Home > Make a List > Devil Weed

Make a List: Devil Weed

by Guiomar Goransson

Toledo, Ohio
United States

First, I would like to thank this terrific web site for being a part of my method of having quit (6 weeks now!). I was a smoker since I was 15 and I am now 43. I've been able quit a few times before, but never long term. My son had been bugging me for the longest time to quit, although I never smoked in the house (I banished myself to the garage as even I didn't want my house to stink). So I got a prescription from my dr. for Wellbutrin and began taking it. While I was in the "week before" period where I was allowing the Wellbutrin to build up in my system, I started making a list of my ten top reasons (like on David Letterman...) starting with the least important all the way down to my #1 reason for quitting. Here was my list... GUIOMARÆS TOP TEN REASONS TO QUIT SMOKING 10. All intelligent religions forbid it. 09. 80% of all lung cancer is caused by smoking. 08. It causes lung and heart problems, may be linked to cervical cancer and sometimes causes throat and oral cancer. 07. It stinks and kills my sense of smell and taste. 06. It wastes my money and enriches the cigarette company who knows theyÆre killing me but doesnÆt care. 05. It causes premature wrinkling. 04. It no longer looks cool but stupid and is socially unacceptable. 03. Nicotine is like being addicted to heroin! 02. It is setting a bad example for my son to see his mother committing suicide. 01. If I continue with just one more cigarette, I may not live to be with or help my son in the future!!! I will probably die from a heart attack or lung cancer! I made multiple copies, hung one over my desk, in my smoking parlor (the garage) and carried one in my purse and read it over and over every time I smoked. I also printed out some anti-smoking ads and pictures (esp. the one of the diseased lungs) that I found on sites linked to this web site. The whole week before the Big Day, I cruised the web and looked at anti-smoking sites. The grosser the better. I found this one and I ferreted thru it carefully. It wasn't gross but it was extremely supportive. Such a help! I guess I needed to be grossed out AND supported! Although it's been 6 weeks since I touched the "devil weed" :-) I still visit this site frequently to make sure I don't have a relapse! On the Big Day, when I felt weak, I'd read over my list, immersed myself in quitsmoking.com and especially read over the stories from children and their feelings about parents becoming ill or dying from smoking and that helped to strengthen my will. The Wellbutrin was no doubt a big help ~ the difference between me "making it" or not. But I think this site was as well because *some* willpower is required even with Wellbutrin. My husband smokes also and continued to smoke in my presense when I was going thru my first day (and continues to smoke now). I ran to my Macintosh and just read thru quitsmoking.com over and over, absorbing every word. It was like having a friend sitting in the same room telling me I could hold out! I also have a friend who keeps in touch by e-mail (although we live a few blocks apart!). We have known each other for 20 years but he didn't know I had started smoking again since the birth of my son 13 years ago (I didn't usually smoke outside the garage or my car). But he happened upon me in my driveway with a cigarette hanging out of my mouth and expressed such surprise and disappointment in me ~ and encouraged me to quit with Wellbutrin as he saw the effects it had on friends of his he saw quit. My friend, John, kept in touch with me on a daily basis and was a great supporter and cheerleader. I also received encouragement from my son who was happy (but a little hesitent to believe at first ~ as I'd let him down before) and now that it's been 6 weeks, he's proud as hell that I've been able to beat it. I'm going to continue on the Wellbutrin for another 6 weeks to make sure I've got the "jones" out of my system. I never want to be enslaved by that disgusting habit again! I thank my lucky stars I was able to quit before I found myself coughing up a lung. So that's my method! Thank you for creating this web site. I just know you've been a godsend to many people who need some extra support like myself! Kindest regards, Guiomar Goransson