I occasionally smoked in my younger years, somewhat regularly ages 21-23 but quit cold-turkey after leaving my bar job.
That was well over a decade ago.
These days I don't take more than a few cigars a year.
Ever so rarely I'll bum a cig when drinking and smoke like half.
So I consider myself a non-smoker, but with the experience of having quit.
This long-term close friend of mine is also a long-term decades-long smoker.
They know they need to quit, but have said how hard it is and worry they won't have the fortitude to stick it out.
So back in November, I offered to be their New Year's Resolution quitting buddy.
Of course, to quit, you have to be a smoker.
So I bought an induction-style tobacco aerolizer and started using it.
First one in the morning, one at lunch, one at night, then tapering up.
By the end of the year I was at about half a pack per day, and had been smoking every day for close to two months when quitting day came..
January 10, the last day of our year-end vacation, was the date we set to quit.
We both semi-ceremoniously threw away our last packs and the vapes.
For the past four days now I've felt light-headed, restless, a sort of strange sensation in my breathing and occasionally runaway heart rate, have been listless and sleepy during the day, unable to wake up even after a strong tea or coffee, and worst: I cannot stop thinking about tobacco. I find myself wondering if I forgot another pack somewhere, woke up one day and unthinkingly went to open my desk drawer where I had kept it, and am emotionally "uneven" in a way I never am.
We have been checking in with each other a few times per day, sending thumbs ups and "hang in there" encouragement.
But OH MY FUCK this is hard.
My friend must be having even stronger withdrawal symptoms considering they were smoking one or two packs a day for over a decade.
I'm realllllly feeling for what they must be going through.
Good thing is, its giving me extra incentive to keep them on track.
And hopefully, their knowing I'm going through the same with them, gives them the incentive they need.
I'm 100% not going to give in, but I have a LOT more sympathy now for why long-term smokers have such a hard time of it.
How long is this going to last!?
TL;DR: To help a friend quit smoking, I took up smoking; now I'm also having a hard time quitting smoking.