the fire begins to fall. Unhurt. he watches as death rains down and sinks the USS Arizona, USS California, USS West Virginiaâ€¦

USSArizona PearlHarbor 2 Pearl Harborâ€¦the last cigarette

USS California sinking Pearl Harborâ€¦the last cigarette

USS SHAW exploding Pearl Harbor Pearl Harborâ€¦the last cigarette

USS West Virginia Pearl Harborâ€¦the last cigarette

Three months later he is back in New Zealand, Captain of a mine sweeper. The tension is unbearable. If they catch a mine in the sweeper wire it could explode too close to the hull.

He now smokes two packets of Camels a day. Tension is eased.

No mines ever explode. The war ends. VE & VJ day. Marvelous.

Love is all.

I am born into a free world. We are poor, but happy. A picture of my handsome Dad in Navy Uniform and Cap graces the hallway wall. He is to die for.

In short, I turn 18, a callow, ignorant party boy and start work. I take up smoking because it is cool.

One day my dad stops smoking. He does not feel well. He calls for me and presses $5000 into my hand. I see tears in his eyes. “I will give you $5000 to give up cigarette smokingâ€”please you must take it, please Jonathan.”

$5000?

This is a good deal. I accept. But I know vaguely that he does not have any money. How did he get it? He will not say. Later my mother tells me he sold antique books from the precious collection left to him by his father.

I give up smoking. It is not hard, because I had smoked only 4 or 5 a day.

My Dad dies of lung cancer.

ciggies Pearl Harborâ€¦the last cigarette

The world cries, the very stars weep. My mother is inconsolable. I cry and cry. He is gone forever. My sadness is deeper than the blue Pacific Ocean. Alone in my island home.

NO! Awake! Onwards I say, and so on I go. Now I am designing advertising in a Newspaper studio . Cool as cool. The artists are cool, the girls are cool, the office parties are cool, the cigarettes are cool. I take them up again. Dad will never know.

Then it happens.

One strange, glass-black night I suddenly awake to a crackling noiseâ€¦distant lightning, thunder far off. No stars. A vast menacing shadow fills the sky, descends and floods into my room, looming around me. I am mortally afraid.

It is the shadow my conscience. I cry for my beautiful lost father again. I will stop smoking I promise him. I call out to him through the ether of the great and infinite universe. But I do not know if he can hear. The ancient cosmos continues to revolve silently without a sign. Is God asleep?

But now I am hopelessly addicted. 30 cigarettes a day. How do I stop? So I desperately invest the ENTIRE $5000 with a renowned hypnotherapist.

Amusingly, the first lunchtime session is classic, almost cartoon like. I have trouble taking it seriously “Lie on this couch and watch this pendulum. Your eyes are growing heavy, relax.”

But it gets better. “You want a cigarette? Sure. In fact, I bet you can think of 327 good reasons to have one, but only 2 or 3 to not have one, right?” I nod dreamily, because this is TRUE.

“Good. My task is to give your subconscious 327 reasons to NOT have one. This will defeat the addiction. Then you will never smoke again. Let us begin.”

A few minute later he snaps his fingers gently “Waking up now Jonathan, waking up, andâ€¦we are awake yes?” I sit up, blink, and smile. I feel very refreshed. I tell the hypnotherapist that lunch time must nearly be over and I must get back to the studio. Advertising designs are needed for the following day’s newspaper.

Heh! He grins. “I don’t think so. How long do think you have been lying there?”

I take a stab. “40 minutes?”

“SEVEN HOURS.” He intones it bell like, amusement wreathing his eyes.

What? It is 8 o’clock in the evening . It’s dark outside. I am shocked.

During the ensuing week, I smoke only 2 or 3 cigarettes a day. But, after two more 40 minute (SEVEN HOUR) hypnotherapy sessions I never smoke again.

I have done the right thing. My father will be smiling.

Rejoice. I have probably saved my life

EPILOGUE

30 years on, the darkly attractive, ghostly sensation of a cigarette poised elegantly between my fingers lingers still. But it does not tempt me.

Outside my window the South Pacific whispers. A huge azure sky sprawls overhead and an Albatross wheels about very high up.

Dreamy. Life is good again, and the world is still free.

Bora Bora Pearl Harborâ€¦the last cigarette

Dedicated to the delightful Mr. Mark Davidson, who is a Mensch.

Guest post for Twitter Stars by @JonathanGunson

Author of The Merlin Mystery.

