Oh sorry, did I post some facts you don’t like?
His Aussie citizenship has been well know to anybody that follow the news (not just pick what fits you point of view)
Quit smoking in 1994. No plans of taking up the habit ever again.
Wish I could.
There is only one way; quit; “Cold turkey”. (I did)
Cutting down, take up snuff, chewing tobacco, or change to vaping doesn’t work.
It is not a question of will power, it is a question of “Will Not Power”.
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You are correct sir. I did cold turkey for over ten years, some how got hooked again due to no excuses.
Nicotine is unique among addictants in that users tend to take up again at about the same level they stopped at. Makes it a real stinker.
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I reached 40-50 sticks a day and had no plans to quite. What triggered the decision to quit was a trip out to the South China Sea to take a Transocean J/U rig into Singapore.
After lighting the first cigarette in the morning I started to feel ill, but on the airport and the flight to Jakarta with no smoking I felt better.
Lighting up on the way to the domestic airport I felt bad again, but the 2.5 hr. flight to Matak, Anambas Islands did a world of good, only to light a cigarette as soon as we landed and feeling bad again.
A 1 hr. helicopter flight to the rig had the same effect.
As a long time smoker I still didn’t learn, but when I felt really bad as soon as I lit up the first smoke on arrival at the rig, I finally decided that it was time to quite.
I stubbed out the last cigarette in the ashtray, never to smoke ever since.
PS> I arrive at the rig with 3 cartoons of Dunhill to be sure I wouldn’t run out on the tow to Singapore.
Since none of the expats smoked Dunhill and the Indonesians all smoked Kretek: https://www.gudanggaramtbk.com/en/kretek/ I ended up taking them home with me and give them away to friends and family that visited.
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I smoked up to three packs a day when sailing. I recall one trip, on the west coast, none of us smokers were able to get ashore before we left the Puget Sound, and we were all out about half way to Pedro. In hindsight, I probably just should have quit then, but no. I did quit, the first time, a couple of months later because my first wife didn’t like it. Well, once she was gone 10 years later, I was back at it. During those 10 years, I never really got over the nicotine addiction. I would even dream about smoking. After smoking another 10 years, I just got tired of the hassle, taste and expense. It was getting more difficult to even find places to smoke, as many bars and pubs banned it. Anytime I went out, I had to make sure that I had enough cigarettes and a full lighter (and having a lighter was also a pain anytime I had to fly). 10 years after restarting, I decided it was time. I had just purchased a carton, and had made up my mind that it was the last one. Before that carton was gone, I had to fly out to Barbados for a job. I had about a 4 hour layover in Miami, and knew that I could go up to the bar in the hotel at the top of the terminal, get some matches and smoke. Well, when I got off of the elevator and got the the bar, there was a sign on the door that it was closed due to hurricane damage (forget which one). DAMN. Of course I couldn’t get a lighter or match anywhere in the airport, so I wandered outside and stood with the other junkies, er smokers and was able to bum a light for a couple. Had to be a sign. . . When I got back home and finished the carton, I was done. Because I quite for myself instead of someone else, it stuck. Don’t miss it at all. Haven’t even dreamed about smoking, either. And that has been some 17 or 18 years. I even forget which year I quit.
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That is the key! When I met my wife, she smoked and I didn’t. I knew if I pushed the issue, it would eventually become acrimonious. There were days she would wake up with a terrible hacking cough so I knew it wasn’t good. She quit on her own just before she got pregnant with our daughter. Since then she developed a hyper sense of smell and doesn’t like being around anyone who does.
When I was involved in new construction, I remember the celebration after our first delivery. After the dinner I dropped my wife off at my apartment as all the top company guys wanted to continue partying. It was good times as drinks flowed and celebratory cigars were broken out by my compatriots. The room was a haze of smoke. When I got back to my apartment my wife said STOP, hang your clothes outside and go take a shower.
While my mother didn’t die of lung cancer, she was missing half a lung because of it. It was caught early not long after she quit. My father died of lung cancer even though he had quit some 50 years prior. My older brother couldn’t kick the habit and died of lung cancer a couple of years ago. Needless to say, it is a particularly sensitive subject with me.
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Similar to my wife. I quit when we were still dating (we dated a long time before we got married). It was my decision to quit, and I wasn’t going to put any pressure on her to quit. We weren’t living together at the time, but we would make road trips, so stops were made so she could have a butt. After a couple of years, we were on another road trip and she asked me if I noticed anything. Of course, being a man, I didn’t. . . and then she pointed out that we hadn’t made any stops for her to smoke. She wanted to make sure that she quit before she told me that she was even trying. That was some 11 or 12 years ago, and like me, she doesn’t miss it at all.
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