What Bad Habits or Addictions Have You Overcome in Your Lifetime?

SeaBreeze

SeaBreeze

Endlessly Groovin'
Location
USA
The main bad habit or addiction that I had in my life was smoking. I usually just smoked a pack a day of Marlboros, but sometimes if working odd shifts I'd find myself smoking more.

Over thirty years ago, after smoking for around fifteen years, I quit cold turkey...but not without many tries before the final one that stuck. I always liked smoking, but was starting to feel the effects of labored breathing, lung congestion, etc. I was too young for all that, got smart and made the change.

It added around ten pounds to my weight, but well worth it in the long run.

Have you ever had a bad habit or addiction that you were able to overcome? Are you working to overcome any now?
 

I'm trying to overcome the habit of checking the door locks before retiring for the night.

Was that the front door or the patio door I just locked? Better check it again................................and again............and ???
 
Falcon, there's some good meds for that;)

A pack of Newports a day for more than twenty years. Now I'm hooked on lozenges. They smell a lot better and way less expensive than smoking. There are many people I've met that do the same thing...lozenges instead, like Methadone for cigarettes. You're still hooked but it's less harmful.

:love_heart:Good for you Rose:love_heart:!!!!!!!!!
 
Pappy, at first I read that as you saying you stopped smoking when you were 99 years old. I thought WOW, I didn't know he was that old. :)

When I was little and maybe up through the 2nd grade I chewed pencils till you couldn't even tell what they were anymore. I started in at the sides and away I went. I can still remember the wonderful satisfaction of those first few chomps on a new pencil! I also got great satisfaction out of biting my nails and bit them clear down to the quick. That hurt really bad and they'd bleed but I just couldn't stop. I can't recall why or when I stopped those two things but probably around the 3rd grade.
 
After smoking for many years, I quit cold turkey. It will be six years the first of July. I feel great, so far no smoking related problems have turned up. It took four years until I ceased to crave the occasional cigarette. Now, even the smell makes my sinuses react, as they do to many chemicals. Sometimes Complex Chemical Sensitivity is a good thing!
 
Shalimar said:
After smoking for many years, I quit cold turkey. It will be six years the first of July. I feel great, so far no smoking related problems have turned up. It took four years until I ceased to crave the occasional cigarette. Now, even the smell makes my sinuses react, as they do to many chemicals. Sometimes Complex Chemical Sensitivity is a good thing!
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Big Win! To all you former smokers, Congratulations. I'm still working on it.
 
Falcon said:
I'm trying to overcome the habit of checking the door locks before retiring for the night.

Was that the front door or the patio door I just locked? Better check it again................................and again............and ???
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That's okay Falcon, that's a good habit really. It gives you peace of mind so you can sleep soundly and it keeps you safe.
 
Pappy said:
Smoking, and more smoking. Finally quite in 99, cold turkey. 40 plus years, and now I'm starting to pay for it.
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Glad to know you quit when you did Pappy, but sorry you're starting to pay for it. Things would be worse though if you didn't kick the habit when you did.
 
Something else, until high school I chewed my nails. Then I went opposite extreme and had natural claws. Always Crazy Glue in my bag to fix breaks. Raising kids and nails were last thing to worry about. Then in my late forties I discovered acrylic nails. A touch up once a month and perfect paws every day. Don't know HOW she did it but my middle girl used to bite her acrylics...hurts me to think about.
 
Fur and Shalimar, congrats on quitting the smokes! FazeFour, glad you're still working on it, don't give up! :love_heart:
 
Like lots here, smoking was the thing that I gave up and like Seabreeze said, I gave it up many times. It's a hard thing to do and that's true even when it makes you feel lousy. For the last couple years, I used to have to suck on one of those strong Halls cough drops just so that my throat could tolerate it! Hated it but couldn't give them up for ages.

So congrats to all who did kick the habit and Fazefour, just keep trying. One of these days it'll take.
 
I smoked 1 - 1 1/2 packs a day from age 15 to 40. I had to quit - it's was far too much work to breath and I wanted to continue doing so. I quit Feb 1, 1993.
 
I have a very bad habit of cutting people off in mid sentence and then, finishing for them, what I think they are saying. Sometimes I even get it wrong! I don't know what makes me do that. I know it is rude and must be annoying. Most people are gracious enough to let it go. My son will say, will you just let me finish? I wish I would remember to shut my mouth until folks are done speaking. I'm trying, I really am.
 
I quit smoking in 1961 after I woke up one morning with a collapsed lung. That was extreme pain, a 75 on a scale of 1 to 10. I decided to never again do anything that could threaten my lungs. My lungs recovered and no problems since.
 
Way to go Ameriscot! You're so fit and healthy now, that's great that smoking didn't have any effects too damaging. You did ten more years than I did, but I had a non-smoking hubby always prodding me to quit, or I might have put it off longer too.

Ruth, it sounds like you're impatient waiting for them to finish their sentence. But the good thing is you're aware of it and trying to correct the habit. Maybe you can train yourself that when you're about to cut them off, to nip it in the bud before a word comes out. Maybe a deep breath, look them in the eyes and let them finish. Good luck, it helps that your son is honest with you about it, that's gotta help.
 
SeaBreeze said:
Way to go Ameriscot! You're so fit and healthy now, that's great that smoking didn't have any effects too damaging. You did ten more years than I did, but I had a non-smoking hubby always prodding me to quit, or I might have put it off longer too.

Ruth, it sounds like you're impatient waiting for them to finish their sentence. But the good thing is you're aware of it and trying to correct the habit. Maybe you can train yourself that when you're about to cut them off, to nip it in the bud before a word comes out. Maybe a deep breath, look them in the eyes and let them finish. Good luck, it helps that your son is honest with you about it, that's gotta help.
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I found that having someone nag me to quit would turn me the other way. I did it for someone else once - it barely lasted 6 months. When I finally quit nobody was bugging me to. It was all up to me and I had lots of support. I guarantee if I hadn't quit when I did I wouldn't have made it to 45.

I actually started jogging about 6 months after I quit.
 
He didn't really nag, that would have made me go the other way too. I just knew I was getting out of breath going up a flight of stairs, and that wasn't normal. I started Jazzercising and jogging right after I quit. It helped my lungs to clear out and although it was tough at first, I felt great after a week or two.
 
I am another former smoker..quit 15 years ago. I woke up one day and said that's it and it was. It felt WONDERfUL not to smoke. My husband quit a few years before I did. I started smoking in college where they handed out free "sample" packs of cigs. My gf got paid for passing them out. Hard to believe now..oh how times change.
 
SeaBreeze said:
He didn't really nag, that would have made me go the other way too. I just knew I was getting out of breath going up a flight of stairs, and that wasn't normal. I started Jazzercising and jogging right after I quit. It helped my lungs to clear out and although it was tough at first, I felt great after a week or two.
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I was the same - out of breath after one flight of stairs. I started to feel I was sometimes suffocating. I had lost a ton of weight the year before and had already started exercising but nothing too strenuous until I quit. It didn't seem to take me too long to start breathing easier, even after 25 years.
 
Karen99 said:
I am another former smoker..quit 15 years ago. I woke up one day and said that's it and it was. It felt WONDERfUL not to smoke. My husband quit a few years before I did. I started smoking in college where they handed out free "sample" packs of cigs. My gf got paid for passing them out. Hard to believe now..oh how times change.
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I remember them giving out half packs for free at a festival in downtown Detroit every year. I always came away with tons of free ones as I went to every volunteer more than once.
 

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