Can you solve Merlin’s mystery? If you can, you’ll be richly rewarded. The Merlin Mystery rekindles the fervor that swept readers of Masquerade in the 1980s by offering an intricately detailed, bejeweled wand and a substantial cash prize to the first person to solve the Alchemist’s Spell. Lavishly illustrated with elaborate paintings and symbols, The Merlin Mystery wraps its intricate, MENSA-certified puzzle in a story of the great wizard Merlin and his lover, the water sprite Nimue, who fight a dark sorcerer in magical settings.

I Sold 347,000 copies of my beautiful Alchemy book using Traffic Tactics. Now I teach money-making traffic tactics to small businesses all around the world.

Tags: health, Lung cancer, New Zealand, Pacific Ocean, The Nicotine Asylum, tobacco, Tobacco smoking, USS Arizona, USS West Virginia
Posted in Behind the Blurbs | 3 Comments »

It's All in the Motivation

December 17th, 2008

terri camp It's All in the Motivation

Guest Blog Post by @tadahmom

When I was 13, I took my first puff of a cigarette. Within a few weeks, I was hooked. It wasn’t until I was about twenty that I wanted to quit. I figured all it would take was willpower. I would throw the pack of cigarettes away, crushing it for effect, only to dig it out of the garbage later, smoking the longest ones I could find. Every time I would try and fail, I felt more defeated.

Smoking affected so much of my life. I found myself lying to cover up that I was a smoker to my churchy friends. Each time I got pregnant I would quit, temporarily. I tried everything from going cold turkey, to attending classes, to chewing nicotine gum. Nothing had staying power with me. That was, until the real motivation occurred.

My fourth child became very sick at about four weeks of age. If I would lie him down in his bed, he would begin sounding like he was having trouble breathing. I would have to sit up with him in order for him to be able to breathe. It took quite awhile for me to get the smoking connection. In fact, ten weeks passed with many trips to the doctor to figure out what was wrong with my new baby. At night, I would sit holding him in one hand, and a cigarette in the other. Finally the doctor asked if I was a smoker. The light bulb went on and she told me that was why my son could not breathe. She gave him a prescription of Ventolin to clear out his lungs and told me to stop smoking. I began going into the garage to smoke instead of smoking in the house.

One night at a church meeting, I asked for prayer to quit smoking. They all gathered around me and prayed. I crumbled up my pack of cigarettes, feeling quite triumphant.

The next morning, feeling jittery and a bit out of control, I went to the store for another pack of cigarettes. Even God couldn’t help me, I thought. That afternoon I went out to the garage for a cigarette. I left my four little kids in the house, for just a couple of minutes. My oldest came into the garage and said, “Taffy got some medicine.” When I went into the house, there was Taffy, holding the empty bottle of Ventolin.

Within minutes I was rushing her to the hospital. I kept looking at her in my rear-view mirror, tears streaming down my face. Suddenly I was consumed with the thought that my smoking was harming my children in a way I never would have imagined. It was at that moment I said to myself, “I can never have another puff from a cigarette.”

I didn’t crumble the pack of cigarettes. I left them where they always were. And every time I was tempted to reach for one, I would say out loud, “I can never have another puff from a cigarette.” That was the day I quit. No one ever regret quittingâ€”they only regret not quitting.

Guest post for Twitter Stars by @tadahmom

Terri Camp is an Inspirator, Author, Speaker, Realtor, CEO of Ta-Dah Mom, single homeschooling mom w/7 kids at home.

I’m Going to Be the Greatest Mom Ever

Get ready to laugh as Terri Camp takes you through the daily challenges and triumphs of motherhood. However, this is more than just another womanâ€™s humor book. In addition to providing the laughs, she takes her readers on a profound journey to the heart.

Terri Camp.com

Inspiratorâ€”Providing Inspiration Through Writings and Workshops.

Ta-Dah Mom.com

Learn and grow as a mom and as a person through workshops, articles, and coaching.

Tags: addiction, cigarette, health, Nicotine gum, smoking, smoking cessation, smoking-stop-help.info, substance abuse, tobacco
Posted in Behind the Blurbs | 5 Comments »

I smoked my first cigarette at 14

December 11th, 2008

This week on TwitterStars.com, Iâ€™m featuring a series of guest posts featuring stories from several of my Twitter followers on how they quit smoking. I quit smoking 3 weeks ago and thought featuring stories from other people about how they quit cigarettes would be a fun project for the blog.

alexismartinneely I smoked my first cigarette at 14

Guest Blog Post by AlexisNeely

It’s hard to believe, but I used to be a smoker. Not just a casual, every now and then, smoke when out at a bar, in the closet, kind of smoker. I was a full on, pack and a half a day, smoke in the house, overflowing ashtrays, and yellow walls kind of smoker.

