I'm now eight weeks into quitting smoking. It may be eight weeks and two days, but I've forgotten the exact day.
After Christmas our household came down with some nasty respiratory virus that's going around our town, so I didn't feel the effects immediately. Over this past two weeks I've definitely felt my lungs begin to open up. I feel like I can inhale deeper. We'll see how that translates when the weather is nice enough to work in the yard again.
Stopping smoking obviously has some economic benefits, I've gone from spending about $60 a week on cigarettes to about $15 on nicotine pouches, which function similar to nicotine gum. Surprisingly a large benefit seems to be in time I've gained. I'm not getting up to smoke and having to reset on tasks. This alone has allowed me to be increase my writing volume.
I picked up smoking when I was approximately 16 back in 1989. Tobacco was a significant crop where I grew up - just a quarter mile from me down a country road there is still about 50 acres of tobacco in cultivation during the spring and summer. I've only had a few brief periods where I quit smoking as an adult, eight weeks of basic training when I was in the Army. For about six months around 2012 I "quit" but was vaping. Vaping may be better than smoking, but I'm not persuaded it's great for the lungs.
Despite the smoking I've always been physically active and somewhat health conscious, over the past year I noticed the smoking had begun to take a noticeable toll on my wind and endurance and resolved to do something about it. I have to say the nicotine poches have been almost magic, as I can't recall the last time I wanted to smoke. If someone is smoking around me I don't feel tempted either.
My goal is to end 2025 still a nonsmoker and substantially healthier than 2024!
