The quitting math

Some of you have tried to tally the benefits of quitting:

Clothes smell better.

Food tastes better.

Apparently even water goes down smooth and tasty.

Is that it?

Forgive me if I do not run out to buy a six-pack of Evian.

I'll admit, my steady addiction to old white cheddar has only intensified as I am discovering new tinges of sharpness.

But, as the initial angry impetus to quit fades, I am searching for other kinds of motivation.

I found this quit calculator on the Canadian Cancer Society website.

The program allows you to enter how many cigarettes you smoke a day, the cost of each pack of cigarettes, then it calculates how much money you save over a period of time. You can project what you can afford to but after a day, week, month, year and 10 years.

A good idea, but it's doing little for me. Maybe it's a generational thing.

After a day, the calculator says, I can buy a magazine.

I didn't know magazines still existed.

After two days, the calculator says I can buy a CD.

I'd prefer to think I could go on an iTunes shopping spree. Why not get 15 songs, all by different musicians I actually like, instead of a couple songs mixed in with a bunch of crap songs, wrapped in a glossy booklet I'll never read?

Four days without smokes, the calculator says, equals movie tickets.

I went to the movies recently, and after buying a parking spot, two tickets, popcorn and drinks, I think it cost me something like $1,000.

After one week, the calculator says I can buy cologne or perfume.

Cessation. By Philip Morris.

I smell fine, thanks, but $53 could bring me within striking distance of the MP3 player I want.

True, the savings earned after one month would buy me a nice digital camera.

On and on the calculator goes, up to one year, when $2,738 can reportedly buy me a home theatre. That's kind of exciting.

At five years, I am supposed to be able to afford a home renovation.

I just bought a small house. I keep up with news on our housing market. I see how the price of homes is going up and up. It seems the cost of most things home-related is going up.

I predict that by 2013, when the calculator says I will have saved $13,700, I will be able to renovate one, maybe two kitchen cabinets.

After 10 years, with $27,400 saved, at the going rates in 2018, I will probably be able to spring for an eaves trough cleaning.

Comments

[Red]

How about:

- You'll be able to keep it up longer and can delay the Viagra prescription for quite a few years (it's not just the blood vessels to the intestines that shrivel)

- Try putting $5-7 each day into a jar. It gives you a much more immediate indication of how much money you're saving

Hope that helps.

[Martin Mauviel]

David I was in denial too at first but realized that I had been smoking for 18 yrs. I always thought of myself as a light smoker - you know 7-10 smokes a day. I had tried different methods but couldn't quit the nicotine monster. I was introduced to Allen Carr's " Easy way to stop smoking " The book tells you to keep smoking while you read it but to keep an open mind to stopping. I read the book, all 107 pages of it and 4 days later found myself smoking my last cigarette in the back yard. I haven't picked it up since ( 1 year) and will never ever do so again. I am active, full of energy, eat better, still drink my beer. As a matter of fact I haven't changed my lifestyle at all just stopped the god damned cigarettes!!!! You can do it too. Cheers! Martin

[Dee]

theres this program where you can download an ambiance which makes you feel as if you're on drugs. they have extacy, herion and all that crap.. but they also have something equivalent to cigarettes. anyway while you're listening to the ambiance its supposed to make you feel as if you're actually on the drug

[owenmeany1]

Wednesday Feb 27
8:12 am 2 fixes down and 2 cups of coffee, I do know that the 2 are related.
I have been told meditation and visualization is a way to go to quite smoking.
When visualizing my perfect day, that isn’t how it starts.

Your blog on “the quitting math,” measures savings, things to buy, things to get, more stuff.
You like I, am searching, for motivation to not smoke and to for me, start quitting.

I don’t believe for me, focusing on stuff will put me any closer to being free of a nicotine addiction.
In my world I already have too much stuff.