During law school, my addiction was so hardcore that I couldn’t make it through a law school exam without having to take a smoke break. For real.

It’s probably not a surprise that I picked up the habit given that I grew up in Florida where smoking was a status symbol and both my parents smoked for most of my childhood. What’s more surprising is that I managed to quit when I did.

I smoked my first cigarette at 14.

The way I remember it, I woke up one day and just wanted a cigarette. I can’t explain why that day or what preceded it, but I grabbed 5 quarters out of my change pile, walked down to the corner gas station where there was a cigarette machine, dropped the quarters in, yanked on the handle and out slid my first pack.

It was heaven in a box. Suddenly I was cool, hip, matureâ€¦a smoker. And just like that, I was an addict.

It lasted through high school, college, and mid-way through law school. Finally, after ten years, I woke up. I can’t say what preceded that either. Maybe it was my dad’s bout with lung cancer. Maybe it was real maturity. Maybe it was just time to be done and move on to the next phase of my life.

All I knew is that smoking wasn’t fun or cool anymore. It was gross. And I wanted to stop. I just had to convince my live-in boyfriendâ€”who later became my ex-husbandâ€”to stop with me. Or so I thought.

I persuaded him that it would be a great 30^th birthday present for him if we both quit and in the middle of my 2^nd year of law school, on January 24, 1998, I smoked my last cigarette ever.

Quitting smoking was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. It was also the most inspiring, motivating, empowering choice I’ve ever made.

Once I quit smoking, I knew I could do anything. I knew I could make it through anything. Quitting gave me a faith in myself that has carried me through the past ten years and allowed me to build two million dollar businesses while going through a divorce and raising my kids as a single mom.

If I was still a smoker, none of what I’ve done with my life would have happened. No way.

Here’s how I did it:

I enlisted a quitting partner. The boyfriendâ€”turned ex-husbandâ€”I mentioned earlier. That turned out not to be that important given that he is still to this day smoking. But, he did stop smoking in our shared house, which was critical. I made the decision that I was a non-smoker. This is important and I think one of the biggest reasons that people fail at quitting. You see, everything starts with a decision in your own mind. You decide you are a non-smoker and you will be a non-smoker. Period. So, I decided. I used the nicotine patch to get me through the physical addiction part. I’m not going to lie, it was intense. I can still remember the pain to this day. I was sitting at my desk trying to brief cases during law school and I could not concentrate on anything other than how badly I wanted a cigarette. Even with the patch. Every time I wanted a cigarette I drank a glass of ice coldâ€”really, really ice coldâ€”water. That tip came from my dad. Thanks dad! And whenever I got the urge, I said to myself, “I am a non-smoker” or “I don’t smoke.” Sure, it’d be easy to give in and have just one, but that’d be it. I’d be a smoker again. Don’t fool yourselfâ€”smoking is all or nothing.

Eventually, the cravings started to stretch farther and farther apart. A few weeks after I quit smoking, I had to have my wisdom teeth pulled in an emergency type situation and I used that as an opportunity to wean off the patch figuring there was no way I could smoke with my mouth like that anyway.

Ten years later, every once in a while I get this weird urge to smoke a cigarette. It shocks me every time it happens because I’m such a non-smoker now (you know the annoying kind who can’t stand even being around smoke). And yet, every now and then I still feel the craving.

When it happens, I take a big old breath of fresh air, remind myself that I’m a non-smoker and smile in gratitude at the gift I’ve given myself, my children, and the world.

Guest post for Twitter Stars by @AlexisNeely

Alexis Martin Neely is CEO and founder of the Family Wealth Planning Institute, a company dedicated to guiding parents to financial freedom by helping them make the smartest and best legal and financial decisions for themselves and their children. Alexis is best known for sharing her legal expertise on CNBC, NBC, ABC, and Better TV.

Subscribe to Alexis’ Family Wealth Secrets online magazine for people who want more financial freedom in their life that comes not from hoarding money and clipping coupons, but from taking risks, making smart financial and legal decisions and thinking big.

alexisblog I smoked my first cigarette at 14

If what you need is inspiration to think bigger in your own life, check out Alexis’ personal blog, The Intrepid Mompreneur, where she lets you watch as she works toward her dream of becoming an inspirational force on TV, while raising two kids as a single mom and being afraid and doing it anyway.

