Frakin' Smoking

One of my New Year resolutions is to quit smoking. This is going to be a bitch!

I quit in 1994 and stayed smoke-free for 13 years. Starting up again was, among other really stupid things, one of the stupidist things I've done in my life.

The original "plan" was to wake up on New Year's Day and be smoke-free. There's an obvious fail. Think about it: My wife, Laura, and I agreed shortly before the end of the year to make the resolution. We had been spending roughly $11.00-$12.00 per day on smokes. That is a huge amount of money. At $12 a day, that's $4380 a year! No wonder we're frakin' broke!

So money is a huge incentive for us to kick tobacco. It is not enough though. Nicotine is truly addictive and smoking is a very strong habit to break. I know, I've done it before and it was not easy. Before actually quitting, I need a plan. I need to know what I am going to do to cope with the withdrawals and the mood swings, etc.

Here's a start:

1) Pick a quit date.

My quit date as of now is January 24, the day after my birthday. That's roughly three weeks away. It gives me time to mentally prepare, but it is not so far out that I'll talk myself out of it.

2) Take steps, day by day, to prepare for the quit date.

I need to pay attention to what triggers my desire to smoke. When I want to smoke, decide if I really want to or not.

3) Reduce the amount I smoke:

This week, I will go with 10 cigarettes a day. That's half a pack. I'll mark how much money I am saving.
Week 2: Drop to 6 a day.
Week 3: 4 a day

I'll go with that for now except to add that I have reduced the amount of alcohol I consume during the week. That should help a little. When I drink, I am more likely to want to smoke.

That's it for now.