Brought to you by HSE.
Jack Kelly (20) is from Ballinasloe in Co Galway and he’s been smoking since he was 16. Jack has given up cigarettes for the New Year and he’ll be writing a “quitter’s diary” for JOE over six weeks to describe exactly what it’s like to quit smoking.
I can’t quite believe I’m saying this, as I’m sure no one else can, but my body still remains nicotine free. One of those smooth and silky cigarettes – sorry, I mean disgusting and unhealthy death sticks – has yet to touch these lips.
I’m actually doing well… no, really I am. It’s Day 16 and I’m feeling good. How about you, fellow quitters? Have you gotten past the ‘sweats’ stage? The ‘shakes’ stage? The ‘wanting to kill everyone in the room stage’? Yeah, me neither.
If, like me, you’ve been off them for more than a fortnight, you may find that the actual physical craving has subsided slightly and now it’s more of a mental battle, struggling to fight old habits.
At around one o’clock every day, I used to have a cigarette with a coffee. I genuinely looked forward to it. Eagerly waited for that moment I could step outside, by myself, in the rain (usually – c’mon it’s Ireland) and stand there shivering while slowly, but fashionably, shorting my lifespan.
Wow, why do we ever start doing this?
Well no more! I found that instead of relapsing back into that habit, I’ll just have another coffee, or message a friend to distract myself until eventually I don’t even want one. The habit has become a nuisance.
Try it. Create a distraction and see what happens. What do you have to lose? Yes, your sanity for the first while but it’ll come back, I think.
One of the main pluses of all this for me, besides the whole living longer thing, has to be the lack of smoke smell on my clothes and skin. It might sound like a strange reason but I notice it more and more lately. I don’t want to gag now any time I get a whiff of my hands, jackets, shirts… well the list is endless really.
So there we are. Two weeks in and my favourite thing about quitting smoking is… you smell nicer. I’m sure (please god) you all have different reasons, justifiable ones that don’t make you seem like shallow idiots. Leave that to me.
The ‘Nation’s Quitter’.
Here at QUIT, we have found that getting the right help and support will double your chances of success. If you combine this with Nicotine Replacement Therapy, NRT for short, then you double your chances again – making you four times more likely to QUIT smoking. There’s loads of help at www.quit.ie, from personalised plans to inspiration to live chats. If you want to talk to an advisor about quitting or to find out about your nearest HSE stop smoking service, call the HSE QUIT Team on 1800 201 203 or FREETEXT QUIT to 50100.
Start today and be someone’s Quit Hero tomorrow.
Brought to you by HSE.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
