Tobacco Free Alliance

If you’ve ever been a smoker and tried to give up, then most will know that other people can’t make you quit.  Endless nagging from a partner, is unlikely to achieve the desired result.  Disapproval from friends and family will normally just make the smoker miserable but carry on smoking.   Those who do try and give up on behalf of someone else will probably fail.

Giving up smoking is actually not that hard to once you’re in the right mindset.  Half hearted attempts will always fail, simply because the battle will never really be won.  When smoking I always used to look with jealousy at the friends who seemingly could give up at will.  The people who would chain smoke for a few days and then not smoke for a week or two.  Whereas I was never really brave enough to even attempt quitting.

Now closing in on my decade as a non-smoker, those casual giver uppers are still smoking – and I’m not jealous any more.  The reality is that you will know in yourself when you can give up, you’ll know when you’ve had enough of the risks, the smell and the expense.  That is the point when you should simply give up, it’s really that simple.

Mine built to a crescendo when we were expecting our second child.  The guilt of smoking near children was getting hard to bear, even though I never smoked inside the house or near them.  There was also a growing self awareness of what smoking actually entails, and the realisation it wasn’t actually very enjoyable.  One day I was looking through a house clearance sale near my house, primarily as i started collecting silver in the Summer. There were some lovely pieces but unfortunately a beautiful silver sweetmeat dish has been wrecked by a previous owner using it as a ashtray.  It was just a minor thing, but in my mind yet another example of how smoking just seems to spoil stuff.

It was like a little pair of silver scales in my mind, on one side the benefits about smoking balanced against the disadvantages.  At that point the scales tipped over to the disadvantage side. When you reach that mentality and more importantly embrace it, there’s only going to be one outcome – giving up. You can avoid it like many smokers obviously do by avoiding the issue or simply by procrastination.  But it is the time when you can ’just give up’. You’ve heard people who’ve been smoking for years say that – well I’m one of them.   It was straight forward, simple and involved very little stress.  The man who simply couldn’t imagine a life without cigarettes (that’s me) just stopped one day in March about 9 years ago.

I was sad to read about the recent death of Richard Briers the other week.  For some of us of a certain age he represents one of the national treasures of Birtish TV.  However the end of his 79 year old life came it is suggested because of his smoking habit.   He certainly was a very heavy smoker and he had in fact estimated that over a lifetime had smoked close to half a million ciggies.    He did give up around ten years ago but it seems that it was too late, his later years were rather wasted as he was pretty much breathless most of the time.

The cause was the familiar dread of most smokers, emphysema.  It was enough to scare him into stopping but unfortunately the damage was already done.  This isn’t to say that giving up doesn’t have it’s benefits whenever you do it.  For example Briers lived quite a long time with the disease because he managed to give up.  Only last year he was in a British movie although his character was wheelchair bound!

Giving up smoking even when you are diagnosed with emphysema at it’s terminal stage can certainly reduce some of the harmful effects.  If diagnosis is at an earlier stage often giving up is the only treatment needed.  This is perhaps one of the sobering thoughts that the only treatment for a horrible, killer disease is to simply stop smoking cigarettes.

It’s so sad to see such a wonderful actor go.  His biggest success at least in the UK was a show called the Good Life which featured a couple opting out of the rat race to become self sufficient.  You can still catch many of the shows on Youtube and hopefully they are to be repeated on the BBC and the BBC Iplayer.  If you live outside the UK then this site – can show you how to watch UK TV – http://www.uktv-online.com/.  It’s quite a simple process and I’ve been using it for years to stay in touch and watch the BBC news from my new home in Spain.

I remember when I smoked that the one day I would never have given up was No Smoking Day.  The idea that I would be dictated to by a load of do-gooders who had no idea about smoking always used to wind me up.  It’s like having someone tell you ’do you know the damage that is doing to you” by some smug non-smoker, of course we do !!! Every single smoker knows the risks they are taking, we know it’s not good for us, we know.

So do them a favour, don’t nag them about smoking, don’t moan or preach – it really doesn’t work.  Most people who give up successfully, do under their own steam – giving up when you don’t want to is pointless.  What you can do is be a friend, a little nudge or word of encouragement if they talk of stopping.  If doubts or problems are expressed – try and be positive, giving up smoking is an incredibly positive experience.

