Quitters never win? But what if you are quitting smoking? Part Three - Joe.ie

D-Day looms.

I am now well into my second week on the prescribed tablets I received from my GP. This Tuesday will be my first day entirely off the smokes. I’ve been told that the tablets will help with cravings. In fact, I’ve been told that by Monday, I should be feeling nauseous when smoking. To be honest though, right now I don’t feel any different. I’m still enjoying them and have to say, I thought I would have felt some sort of resistance to them now, but, alas, no. Obviously, I won’t quit by just using the tablets, they are not a magic formula. The Force

Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame Opens

Like all good quitting regimes, the willpower has to be strong in me. Kinda like The Force. If only I had a little Yoda to put me right. ‘Smoke you will not!’, ‘Disease of the heart you will get!’, ‘It you can do!’, ‘Money and lots you will save!’ One of the benefits of not smoking is an improvement in your skin and complexion. If that’s the truth then Yoda must be on eighty- a-day. Heroin

Look At Me - A Retrospective - Private View

Lots of people have contacted me on Twitter wishing me well and telling me of their experiences of the tablets. Most, if not all, said that they worked and the people who took them are now smoke-free. I really hope I can join them. The will is there and I genuinely think this is the time. It’ll be tough, I know that. I know an ex-addict who told me once that quitting the smokes was more difficult than quitting heroin. Now, I’m not trying to be a martyr here, but that does give it a bit of perspective. Gig rituals

I’ve a weekend of gigs ahead of me before I quit and I’ve just realised that these are the last gigs that I will have my ritual pre-gig smoke before. It’ll be emotional, but it has to be done. (What's a shameless plug? Glór in Ennis on Friday the 13th and the Everyman Theatre in Cork on Saturday the 14th with PJ Gallagher.)

Another thing I’ve heard, is that people who quit smoking put on weight. They resort to eating to replace the smoking. I can see that being an issue alright, but if I can eat fruit and healthy foods, I should be able to avoid the dreaded spare tyre. To coin a well-used dramatic phrase, the next few days are critical. If I can get past Tuesday without a smoke I will have made a giant leap forward. It’s one step at a time in this process, but that's a king-sized one.