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I was a heavy smoker once (2+ packs per day for 15 years) and stopped abruptly. My motivation was simply that being a smoker was horrible. Everywhere I went the only thing I could think about was, where are the tobacco shops, when do they close, do I have enough cigarettes with me to get me through the day, or the evening, etc.

(Also I smoked so-called "brown tobacco" which meant I couldn't really ask other people for a smoke -- I could, but I strongly disliked more mainstream cigarettes; so I had to take care of my own supply).

The first two weeks of quitting were horrible, it was as if somebody constantly pulled on my arms to elongate them; in fact during those weeks I stayed in bed most of the time. (In a way it was so horrible and strange that it seemed kind of enjoyable; the pain transforms into something bizarre where you're a kind of "pure pain" that isn't, somehow, insufferable.)

And then after those two weeks the carving was gone, and I was free.

It's been 20 years since I quit and I have never wanted to smoke again; I still remember vividly how painful it was to quit, and this is an excellent deterrent to wanting to start again.




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