If they don’t look like stopping, I can recommend perhaps some sort of gift to nudge  them in  the right direction.  Try Allen Carrs – The Easy Way to Give Up Smoking as a joke gift for a brithday or Christmas.  Do it with a sense of humour and perhaps they’ll read it.  10 years ago I read that book and within three weeks I had smoked my last cigarette ever.  There’s no guarantee of course, if a friend isn’t ready to give up there’s little you can do.

But lectures on Lung cancer and prices of smoking won’t help one little bit and are more likely to lose you a friend.  There are lots of tips on the BBC website were you can find helpful links to organisations and stop smoking boards.  There are lots of forums where people help each other through the giving up process.  Using the power of social networking sites can help people keep focussed – this site - http://www.ngbconsult.co.uk/seoguide/2010/05/social-bookmarking-seo/.  Has some links to various sites and may be of use.

With prices rising and wage increases remaining static for many, people are looking for ways to reduce there monthly outgoings. Cigarette smoking is one of the main areas that individuals are determined to make cut backs. This is all great but it really is a case of easier said than done, as we all know smoking is highly addictive. I myself was a 15 per day smoker and had tried and failed many times to quit, not just to save money but also for the good of my own health.

After trying the usual methods of nicotine patches and cold turkey, which by the way is not something I would recommend, I came across electronic cigarettes. There were many brands but with the use of this Vapor King coupon code I found a brand that helped cut out cigarettes for good as well as save me money. The bonus with e cigarettes is that I am reducing the strength of nicotine in the e cigs and will be without the need for nicotine in the coming months.

One of the many reasons I used to enjoy smoking was the social element to it.  I used to work in lots of different places, moving from place to place it was quite hard to make friends because of this.  One of the gereat ice breakers was smoking, standing outside having a smoke was a great place to meet people and strike up a conversation. This has now changed a lot, simply because in the environments I work in – hardly anyone smokes anymore.

You still see the odd person standing in  the rain having a crafty smoke but there normally alone.  No longer the friendly looking social club – it looks more like a punishment or banishment.  The only place I still see these friendly little groups are outside the bars and pubs.  

The social element has well and truly gone from smoking – now if you jump outside for a minute everyone else will carry on the conversation without you.  If you do have a little crowd at a local hostelry who still smoke then there’s nothing actually stopping you joining them.  

The list of reasons to carry on smoking are nearly all gone, of course all smokers know the reasons why they should stop.  It’s a sensible way to motivate yourself to stop smoking, a little tick list of the benefits to smoking – cross them out as you think carefully about them.  There’s lots of great information to help you stop, some great resources in the UK from the NHS and various medical boards.  There’s even a load of stuff on the BBC website including if you’re quick some great documentaries about giving up smoking on the BBC Iplayer.   If you have any problems accessing these programmes because you’re not based in the UK then check out this useful site here, it shows you how to use proxies to access the BBC Iplayer abroad or wherever you are.

Choosing the right foods, maintaining a good diet by eating healthy foods, and a living a healthy lifestyle is what most people are into right now. This choice in lifestyle is also very much reflected in their restaurant choices. Not only do most people prefer to eat in a restaurant that offers a menu of healthy dishes, most people also prefer dining at a restaurant where smoking is not allowed.

Studies have shown that second hand smoking is bad for the health, that’s why plenty of people, especially those who do not smoke prefer to stay in establishment or a restaurant that offers a smoke free environment. Even clubs in Amsterdam today are joining in the trend by offering a smoking free club. A restaurant that is smoking free entices more customers as ambience seems to be better, and one can truly enjoy the aromatic smell of the dishes being prepared. It also improves appetite enticing customers to eat more and to eat healthier. A family themed restaurant or a club that offers family entertainment must definitely provide an area for non-smoking customers. Or better yet, it would be nice to have more of these establishments that are smoking free making it most ideal for families to dine in.

I recently sat down with my wife, after I lost my job and had a serious look at my budget.

It was pretty incredible and damning to see that I was spending 5% of my paychecks on tobacoo.  I was paying a company to kill me more quickly, while stealing money in essence from my kids college saving plans.

That wasn’t a good thing, not at all.

I thought, I could save a ton of money-I could buy a bunch of luxury products instead, my wife and I could buy luxury gift baskets for our families around Christmas instead of the cheap discont gifts that we usually give them.  Really, the more and more I looked at it, the more surprised I was about how much money I was wasting.  The whole thing just made me really, really upset!  I’ll never go back and I can’t thank this blog and community enough for helping to fix this giant problem in my life!