There must be more fulfilling things out there that your “the quitting math” pale in comparison to?
How do we measure the overwhelming improvements in our overall quality of life when you quit smoking? Truly vital important things like accomplishment, self esteem, concentration, enjoyment, or peace of mind.

How do you measure or put a value to?
Having sense of accomplishment back and overcoming a life long goal of overcoming addiction.
Having self-esteem back from years of it being beaten down with false promises to overcoming addiction.
Having free space in your mind and thoughts that are not focused on thinking about your addiction.
Having sense of smell and taste return and begin enjoying food rather the break to smoke between courses.
Having peace of mind that your risk of heart attack drop by 50 per cent and not worrying if each chest pain may be your last.

David, having quit now for what, is it 2 weeks?

[Lisa]

You have done great, congratulate yourself, I will also suggest reading Allen Carrs book, my husband and I have quit with the help of this book.

[KCJ]

First of all let me just say how amusing and insightful your blog is. I applaud you in your efforts. Most people quit because of pressure from all sides(government,workplaces and of course the self-righteous non-smoking advocates). If your reasons for quitting are self-motivated and not society driven then you will be successful. That being said, I would like to inform most of you who seem to mindlessly believe all of this rhetoric put out by all of these groups, that smoking is being used as the scapegoat for everything that they(government)are really killing you with. I have just completed four years of nutritional science and can truthfully tell you that smoking is not even in the top five list of disease-causing illness. The number one cause of disease is STRESS. Number two is OBESITY.Number three is POLLUTION(mostly caused by dioxins in diesel fuel). Number four is INADEQUATE NUTRITION (with lack of sufficient antioxidants) and number five is LACK OF EXERCISE. If you don't believe these truths just look at the Japanese. They smoke more than any other country yet have very little cancer and heart disease. The fact is, is that people have been smoking for thousands of years but only in the last fifty or so have these diseases become rampant. This,at the same time as the number of smokers has steadily declined. Look at the statistics for yourself and you'll see that it makes no sense to try and put all the blame for societys ills on tobacco alone. By the way, I don't advocate smoking , I just would like people to be better informed and make healthier choices in all aspects of their lives.

[Peter]

I was on thestar.com and came across the the online ad and found your column. I found it interesting because I smoked for about 22 years and quit 6 months 21 days ago (August 4th, 2007).

I quit cold turkey at 11:35pm. I like to have a few drinks especially since it was the Monday of a long weekend. My in-laws and brother in-law (who all smoke though my wife doesn't) were over for some longweekend cheer. They left, I continued, to have a drink and clean up since my 2 year old daughter was in bed and my wife was also settling down.

I don't smoke in the house so I was sitting outside, having yet another drink (I really only drink beer and wine) when I realized that I was out of smokes.

I hopped into my SUV and drove up the street to the Esso (about a 1 minute drive), got another pack, got back in and drove back home. Once home, I opened up the pack and proceed to light it. For some unknown reason it finally dawned on me. I risked my health, my fellow Torontonians health, the possibility of going to jail (I was most definitely over the limit), the embassement of my family, the financial consequence of not working (self employed and need my license to drive my clients), and overall dignity.... over a cigarette.

Probably the stupidest thing I ever did. I put that cigarette out. Went inside and put my smokes in the cupboard, and went to bed.

When I woke in the morning, I didn't forget.

Even though it has only been over 6 months, I look at people who smoke and I truly feel sorry for them. It is one of the hardest obstacles to overcome. I find it harder now to see myself as a smoker.

My aids were (as strange as they are):

1) I stopped dinking alcohol for the first week.
2) I drank probably 3-4 grande Cafe Americano's from Starbucks with lots of sugar.
3) I spent a lot of time on www.cancer.org, the site is very useful to explain what your body is going through (the relationship between how nicotine regulates sugar in your body is quite interesting and explains a lot.

I wish you the best and hope you succeed.

As a sidenote, I stopped drinking alcohol on February 13th for no reason. Well maybe since we are expecting our second child on September 27th.