Lost Track!

I’ve now lost track of my quit smoking blog/ how long it is since I quit smoking. I logged into WordPress to see if I had mentioned what a nightmare the mobile phone company Three is (which I haven’t but it’s late at night so I’ll post it in the next couple of days, along with the reasons not to have an account with XLN Telecom).

Anyway, back on topic……… It’s been a couple of months or so now, I’m not even sure without checking my quit smoking blog dates and as far as I’m concerned, I really am a non-smoker now. No cravings, no desire whatsoever to smoke cigarettes (or any other tobacco product), regardless of whether I am stressed, around other smokers, bored, driving a long distance, or any of the other things that used to trigger the smoker response in me.

I’ve quit, full stop.

Many thanks to my friend who recommended using hypnotherapy to quit smoking, and of course many thanks to Gary Oke of Oke Hypnotherapy in Manchester for helping/making me quit smoking.

24 days but not actually counting!

I actually have to check this blog to see how long it is since I quit smoking!

Probably the two hardest times when you give up smoking are Christmas and New Year. Christmas came and went, no problem at all, not even the traditional cigar and brandy (though I admit to the Brandy!).

It’s New Year’s Eve tonight and, despite spending the evening at a party where approx a third of the people there smoke and one of them has recently come back from abroad with duty free cigarettes, I’m quietly confident. Maybe I should have asked the hypnotherapist who helped me quit smoking for some business cards to take to the party!

Menkind

The name sounds like something dodgy but in fact, it’s a gadget type retailer.

My wife placed an order online for a handful of gift solutions for those we hadn’t got to as we weren’t due to see the people until New Year. Their website happily took the card payment and claimed the goods would arrive last Tuesday. Obviously from the wording so far, they didn’t turn up on Tuesday or Wednesday, I have a day off today (Thursday) and tomorrow is New Year’s day. I have too much to do to wait in so my wife called Menkind to ask where the order was and if it was likely to be delivered today.

What a great service (sarcasm!), their website didn’t mention that half the items are out of stock, they decided to save money on delivery by holding the rest of the items until the new stock arrives. When asked how much longer it would be, the reply was “hard to say, it could be weeks”. Needless to say, she cancelled the order, the refund had better turn up within one working day too or there will be hell to pay. My wife then left work in a shopping panic and went to the Arndale Centre in Manchester where, to add insult to injury, it turns out that Menkind now have a shop! Why the hell didn’t the muppet on the phone mention this????

Guess where I won’t be shopping for gadgets and silly gifts next Christmas?

Quit Smoking Blog Day 1

Today (well yesterday I suppose as it’s after midnight), I went to this hypnotherapist in Manchester as a friend had recommended him (the same friend I laughed at when he quit with hypnotherapy two years ago).

I was a bit surprised when I saw the address and noticed the hypnotherapist was in a business centre at The Triangle, a bit more upmarket than I was expecting. Well, expecting is a bit of a strong way of putting it but I had this image in my mind of some new-agey type in some kind of wizard’s den out the back of a new age shop or something. Anyway, I walked into a professional business centre, was welcomed by a receptionist and within a few minutes, my hypnotherapist appeared. Nothing like the image in my mind – well spoken, dressed smart-casual and my initial estimate was about 32-35, although from bits of conversation I’d now guess at closer to 40.

In total, I was there for 2 hours but it didn’t seem like it. I don’t know how long we talked before the hypnosis but either this guy is a mind reader or he knows the smoking habit inside-out (he knew how I think, when I smoke etc). The conversation about smoking was non patronising, looking back I think he was already doing a Derren Brown on me or something as I remember thinking “I don’t need to be here, I can quit now”. He explained what hypnosis feels like, what to expect and so on and then we started a relaxation exercise.

I think I remember everything that was said, he recorded it to CD for me so I’ll check, but it was kind of surreal. This is really hard to explain but it was like I knew that I was sat in an office that seats about 6 people and that this guy was talking to me but it was like I wasn’t there at the same time, kind of like a daydream.

I walked out afterwards, wondering where 2 hours went, and just felt totally chilled out for the rest of the day. It only dawned on me a few hours later when I was going for the train home that I hadn’t smoked. So far, so good, no cravings, no bad moods, no cigarettes. In fact the only thought about smoking has been “I would normally be smoking now but I don’t want/need one”.

I can’t say I’m convinced yet, after all we’ve all done at least a few days quitting haven’t we? It does seem much easier though. I’m slightly stunned actually but watch this space and we’ll see if it lasts!

Have to get a positive one in! Clas Ohlson

OK, so the category “positive” wasn’t showing as it didn’t contain any posts, so here’s a quick one!

Clas Ohlson only have a handful of shops in the UK so far but also sell from their website. Luckily, there is one in Manchester. I love this shop! It’s so handy, it’s like all the useful stuff in Ikea Marketplace, combined with hardware and other things that are a pain in the backside to buy in the city centre.

Clas Ohlson also have a quality that in recent years has been disappearing from retail in general…… yes, they have polite, friendly, helpful staff! AND you can actually find one when you need one!

10/10 for these guys, a breath of fresh air!

Quit Smoking

I haven’t put this in positive or negative as it hasn’t happened yet. Basically, I have tried every method known to man when it comes to quitting smoking and have had a few reasonable attempts but have failed in each.

A friend/colleague of mine quit smoking with hypnotherapy. I laughed at the time but he’s been quit for nearly two years now so I decided to bite the bullet and give it a go despite the cost (although as my friend pointed out, it’s the equivalent of a months supply of cigarettes). So, I have an appointment booked with a hypnotherapist in Manchester (the same one he quit with) tomorrow and rather than wait and stick this in positive or negative, I decided to make a quit smoking category and post as often as possible about how it’s going.

I haven’t decided whether to name the hypnotherapist now or after I’ve seen the results, or lack of.  Then again this is supposed to be a frank blog so maybe I’ll post it before the appointment? What do you guys think? (if anyone actually reads this). Edit: Linked his details above after all, it fits with the idea of this blog.

Anyway, here goes a large wedge of cash on something I didn’t believe in and am still not sure I do! Hopefully I’ll have time to post again tomorrow (today now)!

Edit: Here’s the previous league table on my unimpressive record of attempts to give up smoking:

Willpower – 3 weeks

Zyban – 6 days

Inhilator – 4 days

Patches – 3 days

Nicotene Gum – 3 hours

Admittedly, I tried a few times with willpower alone and although 3 weeks is the record, I have failed in just a number of hours on later attempts. I’ve never tried Champix due to the horror stories of side effects from friends who have tried it (although, some of the side effects sound a bit like a legal high!).