Korean Job Discussion Forums

[joyfulgirl]

hi,

my name is joyfulgirl, and i am a smoker.

and, damn...i love smoking. every slow inhale and exhale..watching the smoke drift up and away. the sweet peace of the moment.

but i also hate that i smoke, 'cause it's unhealthy and smelly. mostly, tho, 'cause i hate more and more being chained to it....i.e. i'm tired of worrying about taking a plane ride, or seeing a long movie, or choosing a restaurant based on its smoking policies, or being in an unexpected work meeting that interferes with my "smoking schedule."

i also feel more and more uncomfortable smoking in public, even in korea. it was and will be much more so back in canada.

so, i need to quit. i've been telling myself i will quit on jan. 1...or at least, start to quit then.

yea, yea...why not tomorrow? 'cause i need a coupla months to get used to the idea.

i was wondering what your experiences were. have you quit in korea? (or anywhere, i guess) did you quit cold turkey? how did you do it?

[redhed]

I quit cold turkey in Korea. I did what you are doing, and chose a date, my birthday, as THE day. Then for about a month or so before, I made a conscious effort to think about that day every time I lit a smoke. When the day came, I stayed up alone the night before drinking bourbon and smoking. I smoked a lot of cigarettes. Then in the morning I didn't smoke. It was much easier than I could have imagined. If I had known how easy it was, I would have done it about 8 years ago and bought myself a piece of land. Though to be fair, it might not have been so easy 8 years ago, as being ready to quit, really ready, is a huge part of it.

[Captain Courageous]

It was the absolute opposite for me. I got to Korea, and went from smoking a pack of cloves every two weeks, to smoking two packs of menthols a day. Smoking is so much more prevalent in Korea, I just fell into it.

I left Korea for a six-month vacation in May, and quit cold turkey. Interestingly enough, I've never has a twinge, tic, or urge to smoke. Maybe I'm just lucky.

It only takes a few days for the physical addiction to end. After that, it's all in your head. Smoking while drinking, smoking to pass the time, smoking in lieu of eating, etc. etc. You're gonna need new habits to replace the old ones. Maybe gum.

[freeridden]

I quit cold turkey after a bout of strep throat. The thought of smoking again made me sick, so I've never had the urge to start again. It's been 5 years now.

You should realize this: it takes your lungs years to clean themselves out. I remember coughing up shit for at least 3 years after I quit (and I was just a 10 year social smoker, not a pack a day person).

Thnk about not smoking. Think about using mouthwash after you eat. Think about your new fresh breath. Think about no smelly, disgusting clothes. Think about smoking as an act of buring your money away.

[aboxofchocolates]

I got too sick to smoke for two weeks. I chewed nicorette constantly for about a year while I was quitting. then I switched to this ice gum, then to halls candies and chewing ice cubes. all in korea. I would go to a pc bang and chew cups of the free ice they put out in the summer. i was a hero to those people. a damn hero.

[djsmnc]

[highdials5]

I've never smoked, but my brother smoked for 15 years then read this famous book (I'll find out the title later) and he's never looked back. He quit about a year ago and took up running, and he's doing half marathons now...I'm proud of him! That's will power.

[DWAEJIMORIGUKBAP]

It's a tough thing to do OP. Psychologists, shrinks, docs etc say it's actually harder than quitting heroin.

I've quit on and off for over ten years.

Part of the problem lies with how you've conditioned yourself to respond to emotions.

Smokers smoke at the best of times and worst of times (sorry Leo.) A fag accompanies you after sex, when your at a fab party with your best mates and when your at your lowest when that a'hole dumps you or the boss fired you for no reason etc...

You will have to learn to deal with emotions (particularly stress) in a new way. If you don't put an alternative in place, you'll fall back on the fags. most people use comfort food only to find of course that has it's own problems... I used booze.... not a good idea...

What I'm saying is it's not only the physical act of not smoking but also you have to work on other areas of your life and make changes / substitutes too. Most ppl don't consider this and that's what makes it so hard....

Another tip - don't let small relapses in quitting get you down or detter you - they WILL happpen.

Maybe don't go cold turket but cut right down as much as yoou can first and see how much better you feel.

Nowadays I can pretty much only do it when I'm drinking, but I know for a fact it will take a doctor saying to me - 'you will die soon or lose a lung' or something for me to not smoke when I'm with my smoking / drinking pals....

In fact just writing about it has given me the craving... Damn.

[D.D.]

Stay way from your smoker friends. To do it you must quit today and don't have the first smoke and you won't have a second. If you screw up and smoke just start over again with the cold turkey. Stay away from drinking as well. As the other guy said it just lasts two days and after that you don't notice the cravings. People who want to smoke keep smoking and people who really are tired of it quit. Don't fool yourself into thinking you are a slave to it. It's your choice to smoke or not and with that approach I find it easy to quit.

[beercanman]

3 days?

a week, be prepared for that

3 weeks?

nope, 3 months.

maybe then

but out of the woods?

3 years maybe

[lexicon]

I think being ready certainly plays a part. I mean, if you want to stop, you'll stop. If you don't really want to, you won't. It's about will power. We all have will power, and lots of it.

Phrases like "I'm trying to quit" don't get anybody anywhere. You know you're not really "trying" when you say that. Trying implies failure & suggests you're open to (& maybe quite keen on) the possibility of starting up again. Person X either quit smoking or they didn't.
"I tried to stop, but I couldn't" is rubbish. You could. It's easier than you think. I know there's all the factors like friends/colleagues smoking, having it as a social activity in itself etc., but what it comes down to is a simple matter of either doing or not doing something.

[lexicon]

Also, I've found that friends can grow pretty tired of other friends banging on about how they're quitting, only to see them lapse days/weeks later, so my advice would be to make as little a deal out of it as possible. Just stop (if you want to, that is!) Less ambiguity, more decision.

Beer can man above is right though. You can easily fall back into the habit. I did!

[lexicon]

[Son Deureo!]

I quit on a 2 1/2 month visit home between contracts in Korea. At the time I was working in hogwons and knew that if I tried to quit smoking while teaching, I would have probably beaten a child. I brought a carton home from the duty free and promised myself they were my last. I had been a pack a day smoker, but I made that carton last a month and a half. The last pack I smoked 3 then 2 per day. I mostly stayed in and watched a lot of movies (I didn't have the concentration for books), drank a lot of coffee and Coke to make up for the stimulants I was no longer pumping into my system, kicked furniture, and marvelled at the colors in the phlegm my lungs kept pumping out.

Stopping gradually like that probably unnecessarily prolonged the agony because the first three days after my last cigarette were still brutal. About a month later, my lungs still hurt but the cravings were gone. I avoided going to bars for a few months because I knew I couldn't handle drinking without a smoke. I cheated twice and had one while drunk about 4-6 months later. The next morning I woke up feeling like my lungs had been violated by a barbed wire-covered member.

After the first year I barely thought about smoking until I started grad school. All nighters working on papers brought back the cravings, but I managed. No cravings since graduation day, just over a year ago.

I have now been smoke-free for nearly seven years.

And yes, it was worth it.

[highdials5]