Beyond Tobacco

[ExJeff]

So, my journey here is about quitting nicotine. I had to quit due to a surgery (nicotine is horrible for healing).

To my shock after 37 + yrs,  quitting nicotine wasn't that bad (I had my days, but overall, not too bad, well if you ask the people around me during that time they may disagree). That being said, I am addicted to everything that went with it. That morning cig with coffee on the porch, that last one before bed on the back deck, the multiple cigs at work to keep me out of prison (that's a joke, kinda), and the ones in the car to work, to lunch, to home, and where my continued addiction is right now, long drives (I mean seriously non-smokers, what do you do on multi-hour long drives?)... I figure since there are discussions about prescription drugs, patches and gum there needs to be one for Beyond Tobacco (TAAT brand) it's basically hemp cigs but they have managed to get the "weed" smell out of it so you don't smell like a Cheech and Chong movie set. It contains no tobacco and zero nicotine. I know it's not ideal to smoke something in replacement of smoking something, but I wanted to put that out there for anyone in my situation. A pack of TAATs lasts me about 5 to 7 days unless I go play darts at a bar then i may smoke 4 or 5 cigs while I'm there, which isn't bad considering I smoked 20 to 30 cigarettes a day. 

I have cut out the need for morning, night and work smokes, but driving is still an addiction when it comes to smoking. One day soon, I will beat that addiction... soon... 

[biscuit9]

I just posted here yesterday about driving.  Quit day 219 for me and I was stuck in traffic this past Saturday.  It was stop and go and I saw arms out the windows, with lit cigs on the end of them.  I realized that is exactly what I would have been doing before I quit.  I actually used to think, how can I quit smoking, as long as I drive?  That voice there, that is the addiction talking to you, telling you, "you can't live without me" and I believed the lies it told me.   Nicotine addiction is a huge part of an addict's life and climbing that hill just to get to a point where you can CONSIDER quitting, takes courage.  It truly does.  It is so much easier just to jam another cig in your face and carry on, I should know.  I got tired of being a slave to that voice, always ruling my life, my choices, my health.  The first drives I took, without smoking, were not easy.  I took God with me, literally.  I talked to Him, I reached for Him.  Those were not easy moments for me, but I got through them, a moment at a time.   

[ExJeff]

I am taking each smoking step removed as a victory. I look at it as a long war of many small battles. 

I am at 126 days without nicotine and I cannot wait until I can say it's been 365.

In July we have our trip to KY which is about 9hrs drive, I hope by then to have removed the need to have TAAT cigs, but if not maybe set a goal for only smoking 2 or 3 on the trip up there.

[biscuit9]

Hard candy, straws, licorice stick.  Smoking was a part of everything it seems.  Quitting is like relearning how to do so many things.