Yay, Friday! Hope everyone has a great weekend. I was looking at the blogs this morning and congrats to everyone who has gotten past the first hour of their quit.
While my husband and I were traveling from D.C. to Maine a couple of weeks ago, I noticed how incredibly expensive cigs are at service plazas and up north in general. About $10 after taxes wasn't unusual. Yowzers! When I got back home, I checked the cheapest place in my neighborhood to buy them and the cheap ones are at $8 bucks. No thanks!
So, it would be pretty easy for me to calculate how much money I saved during the vacation or since I quit. I haven't done that in a while, I don't know why. But Youngatheart wrote this as part of a reply to my post yesterday (in which I kvetched about having to go to Las Vegas):
"And, when you get to your destination - no mad dash to the nearest exit while your luggage goes round and round the carousel!"
True! And no squeezing into McCarran's smoker's cage, and no waiting for the next cab because I decide to have another. And another... And (confession time) last year I missed a connection because I had to go outside for a smoke and lost track of time. Eek!
I was thinking of that and I wondered, how much time have I saved since I quit?
I'm kind of wierd about time. I have a kid's sense of time. It goes by fast when I'm doing something interesting and crawls when I'm bored. (My husband is accurate to about 10 minutes no matter what. Freak.)
However, I am mortified at the thought of being late and dislike people who are chronically late. I don't like the idea of wasting time, but I also prone to dawdling. (You bet I consult my watch and my phone neurotically.)
When we were traveling (only our second really long trip since I quit) I kept thinking of how much time we saved because I didn't need to stop to smoke or waste time smoking when we got gas and so on.
So here's my attempt to answer the question. I'd be interested in what you all think, did I miss anything?
Let's start with 30 minutes a day - That's about how long it takes me to walk to the drug store and back in the morning. Add another 15 because I had to stop somewhere and buy a second pack later in the day.
Then there is smoking. I only smoked outside, so assume I am already dressed for outdoors - gathering supplies and going out, smoking, coming in, washing hands ... let's say 10 minutes a cigarette? multiply that by 35 and divide by 60 (minutes).
Holy ... Foghat, is that right? I'm getting nearly six hours a day:
35*10 = 350.
350/60 (minues) = 5.8333... This is really sad.
So let's say a total of 6.5 hours a day (sheesh) were spent on smoking or acquiring cigarettes.
6.5*250 (days) = 1,625 hours
OK, now I divide 1,625/24 to determine the number of days.
67.70833...
Two months and week. In less than a year I would have spent two months of that year doing nothing but making myself ill, old and smelly, annoying my husband, making R.J. Reynolds richer (like they need the money) and wasting lots and lots of time.
I can't really get that time back, can I? I mean, yes my body is healing internally, turning back the clock on the damage I did. I still find myself doing things that used to be either not possible or leave me gasping for breath, sweating like a beer bottle on a hot day and worried my heart was going to say "Laters!" and hop out my chest.
I know I'm healing externally. I have a lot fewer fine wrinkles than I did a year ago and I don't have that delightful smoker's pallor that adds a couple of years, so I've turned back time on my face.
But damn it, I can't get that time back. I could have ... I can't even think of all the things I could have done. So I'll just focus on the things I can now do. 🙂 And I'd like to know how much time you all have saved.
Have a good weekend!