Tags: Add new tag, addiction, cigarette, health, Lung cancer, Nicotine patch, smoking cessation, smoking-stop-help.info, substance abuse, tobacco
Posted in Behind the Blurbs | 23 Comments »

Nicotine Goggles

December 7th, 2008

This week on TwitterStars.com, Iâ€™m featuring a series of guest posts featuring stories from several of my Twitter followers on how they quit smoking. I quit smoking last week and thought featuring stories from other people about how they quit cigarettes would be a fun project for the blog.

Guest Blog Post by @Danacea

You know how it goes. It’s Friday night, you’re at the birthday bash of someone in your office. You’re three pints down and feeling no pain; your confidence is absolute.

Then there’s his breathy, husky voice in your ear, ‘Go on, you know you want to.’ And you do; after all, one won’t hurt.

His touch is utterly familiarâ€”it’s been a while but it’s just like your oldest pair of jeans, comfortable. And besides, you’re only flirting…

The following evening, you stay inâ€”one became two and you’re a little wary about running into him. It gets to about half-eight, though, and his chill, yellow-tipped fingers are teasing your skin; you can hear him saying your name. You want his company. It’s just for tonight, you tell yourself; no-one need know.

In the morning, there’s no sign of himâ€”you’re relieved (after all, you got old enough to deal with this stuff some years ago). But wait: he’s left you his phone numberâ€”look, there, it’s on that packet by the sofa where you first embraced him.

You slam it in a drawer; you promise yourself you’re not going to think about him. Evening comes, you have a bath and pack your stuff and pick out your clothes for the morning… every time you open that drawer, though, you find you miss his touch.

Cursing yourself, you pick up the packet. After all, if you finish it then you can put it in the bin and be rid of it. He joins you again on the sofa; smiling through yellowed teeth. You tell him this is it, that after tonight you’re not going to call him again and he needs to leave you alone.

He says nothing. He doesn’t need to.

In the morning, he’s still there.

Those hands that were cool and compelling are now stained and soured and stinking. You run for your morning train and they’re wrapped around your ribcageâ€”as strong as steel. Suddenly, you can’t breathe. Coughing doubles you over; you drop your bag…

…somehow, there’s a second packet among its scattered contentsâ€”you swear you didn’t buy it, he must’ve put it there.

You cough denial until your eyes water.

But your own breath tells youâ€”it’s already too late.

Guest post for Twitter Stars by @Danacea

Danie Ware is behind the PR, marketing, and event organizing for Forbidden Planet (London).

If youâ€™ve enjoyed Danieâ€™s guest post on digital culture, please consider reading her fiction at:

danieware.googlepages.com

I’m a professional on and off-line Marketeer for Forbidden Planet London as well as being a Mum, a keen cyclist and weight-trainer, an old school geek, a bit of a longhair, and a social media convert. This is my professional and personal thoughts, stream-of-consciousness style.

Tags: Danacea, Forbidden Planet London, ForbiddenPlanet, Little Brother, London, On the Web, Shopping, Stream of consciousness, Twitter
Posted in Behind the Blurbs | No Comments »

From My First Cigarette To My Last

December 5th, 2008

yealbeeri From My First Cigarette To My Last

Guest Blog Post by @YaelBeeri

I smoked my first cigarette when I was 19. I loved smoking.

From that day until 2 years ago, I smoked an average of 10 cigarettes a day, which brings me to the about 60,000 cigarettes.

60,000 cigarettes.

On December 16 2006, after a night of drinking and smoking, with a terrible hang over, I could hardly move and felt as if I was trapped in a balloon of smoke.

I decided: no cigarettes today.

That night I thought, what if I tried to do that tomorrow too, check myself and see if I can do it.

And I did.

Then I did the same thing the next day and the next and so on.

Some days, I still â€˜feel like one’, but I am so happy I quit. I look at people smoking and I am so glad I am not there. So glad I kicked that horrible addiction out of my body. It makes me feel the strength of independence.

One last thing. I made a rational decision beforehand. I knew I wanted to stop smoking. I have been thinking about it in my head and having inner monologues about it for a few months before I actually quit. I believe that maybe that helped.

Whatever helps you (doctors, pills, shot, books, group hugs etc.), grab that help and do it. Stop smoking, no one really wants to be doing it.

