Small step for mankind, huge step for me.
I’m well into my third week off the smokes and I am feeling good. It’s by no means easy. If it was, sure we’d all be able to quit when we wanted to. The will-power needs to be strong and honest and so far it has been.
Dropping the tablets
As mentioned in my previous blogs I had been prescribed tablets to help with my quitting. They kill the cravings and are a great help.
The thing is I had a one month supply and knew eventually I would have none and would have to go cold turkey so to speak. With that in mind, towards the end of the supply, I began to wean myself off them.
Normally I took two a day, one in the morning, one in the evening. I decided to cut out one of them per day for a couple of days.
Did that and then tried one day with no tablets at all. I survived and continued. Happy to say that now I am six days into completely off the cigarettes without any pharmaceutical aid whatsoever.
This is a huge step forward. I have now proved to myself that I can do this without any medical help at all.
Cravings and boredom
I still get the cravings, but nothing I cannot handle. I haven’t had one as bad as the night in Dun Laoighre at my gig so I am thankful of that.
They come and go and don’t last long. They are getting fewer and further between and I tend to just drink water or maybe take some deep breaths and it just passes.
The biggest challenge for me is the boredom. You may ask yourself what is so exciting about smoking a cigarette.
There is nothing exciting about it, but you are doing it, you are using your hands, you are doing the hand to mouth gesture, it’s a social thing and all of a sudden, after years of doing it, it’s gone.
It’s all in the head
People have suggested that I keep a pen or pencil in my pocket for such times. Something to roll between my fingers, anything just to alleviate the feeling of doing nothing, the boredom.
I realise now that a lot of the time I smoked for no reason whatsoever other than to alleviate the boredom. That’s crazy when you think about it.
It wasn’t a physical need, but a psychological need. That goes to show you that smoking and quitting smoking is all in the head. You either want to or don’t want to.
Text motivation
The texts each morning from the HSE are still coming in and some of them definitely resonate with me. Every morning, without fail at 8am, my daily text arrives with a message of support or information. Here’s a selection:
I like the one about a favourite restaurant. It’s true, my sense of smell and taste is improving, but because I smoked so much, I couldn’t afford a nice restaurant! Ergo, I don’t have a favourite one, but I aim to change that in the coming months.
Radio Ga-Ga
Did my weekly visit into Classic Hits 4FM to visit PJ and Damian. PJ has been a great help. When I’m having a difficult time with a craving or whatever, he will text me words of wisdom, basically telling me to cop the f**k on!
For whatever reason, it has the desired effect and the craving goes. Nice one PJ! It hasn’t stopped me eating though. I am eating lots! Here I am with the boys and some doughnuts. Naturally.
Here is the audio from our interview for anyone who wants to have a listen:
If you truly want to, you can and will quit.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
