(ThyBlackMan.com) I’ve been a smoker since March 2018. Yes, I started super late in life. I don’t recommend anyone smoke cigarettes, obviously but I view it as more of a young person’s activity.
Mind you, there are people in their 80s and 90s who still roll through a pack a day and have been smoking since they were teens. After three years, I was like “Maybe I should stop now”.
That thought became “Okay, I definitely need to stop” last month. The reasons for smoking and the reasons for quitting are like anyone else’s in that they vary wildly.
Smoking Has a Way of Introducing Itself
Growing up, I only knew two smokers: my grandmother on my mom’s side and my father. My mother had asthma and didn’t do cigarettes, hated the smoke being the house. Actually, I used to have bad reactions to the smoke.
Once high school rolled around, I knew of the “Smoking Wall” but it wasn’t somewhere I just called a prime hangout spot myself. I didn’t start smoking until I was 34 with the stress on my girlfriend following her mother’s death stressing me.
We had been dating for three months at that point, so it was a sudden for me. No one offered me a cigarette nor did I ask. I was holding it for my girlfriend—plenty of ashtrays in the house, mind you—and I decided to have a pull. It was a new feeling that was pleasant.
When her grandmother passed a few months later, I began smoking more. First cigars, then cigarettes. Then other issues that year caused me to just stick with it.
Some people have the will power to avoid smoking cigarettes while others just don’t have an interest. Initially, I had no interest in smoking. I had made it to my early-mid 30s without smoking, I was doing pretty well.
Stress will have you seeking ways to alleviate it if you don’t already have hobbies, routines, or rituals to do so. For most of my adult life up until 34, I was very low stress. Anything I did as a hobby or part of my daily routine at that time wasn’t didn’t include stress relief.
Reasons May Vary
Stress was the reason I started and boredom, downtime, and social interaction was the reason I kept going. When I was bored or had too much idle time, I would light up. Now, it’s down to if I’m chatting with a smoker or I’m deep into my work, I’ll light a cigarette.
Everyone has different reasons but the reasons are pretty common. It also doesn’t help that packs of cigarettes at stores and gas stations in Black neighborhoods tend to cost less.
When other methods of dealing with things are too expensive, people fall back on self-mediating. Cigarettes, booze, drugs—stuff that adds up financially but appears immediately more affordable.
After my stress subsided, I had already been smoking for some time and was mainly doing it to pass the time.
The Third Day
When quitting, the first three days are crucial with the first two being pretty easy. It’s that third day that will trip you up the hardest. The cravings come in harder and if you’ve burned through whatever you’re using to replace smoking, you’re in for a rough time.
Nicotine affects you in a way that when you quit, your body will just start feeling awful on the third day. Chills, soreness, and agitation are a few of things you could experience.
My third day was chills and body aches, lots of pacing, sitting down to work, then more pacing.
Never Stop Trying to Quit
I’m still in the process of quitting. At the moment, everything’s a work in progress. I want to quit because I’ve been waking up feeling awful and it’s just time to pack it in. They’re not even that expensive—although they can be depending on your habit.
Currently, I’ve been going the gum and a substitute route. Yes, just chewing Big Red when I feel a craving actually helps. The combo of gum and a substitute works but the failure comes in once that runs out.
Just like with grief, what will help you quit varies. My brother-in-law quit cold turkey several years and my girlfriend’s aunt quit recently in her early 70s.
It’s definitely possible but for those who need something to replace the sensation of smoking—holding a cigarette while talking, etc—patches, gum, or nicotine free/herbal cigarettes can help.
Make sure you can keep it going. That means being able to cover whatever method will require cash, or having the time to put towards a hobby, and sticking with it.
That’s the most important thing: sticking with it and the cravings decline. Where I failed was running out of gum and substitutes—several times. When that happens, the craving crept back in and hung around until I attempted again.
It can be a see-saw battle or you can toss cigs and keep on going. Despite the terror of day three, waking up without feeling groggy, coughing up whatever, and tired for just those few days makes it worth trying as many times as possible.
If you’re going trying to quit or you have quit, let us know in the comments or let me know on Twitter and let us know what worked for you.
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.