24 Hours Smoke Free
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Healthline
Hi, my name is Carrie. I'm a Healthline employee...and a cigarette smoker. So you might ask, how can one work at an online company devoted to providing up-to-date health care information to the public and still smoke? Well, it's not easy, and I certainly don't advertise it...well, until now. Today, and in the following weeks, I will be guest blogging for Dr. Kleinman. You see, I'm a "contemplator," which is known in the smoking cessation world as one who thinks of quitting, but just hasn't quite done the deed. Today is the Great American Smokeout, so I thought this would be an opportune time to try and quit for, at least, a day. Last night, just before the clock struck 12, I polished off a glass of wine and smoked my last cigarette. To be honest, it was quite heavenly. I suppose it's analogous to having a chocolate chip cookie right before you start an all protein diet. I savored every inhale and then I said, "Good bye, Mr. Cigarette," as I squelched its fire in the ash tray.With the quit smoking tips suggested by Deborah, Dr. Kleinman's wife and partner at the Quit Smoking Center, I will be trudging through the day without a cigarette. So far, I've had three diet Pepsis and gone through one piece of gum and a couple of hard candies--all of it sugarless. Not bad for the beginning of the afternoon. Of course, I'm about to kill someone. Deborah and I talked for about an hour yesterday about how to plan for this day, as well as quitting forever. For today, Deborah gave me several tips for dealing with the cravings...the cravings that start to simmer and then bubble over like lava from a volcano. I think I'm starting to get itchy. Anyway, below are the tips I received from her:
- Line up support people: Have coworkers and friends check on you to see how you're faring. Have them take you out to lunch to celebrate your smoke free day (so far, I've only been teased and ignored. Free lunch?! Fat chance...Thanks, everyone!)
- Avoid the "scene of the urge": I'm not talking about the local bakery here. I'm talking about where you typically take your smoke break. You just might have to avoid coworkers and friends who smoke. (This actually isn't so bad for me. I've irritated most of the smokers in the office, by trying to get them to join me in this effort. That's okay--they smell anyway.)
- Deep breaths: Take deep breaths for as long as it would take you to finish a cigarette. Make sure you do this in an area with no smoke. Have faith that the craving will go away. Deborah assures me that it does. (I'm practicing my deep breaths right now. My coworker on the other side of the cubicle wall thought there was a perverted old man peeping in on her.)
- Walk or climb the stairs: Exercise can help with those itchy cravings. (I wore my walking boots today,because that's what they were made to do)
- Get your supplies: Gum (regular and with nicotine), sugarless hard candies, healthy snacks, mint toothpicks, straws cut in half for chewing and pretending, hot tea, and a special snack.
(Here's a picture of my supplies: party straws to celebrate this smoke free day; sugarless hard candies; my healthy snacks--carrots and nuts; tennis shoes for the marathon I will run later; and my special treat, organic Cheetos with no trans fat.) - "Scramble your day": Turn off the auto-pilot in your brain and take a different route to work, fold some origami, watch an extremely intense documentary which requires deep thinking--basically do something that will take your mind off your cravings.
- Predict and then plan: The day before you quit, identify the times you typically have a cigarette through the course of the day. Determine what strategies you will use to control your cravings at these times.
The two main things to remember are to practice slow deep breathing and to remind yourself that the craving will go away. You may even want to choose a mantra to cycle through your head. Mine is "a lot of guys won't date girls who smoke." Besides this reason, there are a lot more for quitting smoking:
- Oral cancer
- Lung cancer
- Emphysema
- Wrinkles - "Smoking produces oxygen-free radicals, which are known to accelerate wrinkles and aging skin disorders and increase the risk for nonmelanoma skin cancers. Studies also suggest that smoking and subsequent oxidation produce higher levels of metalloproteinases, which are enzymes associated with wrinkles."
- Your kids or future kids
P.S. Hi Mom and Dad! I know that you started reading the blogs recently to help support my new career. I really appreciate it. So you may be a little shocked to find out that I'm a smoker, and I just now outed myself. I just want to say I'm sorry. You did not raise me to be a smoker; you tried to instill good values in my judgment process. I don't know what went wrong, but it's not your fault. Please don't be mad--I'm trying to do the right thing now. Can't wait to see you for Christmas!!