Guest post for Twitter Stars by @YaelBeer

Yael Beeri is the Director of Marketing for RealScoop. RealScoop rates the believability of statements made by celebrities, athletes and politicians.

Tags: addiction, cigarette, health, RealScoop, smoking, smoking cessation, substance abuse, tobacco, yaelbeeri
Posted in Behind the Blurbs | No Comments »

She Was a Chemical Goddess Handing Out Cancer Sticks

December 4th, 2008

datingpapers She Was a Chemical Goddess Handing Out Cancer Sticks

Guest Blog Post by @datingpapers

I started smoking just after my 21^st birthday. We were in bed. Quietly basking in the post-coital glow, she took a drag off her Camel Light and pressed the moist filter to my lips. She was a chemical goddess handing out cancer sticks. I couldn’t say no. That positive association with nicotine, with the process of smoking, meant cigarettes became my cure-all. It wasn’t until years after that I realized the goddess was a troll that I found a way to quit smoking.

I quit because I wanted to breathe. Not just in a physical way, although constantly coughing and running out of breath isn’t any fun. I wanted to be able to look at myself in a mirror and see a guy who was making choices based on reason and the pursuit of dreams. Not some guy fumbling in his jacket pocket for a cigarette every time something stressful came up. I quit headlong. I was insane. Check with your doctor before carrying out good ideas in a stupid way!

I hit the gym four times per week minimum (as my breathing improved, I had a real-time way of gaging my progress). I went on a cleansing diet of fresh juices and raw foods. Totally vegetarian. I broke up with my current girlfriend because I felt she tolerated too many things about me that I considered negative. I didn’t tell any of my friends what I was trying to do. In not telling anybody, I also took away any chance of accountability. I drank more alcohol.

My headlong rush into quitting a deeply entrenched habit kept me busy and was extreme enough that I think my body was confused about exactly what was happening. I was able to quit and when the dust settled, I still wasn’t smoking. But if I could go back, I’d do things differently:

I’d hit the gym with a buddy. A patient non-smoker willing to wait out the ups and downs of the process. I’d do a cleansing diet, but not as severe and for not as long. I’d work hard to keep the people who can love me for my good parts instead of pushing them away. I’d gain accountability and support from telling friends about my project. I’d work to reduce the things in my life that made me want to smoke. The stressful relationships, the overbearing work environment, the lack of creativity. I’d drink less and avoid common smoking scenarios for a few weeks.

A few days ago, I was basking in that same sort of glow that started all the smoking. It was a brunette this time. She is smart, funny, and beautiful to the point of being difficult to describe. She turned towards me and reached out with that same languid gesture of the chemical goddess years earlier. With a quick motion, she unwrapped a piece of gum and slipped it into my mouth. “You had garlic pizza last night.” She said.

Guest post for Twitter Stars by @datingpapers

Tags: datingpapers, nicotine addiction, quit cigarettes, quit smoking, smoking-stop-help.info, the nicotine assylum
Posted in Behind the Blurbs | No Comments »

Cigarettes, Addicts, and Filling the Void

December 2nd, 2008

This week on TwitterStars.com, I’m featuring a series of guest posts featuring stories from several of my Twitter followers on how they quit smoking. I quit smoking last week and thought featuring stories from other people about how they quit cigarettes would be a fun project for the blog.

Cigarettes, Addicts, and Filling the Void

Guest Blog Post by @d_paul

Addiction has such the connotation doesn’t it? I can just hear the pointed whisperâ€””she’s an addict”. The funny thing is we’re all addicts. I can hear what you’re thinking. “Maybe my college roommate and my uncle Jimmy, but not me”. Really? I thought I’d look this up: “devotion to a certain habit: dependency”. Hmm. This may be the strict definition, but I think they’re leaving something out. If it were all about devotion and dependency, there would be a lot of families addicted to one another. I thought there must be something more ominous about it than this. Wikipedia gives us a little more detail by adding:

“an obsession, compulsion, or excessive physical dependence or psychological dependence… state in which the body relies on a substance for normal functioning and develops physical dependence”

OK, we now have it that an addiction is maybe a bit more than a habit. It’s more of a compulsion – that which compels physically and psychologically. I still think something is missing, so I’ll just add my own little flare by saying it’s something that ****s up your lifeâ€”whether it’s your health, your relationships, your job or simply your peace.

