{"id":41080,"date":"2020-02-05T01:34:06","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T01:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=41080"},"modified":"2020-02-05T01:34:06","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T01:34:06","slug":"cold-turkey-its-the-way-to-quit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=41080","title":{"rendered":"Cold turkey: It’s the way to quit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I can’t believe I almost forgot about this landmark anniversary.<\/p>\n

It was 40 years ago this past Sunday that I changed my life for the better and perhaps even lengthened it.<\/p>\n

I quit smoking. Cold turkey, man! I didn’t need no prescription drug to wean me of the weeds. I didn’t need any counseling sessions, other than with my wife.<\/em><\/p>\n

I started smoking at about the age of 15. By the time I reached age 30, I had become a two-pack-a-day man. The cigarettes have taken a toll on my health. I developed a nagging “smoker’s cough.” But, what the heck, a cigarette would make it go away \u2026 or so I deluded myself.<\/p>\n

Then on the Second of February, 1980 I lit up a smoke. I took a drag. I choked on it.<\/p>\n

My next thought at that moment was this, and I kid you not: What the hell am I doing here?<\/em><\/p>\n

I snuffed that cigarette out. I tossed it into the garbage. Then I reached into my pocket for the pack of cigarettes waiting to be lit, crumpled it up and threw it, too, into the trash.<\/p>\n

I was done. Finished. I haven’t put a lit cig to my mouth since. I have become somewhat militant about smoking as I have aged over the years. So has my wife. My total aversion to smoking has caused some tension, truth be told, among those with whom I have socialized. Here’s my favorite example of what happened.<\/p>\n

More than 10 years ago, I was touring Israel with four of my best friends. We attended a party in the southern part of the country. There was plenty of food and beverage. At the end of the meal, our hosts lit up a hookah, which we used to refer to in the old days as a “water pipe”<\/em> or “bong.”<\/em> I was asked if I wanted to partake. I said “no.” They kept insisting. I kept saying “no” with even more vigor than the previous time. This back\/forth went on far longer than I wished.<\/p>\n

At the end of it, I am certain I offended my hosts by not enjoying the hookah vapors. What I could not explain to them was that smoking from that device terrified me. I never was a casual or “social” smoker. I was addicted to nicotine. The addiction frightened me to never wanting to be tempted again beyond my strength.<\/p>\n

And so it has gone. I read not long after I quit smoking that one’s lungs can restore themselves over time. I surely trust that has happened to me.<\/p>\n

What’s more, I long ago quit calling myself a “former smoker.” I am a non-smoker<\/em> … and proud of how I became one.<\/p>\n\n

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I can’t believe I almost forgot about this landmark anniversary. It was 40 years ago this past Sunday that I changed my life for the better and perhaps even lengthened it. I quit smoking. Cold turkey, man! I didn’t need no prescription drug to wean me of the weeds. I didn’t need any counseling sessions, … Continue reading Cold turkey: It’s the way to quit<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[833,9202,4291],"class_list":["post-41080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-medical-news","tag-cancer","tag-non-smoker","tag-smoking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41080"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41082,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41080\/revisions\/41082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}