24 Comments:
At Thu Nov 16, 03:52:00 PM 2006,
Anonymous said…
Carrie,
You are an inspiration to everyone in being able to find humor, levity and honesty in just about every cruddy situation someone could find themselves in! Good luck with the rest of today. No free lunch, but "how are you DOING today, so far?"
Hang in there!
At Thu Nov 16, 03:53:00 PM 2006,
Anonymous said…
You are Inspiring! More Power to you Carrie!!
I can't wait to track your blogg and see how you do!!
GOOD LUCK!
At Thu Nov 16, 03:53:00 PM 2006,
KC from BC said…
Congrats Carrie! Good luck with quitting. My brother quit on Great American Smoke-out day nearly 20 years ago, and he hasn't had one since.
At Thu Nov 16, 04:39:00 PM 2006,
Anonymous said…
Carrie,
Great post. I'm forwarding this to all the smokers in my life: especially my pesky little brother who liked to litter my yard with cigarette droppings. I really hate cigarette smoke so I'm super excited for you to stop (and lots of people out there). I understand how hard it must be -- if I had to give up wine and TIVO I might just have a fit.
XOXO - Jillo
At Thu Nov 16, 04:40:00 PM 2006,
Anonymous said…
Carrie,
Great post. I'm forwarding this to all the smokers in my life: especially my pesky little brother who liked to litter my yard with cigarette droppings. I really hate cigarette smoke so I'm super excited for you to stop (and lots of people out there). I understand how hard it must be -- if I had to give up wine and TIVO I might just have a fit.
XOXO - Jillo
At Thu Nov 16, 04:59:00 PM 2006,
Anonymous said…
Carrie,
This is ridiculous. How many times have I seen smokers say they are quitting? Just quit and do it cold turkey.
Love,
Urb
At Thu Nov 16, 05:00:00 PM 2006,
Anonymous said…
Thank god and allah, Burn Hollow was almost ready to start auditions again. Yeah, we need you drinking hot tea, maybe hot water instead, for those vocal chords.
At Thu Nov 16, 05:11:00 PM 2006,
Stephen said…
I like your post and its great that you quit. I found that betting a coworker a large sum of money has really worked for me. No one cigarette is worth hundreds of bucks and I've been smelling a lot better lately. keep it up.
At Thu Nov 16, 05:26:00 PM 2006,
Lowell Kleinman, MD said…
Urb - to your point a lot say they are stopping. To my point, they typically are the folks using cold turkey!
Why use an approach that we know has a 97% failure rate (cold turkey) when with medications and behavioral skills, you can do way better?
Just because T day is nexy week that doesn't mean ...nevermind. You knew someone was going to do a cold turkey/t day joke :)
DrK
BTW - Carrie kinda looks like a rock star. What's the singing all about? Should I be asking for an autograph???
At Thu Nov 16, 06:10:00 PM 2006,
j-berd said…
I know whose ass you picked up having been "stranded in the boonies..." and I can imagine whose kids you babysat, whose hair you held back and whose band you slogged to see, and I'm sure you've laughed at tons of jokes and helped at least several folks move...
I just want to know who you bailed out of jail.
At Thu Nov 16, 09:21:00 PM 2006,
Anonymous said…
Carrie,
Your blog is inspirational. Thanks for keeping 'em all rolling and let us know when you want to take a walk.
--You barely anonymous male cube mate
At Thu Nov 16, 09:40:00 PM 2006,
Anonymous said…
Congrats Carrie and best of luck. I've been on the roller coaster for several years and am currently a non-smoker. Nice article with good tips.
At Fri Nov 17, 09:42:00 AM 2006,
Anonymous said…
I think the main trick is to find your greatest motivator, whether it be your partnership, career or spiritual ambitions. a committment to a larger vision for your life and partnership can often feed and replace the addicion.
