I am a former smoker. I quit smoking maybe 6 months ago. I didn't keep track of the day because I didn't expect it to last. After all, the 20+ other attempts I had made never lasted. So I think it was about six months ago. But maybe only 5. But while I still get the occasional twang, the desire to smoke is gone.
How does this help Dems?
More below...
Now that I've managed to quit, I have extra money. I smoked a pack a day. The average cost of a pack of cigarettes in New York (excluding NYC) is $5.78. Though with promotional deals, etc. I figure I paid an average of about $5 per pack. Multiply that by 365.25 days in a year and you get: $1,826.25.
Let's further assume that I couldn't really afford to keep smoking but couldn't quit until I finally was able to quit. So we'll take $1,000 off that total that I really need to use to pay other bills and do other things I enjoy to help make sure I don't go back to smoking. That leaves $826.25.
My goal is to take that $826.25 leftover and to do my best to donate at least that much every year to the Dems (various candidates, the local/state/national committee, fellow-traveller 527s, etc.). It's my New Year's Resolution to myself. And yes, I know it's a bit early for those, but I'm terrible about thinking up good New Year's Resolutions so I try to start early and not get caught by surprise.
I'm inviting other Dems out there to join me. Current smokers whenever you are finally able to quit (trust me, I understand). Recently quit smokers whenever you are sure you really have succeeded. And even former smokers who managed to quit however long ago you did. Set aside the money you need from the total you spent on smoking first. Then take whatever leftover there is, and commit to giving it to the Dems. Try to do it on a monthly basis. I find that when it comes to financial things, it's a lot easier for me to do it that way so maybe it'd be easier for you as well.
For those of you looking for the average cost of a pack of smokes in your state, check out: this PDF from the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. I find that their prices are a bit higher than what I was actually paying here in NY or when I was living in NH, but that's due mostly to savings from either promotional deals (i.e. buy one get ones, buy two get ones, or just straight out discounts) or from when I actually bought cartons as opposed to just individual packs. I think the price data is actually spot on for what you'd pay for a premium brand pack of cigarette with no discounts.
I'm not expecting this to turn into a "I'm going to quit smoking today and start doing this!" type thing. I admire any of you who are inspired to try. But understand that there's a good chance that you'll fail. Many times. Until one time, when you wake up coughing like hell, realizing you smoked way too much the night before and feel like shit, you decide to try quitting again. Maybe just for a day. Or two days. Then after that you decide to see if you can go a whole week. Then two weeks. Then you just kinda stop setting deadlines and just commit to not smoking. That's how it happened for me.
Maybe at some point the cravings get really bad. Go out and buy some nicotine gum. Or some dip or chaw. Anything that'll give you nicotine without it involving you smoking it. You're addicted to smoking, after all, not merely to tobacco. And given how disgusting most people think dipping or chewing is in most parts of the country, it should prove a lot easier to quit those. And while I'm not advocating it, even being addicted to nicotine gum for the rest of your life is probably better than being addicted to smoking. It'll be especially hard as your lungs get past those initial 3-7 days where they wake back up (the cilia in particular) and you are coughing like hell and feel like shit. After that you actually start to feel a lot better. Like there's more air in the world than there used to be. Then somewhere around two weeks free you'll probably get a sudden attack. A sudden big hit craving. You feel so much better and you miss smoking. Push through it. After that you might get another one around two months. Then again maybe around four months.
I'm not sure after that as I've never made it longer than I have now. But I don't expect to ever go back. I don't want to ever go back. I wish some mad scientist would invent a plant disease that would destroy all the tobacco plants in the world so I'd never have to fear going back ever again. But I am committed to not smoking and I've been able to change my routines enough to avoid old situations where I used to smoke. Smoking and drinking go hand in hand so you might try quitting drinking too, at least for a while. It'll help with quitting smoking. It did for me (I quit drinking permanently at the same time I gave up smoking; it was after a hard night of drinking and smoking that I woke up feeling so utterly horrible that I just had enough of both of them).
Well, the point of this diary was to make any smokers or ex-smokers out there think of ways to help motivate them to quit. You'll only be able to quit smoking if you want to, I know. I don't expect this to be anyone's reason to quit, but if it is, I wish you the best of luck. And please do not get discouraged if you fail. Like I said, I tried quitting smoking well over 20 times before I finally succeeded. I once made it four month before starting again. And yes, whenever you finally commit to quitting smoking and start doing it, lots of stressful events will happen all of the sudden in your life. I guarantee you that will happen. Just try closing your eyes, clearing your mind, and focusing on something peaceful for 5 minutes (like a frozen waterfall melting slowly in the spring, the ice glistening, the little droplets of water forming and slowly finding their path down until they finally release and fall onto the still frozen stream below) instead of smoking. It's a real simple form of meditation and maybe it'll help.
And for anybody looking for further motivation to quit smoking, figure out your own cost per year (just in cigarettes alone) for smoking (like I said, mine was about $1,826.25) and then also think about how many cigarettes that is that you smoked over the year. A pack a day smoker smokes 7,305 cigarettes every year. That number was part of what frightened me into starting to seriously try to quit smoking again. Maybe it'll help you too. (20 cigs per pack * 365.25 days in a year). Good luck to all of you. And to those of you who just don't want to quit, well, maybe someday. Keep this in mind if you ever do.