Actually yes! It’s been 1 year and 17 days since I had my last cancer stick and feel a hell of a lot better than I can remember of those days.
It’s hasn’t been easy though, I still get the hankering when I’m out with friends or some other random moment, but I promise you that I haven’t had a single puff since the afternoon of Oct 20, 2004. Not a single one! No cigars, sheeshas or cigarettes. Nothing. I got reminded of that when one of my employees reminded me a few minutes ago and said that he has “the eye” on me as he’s trying to quit and couldn’t! I told him to be a man and throw his packs out right now… he didn’t, but is still trying which is good.
I’m quite proud of myself and my body is looking and feeling a lot better but I still have to conquer the weight problem, but that’s another battle I am winning too. Over the last few months I have lost more than 5 inches off my waist. I’ve lost more than 10kgs in weight and can now feel the muscles developing.
Not too shabby, eh?
I’m off to the gym now…
Comments
A year already?
Good for you, Mahmood. Tobacco takes you to a terrible end. My Mom died of lung cancer. It’s a bad death. I estimated the number of cigarettes she smoked and figured that she would have lived to at least eighty otherwise. My arithmetic says each cigarette took about twenty minutes off her life.
You are not only sparing yourself grief but your family and friends as well by laying off the tobacco.
Steve
A year already?
Congratulations! The longest that I ever made it nicotine free was a little over one year. I never quite learned that saying “no” was a lifetime commitment. If I said “yes” once, I invariably would say “yes” again, and then again, the intervals increasingly shorter in length, and voila, back to enslavement. You’re a better man than I, and soon to be smaller man by the sounds of it. Good thing I can’t understand metric or Bahraini inches, nor will I listen to anyone who tries to tell me otherwise. 🙂
AGA
Re: A year already?
No one can appreciate what you said other than a smoker. My daughter told me that she watch a program in which they concluded that giving up smoking is actually harder than getting off drugs in all their kinds, and I do believe that although I have never tried any drugs in my life!
To this day I do hanker for a ciggy, but it takes all of my will to say no. I keep reminding myself how bad I felt when I did smoke, and that on a previous occasion when I stopped smoking for a whole 2 years, I got back to smoking because of a single puff.
As to the measurement system I understand! I mix them up as do most Bahrainis I know. We measure lengths in imperial and weights in metric. Go figure!
Re: A year already?
My dad is bedridden at the moment, and the last cigarette he had must have been 3 or 4 months ago, but he still gives mum a very hard time to get a smoke, yet she’s resisting him beautifully and he can’t do anything about it! The guy’s heart can only work 15 – 20%, can’t walk unassisted any more and the only thing that goes through his mind is the absence of smoke! I guess if mum didn’t insist that he doesn’t smoke he would have already departed this life.
My uncle just came of an angioplasty where two of his arteries were blocked, he was forced to give up smoking and he smoked for 50 years. I saw him on Eid and couldn’t believe the quite evident change on his features, he’s got colour back in his face, the dark baggy eyelids are gone, his skin shines and he doesn’t wheeze! We talked about how he feels and he said never better and he seems determined now to lay off the weed for good.
So good examples are all around us, so I hope that more people will get off this drug before it kills them.
It is of course, my dear Steve, completely YOUR fault for introducing tobacco to the world and it is still American companies who peddle it all over the world unashamedly. You should do you utmost to close them down!
A year already?
How did you stop? Was it overnight or did you slow down? What made you go ahead and decide to stop? How long was it hard for? When did it start becoming easier? How much did you smoke per day before you decided to quit?
I’m asking because I quit smoking twice before. The first time was for a year and the second time was about 10 months. I’m thinking 3rd time’s a charm.
I really should quit though. It costs 7.25 euros for a pack of cigarettes and a lighter here, it’s not worth it.
Re(1): A year already?
Guess I shoulda saw that coming. Of course, America is not to blame but those damned American Indians who introduced tobacco to the English who knew a cash crop when they saw it. As usual, America is left cleaning up the mess left behind by those European imperialists.
Americans have pretty much given up smoking. It’s strange to see newsreels from fifty years ago and see EVERYONE lit up. I remember seeing film of reporters waiting around for Lee Harvey Oswald to be transferred out of jail, at the door where he was shot, and they were all wearing fedoras and suits, each one smoking like a chimney. I laughed because it almost seemed staged.
It’s sad to see that smoking continues overseas in places like France and China. It’s a terrible habit in just about every way. However, everyone should have the freedom to make choices in their lives, even stupid ones like smoking. If I couldn’t get my Mom to give up her cigarettes, I don’t know how I’m going to convince a billion Chinese to give it up. Still, the sooner those tobacco fields in North Carolina turn to other crops, the happier I’ll be.
I’ve never smoked myself, except a few times in survival school when I was VERY hungry and all that was left of my combat ration was a four pack of cigarettes. It does take the edge off your hunger. I’ve never cared for the smoke. But when I lived in North Carolina, I must confess that when you walk by a tobacco barn full of dried tobacco bales, it smells very, very good. And if you drive around Raleigh, North Carolina, where all the cigarette factories are, that whole side of town smells wonderful. That raw cut tobacco smells as good as freshly ground coffee.
I’m sorry to hear about your Dad but glad to hear your uncle is revived by giving up his tobacco. Quite frankly, I am none too fond of this aging process where all my elders pass on and leave me in charge. I can’t help but think that somebody should be in charge who knows what he’s doing. Don’t my younger relatives who ask me for advice know that I’m making it up as I go?
Steve
A year already?
I gaved up 18 years ago but know if ever I had a cigarette again I would be back to 40 a day. Just thinking about it is terrible. The craving will never really go away, a bit like an alcoholic, you have to take life one day at a time.