At Fri Nov 17, 11:43:00 AM 2006,
Carolyn said…
Carrie...thanks for reminding me of how intensely difficult it is to quit and for humanizing and humorizing your efforts. You Rock!!! I went to one hypnotherapy appointment about 2 months ago and found it to be a powerful way to quit, with relative ease and a lot a lot of visualization: It goes something like this...Imagine yourself walking up to a beautiful castle in the middle of a forest. You run with excitement and curiosity and open up the enormous brass doors to find that the inside of this spectacularly beautiful castle is dark, dingy, dirty, smelly....disgusting!! You are horrified by what you have found and then you spend weeks on end obsessed with cleaning the inside of the castle...Alas,,you can now see outside the windows, suddenly life is beautiful again and you feel emotionally FREE. I was also taught an exercise of tapping on partucular pressure points on my body to shift the energy, while synonymously repeating to myself..."Even though I am craving a cigarette right now and I feel like I might kill somebody, I completely love and accept myself...or I honor myself. I would love to teach this to you. It sounds cheesy, but it totally works. There is a website called emofree.com. which documents this tapping phenomena as a source of self-healing. However...I must admit I have had a few set-backs while I have been studying for my MFT licensing exam for the 3rd year in a row...UGH!! You have just reminded me of the power of intention and commitment. I re-commit myself today and support you whole heartedly my friend. Also...if you have not already seen it, google in "The Secret", which is a movie you can either download or order the DVD. It's all about intention...it will set your mind in motion for healthier more expansive living. TRUST ME!! Still stuggle with cravings from time to time. But YOU MY FRIEND HAVE TOTALLY INSPIRED ME WITH YOUR EXTREMELY WITTY AND VULNERABLE STYLE. Thanks!! I needed that. I was just craving one!! Be well, Carolyn
At Fri Nov 17, 11:53:00 AM 2006,
Anonymous said…
Nice work Carrie. All you have to do is remember that every time you smoke a cigarette, you are handing money to the extreme right.
As an old friend put it when seeing another friend who had restarted smoking... "So you are sucking Jessie Helms d--- again huh?"
At Fri Nov 17, 11:58:00 AM 2006,
Dingo said…
So how is day two going? Are you still smoke free?
I have a success story to share. My uncle finally quit after smoking for almost 30 years. He tried everything -- cold turkey, the patch, hypnosis -- and he quit for varying amounts of time, but always ended up smoking again.
Then it hit him -- what did he do on a daily basis that always made him want a cigarette? He drank coffee -- 2-3 cups a day.
So he stopped drinking coffee and was able to finally quit smoking for good.
Good luck, Carrie!
PS, after about 5 years as a non-smoker, he gradually started drinking coffee again, but now the smoking association is gone. ;-)
At Sat Nov 18, 04:55:00 PM 2006,
Anonymous said…
Hey Carrie!
Ahh, what a great commentary - the inner workings of your mind revealed and accompanied by practical information. It's like too great things that are great together! This seems like the perfect job for you!
Well, as nothing else applied, I suppose you must have put up with my crap. Good luck at keeping smoke free!
NP
At Mon Nov 20, 08:49:00 AM 2006,
Anonymous said…
Hi Carrie,
I'll be reading your posts with interest partly because they are amusing, but also since I will be following in your footsteps. I will be a father in a few weeks, so it's high time for me to quit too...
Good luck,
Cyrus
At Mon Nov 20, 05:12:00 PM 2006,
kristen said…
Carrie,
Amazing! I enjoyed reading your blog and your approach to this issure. I will follow your words and blogg wherever you take it...good luck and enjoy the journey it is bound to lead to a powerful lesson....Kristen
At Tue Nov 21, 03:35:00 PM 2006,
Anonymous said…
Carrie,
long time no hear from. You're lookin' great and soundin' spunky as ever. Glad to see you're kickin' the butts. I did for a couple of years, but picked it up again last year. I am going to Sandy Eggo for another Horrah, and will be calling it quits upon my return. Cold turkey ain't so bad. It's the first few days that matter and staying away from those stinky friends that make the difference.
At Tue Nov 28, 07:50:00 AM 2006,
heatherae said…
Carrie,
Fight the craving! Good luck with quitting. I'll follow your blog to see how you're doing and inspiring the world around you;)
At Thu Dec 07, 02:33:00 AM 2006,
Anonymous said…
how's it going? it's been almost a month since the last cigarette? keep up the good work!
At Sun Dec 17, 02:00:00 AM 2006,
Anonymous said…
Carrie,
You're truly inspiring me to quit. You make me want to be a better man!
If I could get a girl like you and not have to kiss an ashtray, life would be perfect...
Thank you so much!
At Fri Jan 19, 05:08:00 PM 2007,
Carrie said…
Thanks everyone for your support and stuff. Keep reading! I promise I will eventually quit!!
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