The story of how I quit smoking
Page 2
The plan was simple, I would cut down smoking by stopping smoking the cigarettes that I smoked just because the opportunity was there.
Since the government had banned smoking in the work place, and public places such as pubs, buses, shops, restaurants etc. I had noticed that during the day my smoking habits had changed. Now, during the day, I only smoked because of three reasons.
- I was in a place where I was allowed to smoke, a rare event.
- I had just left a "no smoking place", such as work, a shop, got off a bus etc.
- I was about to go into a "no smoking" place, going into work, getting onto a bus, going into a shopping centre etc.
I never lit up a cigarette because I wanted to, I only lit up because circumstances allowed me to. I could get home each night and remember every cigarette I had smoked, simply because I smoked at the same times in the same places every day, and the reason was always because that was when I was allowed to.
So the plan was simple, I would cut out each of those cigarettes one at a time.
It wouldn't be too hard, the cigarettes were smoked because the opportunity was there, not because I wanted to smoke at that time. And most opportunities were very short.
My working day usually went like this.
5.45 am Get up, smoke 2 or 3 cigarettes while getting ready for work.
6.50 am Smoke a last cigarette before going out for the bus at 7.00am.
7.02 am Get bus to work, a 7 minute journey.
7.09 am Get off bus and have a smoke while walking the short walk to work.
7.25 am After getting into work, switching my computer on etc. I would nip out for a last smoke before stating work at 7.30 am.
9.30 am Twenty minute break, nip out for a smoke, come back in to get a coffee, nip out again for a second smoke.
1.00 pm Lunch time, nip out for a smoke, come back and have lunch, nip out and have one or two smokes.
2.30 pm Quick break for a smoke.
4.00 pm Finish work, have cigarette in mouth and lighter in hand as I walk out the door and light up as soon as I’m out the building.
4.10 pm Get on the bus home.
4.17 pm Get off bus and light up a cigarette immediately.
And that was the way it was, day in and day out. It only ever varied when the ladies in the admin office would ask me to go over to the stores building to collect a heavy parcel. Or someone rang me from another building and I found an excuse to go and see them. Or when I could catch the cleaning lady with full bags of rubbish. When this happened I would always have a smoke on the way to wherever I was going.
So, after realizing that every one of those cigarettes was smoked just because there was an opportunity to smoke, and not because I actually wanted to smoke at that time, I decided to cut them out and quit smoking for good.
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