Tony
Re: A year already?
Man that’s good news. 18 years is excellent. And I completely agree with you regarding the feeling not really going away… damn it felt good to smoke, but it’s feeling a hell of a lot better being healthy!
Re: A year already?
Of course it was hard, but if I can do it so can you!
The how, when and whatfor are all documented here…
You can do it!
A year already?
Congrats Mahmood on the one PLUS year mark!
So Mahmood you won’t have an after shawarma Cuban cigar with me??? Just kidding! I wouldn’t do that to you!
[Modified by: cerebralwaste (cerebralwaste) on November 07, 2005 10:14 PM]
A year already?
Damn you Mahmood 🙂 just when i settled down with a nice family-sized bag of doritos I had to read your post! The guilt’s settling in and I guess its time to get my ass into gear and resume the battle of the bulge, now where did I put those dumbbells….
A Saudi
A year already?
Must be genetics when it comes to smoking, my dad started when he was 12 and hes 85 now and still smokes kool’s. Mahmmod I havent had one in 11 years and my sense of smell has returned. I can smell a conservative a block away.
billT
A year already?
I was thinking of going sailing today for a bit of a stretch but the weather is absolutely miserable! I miss good all reliable khaleeji weather… In the other hand the Doritos have been disposed of so not all is lost. Keep up the updates on your health regimen Mahmood, It gives us hope!
A Saudi
Re(2): A year already?
[quote]However, everyone should have the freedom to make choices in their lives, even stupid ones like smoking.[/quote]
The problem with smoking is that it’s not just you that suffers from your choice. My old man smoked 40 per day from age 14 until 2 months before he died from a smoking-related respiratory disorder. I’ve had chronic bronchitis and asthma all my life. My wife also has asthma. Her father smoked until about 20 years ago. Neither of us have ever smoked. So sure, kill yourself if you want to, just don’t take me with you.
BTW congrats, Mahmood. I hope it helps extend your life until the heat death of the universe, or until Australia win the FIFA World Cup. Which ever comes last =).
skribe
Re: A year already?
Hehe.. what I detest about the gym is that they have music channels on the TV screens. All though young, supple and hard bodies to goad you and you’re about to die of a stroke on the treadmill or the cross-trainer dreaming whether you will EVER get even close to those types of bodies. Pisses me off.
I have demanded – and got – from management that they give me the remote control so I can change channels to Bahrain TV (without sound of course) when I work out. NOW I can compare myself to something on the screen and feel much much better about myself!
Now put those Doritos down and go for a walk 😉
Re(3): A year already?
Thanks!
My dad smoked all of his life and I think he started when he was 10 or so. All of my brothers smoke, my sisters partake of the shisha hubly-bubbly but mom never smoked. Just imagine what her lungs are like thanks to all of us.
Thankfully three of us have given up smoking now, myself, my youngest brother and father (by force!) so maybe there is hope for the other three to kick the disgusting habit.
A year already?
Way to go Bu Aref.
Today marks my 5th. year. Just thinkng about that cancer stick makes me sick. I managed to get my wife to quit (30 days now). As she pts it, life has just lost its color….BLAHBLAHBLAH.
The Ram of the Manam
Re: A year already?
Ok I’m fed up of being in the office and need a drive… get my coffee ready, I’m coming!
A year already?
Mahmood,
You should be proud of yourself.
That is an awesome achievement
— ihath
A year already?
Hi mahmood, i just want to say congrats to you. Quitting this habit is indeed a very daunting thing to do. As you may or may not know, nicotine is the most addictive substance and the hardest to quit on earth! Having said that, IT IS REALLY NOT AS HARD AS YOU IMAGINE!
I also want to point out to your readers that “social support” is the most important thing in any attempt to quit smoking. If you failed to quit one time, get more support the next time and you’ll hopefully succeed. Don’t bother with nicotine patches or gums, they’re just a way for the drug companies to benefit from your suffering and they never really make a big difference if you smoke less than 26 a day. Mahmood is an excellent example of how cold turkey is the way to go.
A note to mahmood: if you ever feel tempted to smoke again remember how far you have gone with your attempt and how much you gained from it. You don’t want all that to go to waste now do you?
Good luck to all who is quitting. If you smoke, its never late to quit .
some1 trying to quit…
Re: A year already?
Thanks for your encouragement. Let me let you in on a secret, one of the major reasons that I stayed off the stuff was because I publicly BLOGGED about it and received an awful lot of support from the visitors of this very site. I wouldn’t have made it this far without your support guys! Thanks again.
A year already?
It took lying in the hospital having an angiogram at the age of 39 for me to give up smoking, but I only managed for 6 months before I was back on them again. I really should give up but…but…but…there’s always an excuse not to, unfortunately.
Re(3): A year already?
Skribe,
While I’m inclined to believe that second hand smoke is bad for your health, the science does not bear it out. There isn’t any reputable science that links second hand smoke to health problems. This is presented in a most entertaining form in Penn & Teller’s cable TV show “B.S.!”, first season, episode 5. For you free thinkers out there, I recommend you rent the whole series on tape and watch it to disabuse yourself of the politically correct conventional wisdom.
I grew up sitting in the back of a car with my Dad puffing furiously away on a big fat cigar and my Mom smoking cigarettes like a chimney. They never let us roll the windows down, not even a crack. So my sister and I choked on the smoke in the back. It was so bad that I saved up for a gas mask, but never found one that would work in an Army Surplus store. My friends in high school thought I smoked because my clothes always reeked of cigarette smoke. I discovered as an adult that when I visited home, even the clothes I kept locked in my suitcase would smell like smoke after I left my parent’s home.
However, I never suffered any ill effects from living in the smoke chamber.
Steve