...or an addiction, rather. And it's high time I admitted it!

My name's potassium and I'm a smoker.

Ok, all Hollywood induced visions of AA meetings aside. Here's the deal. I've been smoking on and off for a while now. I've quit for whatever reasons I had at the time and I've picked it back up for others. I'm by no means a heavy smoker and it hasn't (greatly) interfered with my active lifestyle... I'm currently a swim coach, for heaven's sake! But I think it's high time I nip this habit in the bud and quit for good. Especially with boot camp looming in the possible near future.

Now, I don't have the time/money/resources for help groups or "stop smoking" classes. Nicotine gum and patches are too strong... I guess because I haven't been a heavy smoker in years. Weening myself down to nothing seems to work, til I get bored or stressed or I just ask for a pack out of habit while I'm at the store.

Anyone here been through this before? Tips and tricks and overall support will be greatly appreciated.

Personally, I have never touched the things. Just thought it was rather gross and couldn't stomach the idea. However both my parents are smokers. My mom quit when I was a senior in high school, she was really mad at my father & I and she was going to show us... she quit smoking. I fail to see where the punishment was but in her eyes she was punishing us. She just STOPPED. There were no patches, no gum, no 12 step groups for smoking at the time. She just stopped. My mother has the will power of an ant ignoring a picnic basket, in other words, none! If you want to quit, just don't buy them, don't borrow one, don't smoke. My dad has tried quitting but it never worked. I think because he never wanted to quit truly. The day my mom said she quit was well over 25 years ago and she has never touched one since. She will be the first one to tell you she still misses it. She won't go back to it though. So if you want to do it, just do it.

After boot camp you will probably never touch it again. It will just be too much of a challenge to find the time to smoke and after 8 weeks without, you will probably never give it a second thought. Its not easy, but it isn't impossible if you want to do it.

Weird. I can't think of any scenario where that would actually be a punishment.

All my parents are/were smokers too. Dad's still at it. Mom quits for years at a time, picks it up for a couple months, then lays them back down for a couple more years. Stepdad has quit. I am my mother's child. Sigh. (I mean that in the most loving way possible, of course. Just know where I get my habits and tendencies from.)

I've been through some decent bouts of non-smoking and kinda missed it, but never craved it. I think it was the stress of NOT leaving for boot camp last year that made me pick it up again. Either way, it sounds like an excuse. Guess I need to remember my reasonings and methods for cutting it out last time and stick with it...

My now husband was in the same situation as you. One of the first things he said after graduating boot camp was "I need a cigarette." I couldn't even BELIEVE he started smoking again after boot camp...and now since so many people on his cutter smoke, it seems like quitting is hopeless. Stick with it!!

I should clarify...it's not that the people on his cutter are MAKING him smoke - it's obviously his own decision. It's just that it's become such a social thing for him.

I know a couple Coasties who have both picked up or completely forgotten about smoking after boot camp. Seems if you're on a cutter with others who smoke, the temptation is greater to pick it up again.

Colin smokes only when he is underway. You are right, it is like social time on the fantail. I told him he can still socialize without actually smoking. But he isn't that bright to come up with that on his own! LOL

I'll smoke at the bar. I may buy a pack and give away 3/4 of it to my friends who are "real" smokers. Usually comes out to 5 or so cigs a month. Used to dip quite a bit for a couple years, then when I moved back to school one year I forgot to pack my stash. I bought a pouch of chew, and then that was it, I was done with the stuff. Never had a nic fit or withdrawal symptom.
I don't buy the whole smoking as a moral issue thing. We do things to our bodies that are just as dangerous, if not more. But tobacco use has made an easy target because cheeseburgers are just too good and driving is too essential.
That said, quit for you. I quit dip because I stopped enjoying it. No other reason. I could have bought a new stash, but that last pouch I bought just stopped appealing to me. If the health reasons are what bother you, by all means, quit! But if you quit for any reason other than because YOU want to, you do exactly what Janelly's husband did when he graduated boot camp. Buy a pack and fire up.
Friend of mine who joined the Marines did the same thing after BC. Bought a big roll of dip and chawed away. Got sick the first time, but that didn't stop him.

I used to smoke for many years, When I told you I suddenly stop, is possible. You will feel weird at first, you will want to smoke, It was hard for me to be on a bar with one beer on one hand and the other empty..... So I started to drink in glasses, Hold the bottle in one hand and the glass in the other..... hahaha, THats why I did, and Im completely smoking free for the last 3 years

Yes but now you are an alcoholic. HAHAHA I'm teasing... just your description of 2 fisted drinking made me laugh!

I've seemed to subconsciously cut back just to my basic habits now. Morning tea, drive home from work, bars. It isn't the health side that makes me want to quit, just about everything around poses a health risk and we can't quit them all. Maybe it's because I get so winded, so quickly while running. That's the only moments where I wish I didn't smoke. Other times, I do enjoy having one.

Hahaha, come on Old Guard, its supposed to be a secret. J/K, I rarely go to a bar, but at that time, when I did, well, two hands full, if not te hand want to grab a cig.

I've never smoked, but I have an uncle that smoked for many years, and then quit cold turkey when he had his first kid. He has shared many times that its was very hard for him to not pick it up again. He told me what helped him get through it was that every time he had a craving he would sit there for a second and try to figure out why he wanted it so bad...

I know that sounds a little philosophical and left-field-ish, but he said that when he figured out what was causing the crave he could figure out something healthier to put in its place.

I don't know that this will help or not, but its worth a shot I guess.

Ajarvi, any advice helps. Thanks!