We all can name the classic addictions. Sure, the moment I said it you thought about drugs, alcohol, and gambling. Most would mention the “harmless” ones afterward like smoking, and caffeine. What about texting, sex, and shop lifting? I say it doesn’t matter. They all meet my definition. I’ve blurred them together for “Paul’s All Encompassing Definition of Addiction”. It goes something like thisâ€”if you have a compulsion to do somethingâ€”something which seems to control you and has the potential to bring harm or even disharmony in your lifeâ€”you have a problem. I have friends (men & women) who are addicted to chasing the opposite sex. I have a neighbor that cleans her house to all hours of the night every day. In the summer, with the windows down, you can hear the vacuum at 11:00. This has caused the ruin of her marriage and the estrangement of her children. And yes, I have people very close to me that have nearly ruined their lives thanks to drugs and alcohol. My grandfather died of lung cancer and 3 members of my family wrestled with cigarettes.

Do you see the common thread? Whether it’s smoking cigarettes to relieve some tension, another affair to alleviate the bad marriage, or cleaning for the quest of fleeting perfectionâ€”we all have a void to fill. It comes down to our habit as humans to always look outward for something missing inside. I can hear it now: “I’m not filling any voidâ€”I just like cigarettes”. Maybe you do. I like cigarettes too. In fact, I like every type of tobacco. You’ll notice my picture has me with a cigar in my hand. This isn’t some high handed judgment, I assure you. For whatever reason, tobacco never grabbed me as a habit thoughâ€”once a month or less. I have other flaws…

I’ve watched people give up their addictions and I’ve watched people go back to them again and again. It seems that every one of them has a common thread that leads to their success or failure. Alcoholics Anonymous has the famous 12 Step Program, which I think is really very good. This said, it seems to me that it really comes down to the first one on the list: “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol-that our lives had become unmanageable”. Well, you can substitute alcohol for anything you like. Let’s use cigarettes.

I mentioned the members of my family that wrestled with cigarettes. One quit effortlessly after years of 2 packs a day. The next used gum, lozenges, and prescriptions for years and finally just dropped all of it. Finally, the last person is still smoking, though they have tried nearly everything. We’ll call them Tom, Dick, and Harry.

What is it about Tom that made him so able to simply “go cold turkey” as he put it? I should mention that he hasn’t smoked for 20 years. If you ask him, he’ll tell you that he just didn’t want to smoke anymore. Really? Just like that? I asked, “I thought you loved cigarettes”. He said, “Well, I did but things changedâ€”cigarettes had become a problem for me. I had a little tottler at the time that wanted to smoke like me. After realizing this, I was horrified and quit”. Interesting.

Dick, on the other hand, did not want to quit smoking. Not at all. He loved it. His wife hated it, his friends hated it. His doctor told him to stop. So, he tried. And he tried. After a few years of this, for whatever reason, he decided to become a runner. Frankly I can’t imagine what he was thinking. He had never been a jock before and nobody encouraged him. He’d go out every day and run, then smoke. It got so that he loved running and he simply stopped smoking becauseâ€”you guessed itâ€”he didn’t want to. He doesn’t even remember a monumental moment. He said to me, “It was like taking off your jacket when you’re hotâ€”it’s just annoying so you get rid of it”. Interesting.

Harry on the other hand does not want to stop. He never has. When I last spoke to him, he was using those disgusting lozenges to appease his wife while stealing cigarettes here and there. If my theory of desire tells me anything, he will not stop smoking any time soon.

I think what it comes down to is this: you must first acknowledge that something has become a problem for YOU. You must believe it. You must really want it to stop. Cigarettes are often referred to as one of the milder addictions. I suppose this is because they kill you slowly over 30 years rather than run you into financial ruin or kill you within the year. All this is true, but the message is still the same. Cigarettes can be just has difficult to throw off as cocaine if you don’t genuinely want to stop. If you really don’t want to do something, you’ll find a way to stop doing it.

I hope you won’t find this offensive if you’re one that has struggled with addiction. I don’t mean to minimize it. I’ve watched it ruin lives. I’ve visited more than one person in rehab and jail. I’ve sat through classes in support of loved ones. They all say the same thing. “Let them fallâ€”only they can stop what they’re doing to themselves and they need to want to”.

Guest post for Twitter Stars by @d_paul

Tags: d_paul, nicotine addiction, quit cigarettes, quit smoking, smoking-stop-help.info, the nicotine assylum
Posted in Behind the Blurbs | 5 Comments »

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Cigarettes, Addicts, and Filling the Void

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