"24 Hours: Carbon monoxide will be eliminated from the body. Lungs start to clear out mucus and other smoking debris.
48 Hours: There is no nicotine left in the body. Ability to taste and smell is greatly improved."
It's been 17 days since my last cigarette. I haven't missed the actual cigarettes but I do miss the ritual around it; I sometimes pause when I'm at my desk and think:"Something's missing. Something's gone from my day," and it will niggle at me like a paper cut for a while. Sometimes I'll pass my regular newsagents and think "I should pick up some cigarettes before I get on the tube / go to the office / turn the corner to go home," and realise I can't do that anymore. I don't need to. I no longer smoke. I'm a non-smoker.
It was strange at first, I felt like I was a different person because I no longer smoked - for so long now, there's only been one Hypatia and she always had a cigarette hanging out of her mouth and could always be relied upon to be in the darkest corner of the bar, talking the loudest and being the most extravagant with her hand gestures, scattering ash and spreading smoke everywhere. I sit in the cleaner and better lit parts of pubs now, and really dislike having smokers near me when I'm eating. Only 17 days and I'm suddenly precious about my lungs and tastebuds and sense of smell, after 8 years of recklessly abusing them. It's good to know what happens when you quit smoking - I'm amazed at how quick the nicotine leaves the body, and I'm ashamed that it has taken me this long to do it. Incidentally, it's been cold turkey all the way - no gum, no patches, no sugar free mints. I just stopped.
It's a new adventure - and I'm facing it with a window seat in the non-smoking section. Go, Hypatia, go!
Congratulations, exclamations of horror and / or encouragement in the comments below, thankyouverymuch.
5 comments:
Yey, way to go Hyp! I also went cold turkey a few years ago. Heightened taste and smell are one of the greatest things we recover. I loved that. I didn't like the fact that I replaced smoking with snacking, though. Good luck! Planet.
BTW, I became an annoying non-smoker when I first gave up: you know, that person who screws her nose up anytime some one lights up, or urges everyone (smokers and all) go to a pub with a non-smoking section and then insist we all sit in it, or who refuses to join someone on their break because their smoke will foul up the clothes and hair. I'm not like this anymore, thankfully. But I was not a pleasant friend to have around when I first stopped.
yay for sensations. boo for tar. though a catalan designer called Marti Guixe did invent a cigarette for non-smokers. It consisted of a hollow cigarette with an open funnel at the end for effective passive smoking, and it was designed to allow non-smokers to take regular breaks too.
Hi Hypatia,
Well done on keeping to your new years resolutions.
I also made a resolution for this year to make a renewed effort to get back in touch with people who were a part of my yester-life! So if your up for it i would love to catch up on, well everything. My email address is still the same (saheda_79@hotmail.com) and i would love to hear from you either way.
Saheda x (Not Anonymous...i hope)
PS Sorry for contacting you in this way, but did email you a couple of months ago but never did know if you recieved it as i was having technical dificulties.
OOh, very well done on the cold turkey thing!! Are you coughing lots on the detox?
Post a Comment