Stoptober

Cracktober has got a good ring to it !

 

Well it is already Stoptober and voiced by that mockney Ray Winstone. Lent obviously isn’t sufficient anymore. I’m sure that given the chance, ‘they’ will create November, after Zammo, turn January into Banuary and make July ‘Deny’. I honestly think that Startember is the last hope.

 

I'm in.

Where do I sign up ?

 

Never smoked a fag in my life. But, as is fairly self-evident, am quite a fan of various species of 'cheeky water'. And have indulged a bit in various other 'substances' down the decades but only in moderation.

Which begs a couple of questions. Why are some of us attracted to one substance rather than another? Is there any rhyme or reason to those choices? Of course some are attracted to all of them and they're obviously 'completely f.cked'.

Secondly, why does there seem to be rather more pressure on smokers to kick their habit than drinkers? There is pressure on both of course (and they're often the same people) but attempting to make smokers social pariahs seems to me to be a whole order of magnitude greater than is the case for drinkers. Which strikes me as strange.

The health defecit attached to both substances is well known. Smoking is anti-social in that it stinks, stale smokers stink and if you're in smokers' company then you are forced to breath in their smoke passively. But it won't cause a fight in a pub.

Alcohol is the one that can make you loose the plot. No other substances do that as far as I'm aware except for crack maybe. If you discount the fact that afficionados of some illegal substances choose a life of crime to finance their habit then alcohol is the most anti-social substance of the lot. Once you've crossed the life-and-soul-of-the-party barrier.

I'm well aware that I can be a completely different animal on here tanked-up versus sober. Others point this out to me but they don't really have to. I know it myself. When some sort of 'residual anger' reveals itself which would be best not to see the light of day. Or the dark of night. And I never 'lose it' when sober.

Now, I'm probably in a minority that I can 'switch' when I'm pissed and something fairly innocuous 'winds me up'. Most tend to start giggling, throw up or fall over instead. But take a look at an A&E department on a Friday and Saturday night. It isn't full of 'problem smokers'. But with those with various alcohol related or inspired problems instead.

 

You raise some valid points. I personally see it this way:

Smoking is seen as the worse of two evils because regular use is massively risky on the smoker and also puts others in the vicinity at risk.

Drinking only really becomes an issue if it's abused. Drinking to get drunk rather than drinking for the taste or socially is different and in my mind in the same category as taking drugs to alter your mental state. Doing anything with the intention of losing control or altering perception is in my mind a bad idea. Of course those with an addictive personality are a greater risk than those that aren't of crossing the use to abuse threshold.

I drink. But I don't drink to get drunk. I've never been in a situation where I've been violent or angry because of booze. Sure I've been drunk enough to fall over but I've never risked or injured anyone else and I've never got so plastered that I've done things completely out of my sober character.

If you look at the percentages of people that drink, that drink is an issue for and compare it to those that smoke or take drugs that it becomes an issue for, it goes some way to explain how society as a whole accepts the three:

Drink bad but accepted except to extremes
Smoke very bad and actively discouraged
Drugs very bad and illegal.


Now obviously there is some debate over the health and mental health issues behind drugs vs tobacco and that's something we've discussed a few times on here but I firmly believe that's it's only the abuse of alcohol that causes issues, yet simple use of the others creates an issue. Why people are attracted to one the other or none is purely down to chemical predispositions and social & mental upbringing.

 

54 (Fifty Four) days given up now. Count 'em.

I have saved £516.78 through not buying 54 packets of fags, but somehow am even more skint than ever.

Although I don't get the same cravings and urges as the first week or so of giving up (which were really bad and nearly caused me to give up giving up in the first few days) every cigarette still looks very tasty. Hardest has been at parties when drinking and other people smoking. Nearly sucked my electronic fag inside out I was puffing so hard on it. Someone said recently that the difference between real baccy and the e-fag is like the difference between sex and masturbation. I replied that for me it's the difference between sex and a glimpse of ankle. It's a rubbish substitute but if it's all you've got, you have to make do.

To illustrate how not over smoking I still am, I saw a very long butt in the street this morning. Only half smoked, just lying there on the pavement. Thought "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!" and gave momentary consideration to picking it up and lighting up....

 

Nice update Clive and I'm glad you're cracking on with it. £500 odd quid is a nice early Xmas present.

Are you starting to find that your sense of taste and smell are improving?

 

A bit yes. Taste certainly. Smell, maybe a little bit.

Also had one or two comments that I'm looking pinker than before - not as grey.

 

Well done Clive it is a hard battle (I think it was my 4th attempt when I finally stopped for good - I finally stopped fantasizing about getting a pipe around a year ago). Something that stopped me going back to the evil weed was reading David Kessler's account of his time as head of the FDA when they tried to regulate the tobacco industry. After reading it I swore that this revolting industry wouldn't get another penny of my money.

PM your details and you can have my copy.

 

Well done Clive. It isn't easy, but it gets easier.

I don't think I'm ready to say that I'm a non-smoker (I genuinely think once a smoker, always (potentially) a smoker) or even that I've stopped - all I will say is that I haven't had a smoke since 18th September 2012.

 

Respect, you're doing far better than most. Keep it up!

Just wait until your sense of smell returns and you realise what stale smoke actually smells like...it was a huge eye opener for my wife.

 

Pinker? You're so red it hurts the eyes!

Nice one Clive, just don't get addicted to the sh*tty e-cigs, seeing people emerging from one of those vapour clouds is one of the oddest sights around. 54 days is huge, next target 100.