Wednesday 8 March 2017

National No Smoking Day and my Story.

Today is National No Smoking day.....It is a great opportunity to stop smoking if you want to....I'm not going to tell you to stop smoking....People who preach and say quit used to annoy me so much....I thought I would share my story about smoking....


When I was in year 8 at school so that would make me about 12 or 13 years old. I used to get a taxi to school as I lived out in a rural area with an older girl. She was the year above me in school and smoked. She offered me a cigarette one day and I took it just to look cool and "be in" with the older kids.....Yes I started smoking due to peer pressure! Such a cliche!

Both my parents smoked which meant it was easier to get away with smoking....They couldn't smell it as much on me and I used to pinch cigarettes out of their packets. Sometimes I would take whole boxes and they wouldn't notice. They were big smokers.

When I was at school the local shop would sell cigarettes to school kids if they had their National Insurance Card which you got just before your 16th birthday....Being born in November I got mine early in the last year of school and would happily go to the shop for people with the fee of 2 or 3 cigarettes.....

When I got to 15/16 both my parents knew I smoked but they didn't approve. I wasn't allowed to smoke in front of them until one day just before my 16th birthday I was out somewhere with my dad and he lit a cigarette and said you can smoke if you have your own but don't expect any from me....In my whole life I don't think he ever gave me a cigarette and I never asked for one from him. He actually quit smoking a few years ago.....

I am ashamed to admit I didn't completely stop smoking when I was pregnant with Becky my teenager (I did cut down)....With Ellie I would smoke about one or two a day if that....You can judge and hate me as much as you want but looking back now I hate myself for it more than you ever can....If I had my time over again I would quit....I think 14 and 10 years ago the support wasn't there to quit smoking when pregnant as much as it is today....

Oh and before you think my girls heart problems were caused by me smoking they weren't....Their condition is hereditary! Passed down from me....I have the same heart condition which is not caused by smoking....It's just bad luck/genes we have spoken to Genealogists about it...

Way back in 2013 I was sent an e-cigarette to review and it changed my life.....I was a vaper not a smoker. For a good few years I used the kit I was sent to review with the e-cigs which looked like cigarettes....They were better for me than real cigarettes. I was fine with them until I won a kit from another site where you put the liquid in yourself....It worked out cheaper and over the last few years I have weaned myself down to zero nicotine. I know....What is the point of vaping when you are just puffing away on flavoured vapor but I am addicted to it....The feeling off puffing away on something and having something in my hands.....

I still smoke cigarettes now and again.....Usually in social situations. I can buy a pack of 20 and they can easily last me months....Way better than the 20 per day habit I used to be on.

Since I have been vaping my health is better. I don't get bad coughs and colds like I used to....I can smell more and taste things better.....

Starting smoking is one of the worst things I have ever done with my life....I don't want to think about the money I have just burnt away....

I think the first thing you have to think about when you want to quit smoking is do you? You need a powerful, personal reason to quit. I never had that reason and that was the biggest problem I had.....

4 comments :

  1. Well done. I know how hard it is and I would never judge you. I only managed to stop completely through one of my three pregnancies and I spent the whole time feeling guilty with the other two but also feeling powerless to stop.
    I did find myself with a powerful reason to stop about 5 years ago I think it was. I was rushed to hospital because I couldn't breathe. Turns out a blood clot in my leg (deep vein thrombosis) broke up and went to my lungs causing a pulmonary embolism. I nearly died and while I was on the critical care ward I decided I'd never have another fag in my life. I couldn't imagine putting my lungs through anymore stress after they were struggling to keep me alive.
    I spent 10 days in hospital and I've been true to my word. I haven't had a cigarette since :)

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    1. Ahh! Thank you. I was so worried about posting this. I thought I would get hate. Phew.
      Wow! That is one great reason to quit. That is so scary...I'm so glad you were OK x

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  2. I didn't start smoking until I was 18 and then it was only social. I didn't smoke through my pregnancies because even the smell of a cigarette would make me puke! handy! I did start again afterwards though but gave up when my eldest started having asthma attacks when he was five. I felt so guilty that I'd smoked around him but things have really changed now and we thought nothing of it back then. My parents had always smoked around me. I did start smoking again a few years later...why? it's crazy. But I didn't smoke in front of my kids who were young teens by then. Then I met Graham and we wanted to have kids and I was told that my fertility would increase by 50% if I gave up smoking. So I did, I wanted a baby so bad I just quit the fags for good and that was 12 years ago. I've never gone back and wouldn't even consider it now. I'm not sure how I feel about vaping, had it been around then I probably would have tried it. I don't think it was so much the nicotine that I was hooked as the habit. When I gave up I would find myself sucking on pens, (or even my fingers when really desperate.) I don't preach at others to give up, I don't think I have the right. But I've been free so long now that I know I'll never smoke again. xx

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    1. Ahh! That is handy the smell putting you off when you were pregnant.
      Your right. 20 years ago things were different and people thought nothing about smoking.
      Well done for quitting. Fertility increasing by 50% is pretty amazing.
      Thank you x

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