“This is probably the only time that I’ve really tried quitting, probably a year ago when I hit 40. I tried to make a few lifestyle changes for my kids and stuff, I wasn’t getting any younger you know! My mum’s died of a smoking-related disease which wasn’t pretty to watch her go through and my health started deteriorating a little bit so it was just the right time to give up smoking.

…Know your triggers, and when you’re going to be in a situation where you’re going to want to smoke, and have a plan to get out of it. The urge usually passes pretty quickly so just try and get over that urge and you’ll be ‘right, you’ll get there.”

I started smoking when I was, probably had my first cigarette when I was 14. My folks used to ask me to run cigarettes from one side of the house to the other. We had business running from home and I used to take puffs of them on the way because they used to be lit up and my dad caught me one day, sat me down and made me smoke a whole cigar! I didn’t touch cigarettes for another couple of years after that.

This is probably the only time that I’ve really tried quitting, probably a year ago when I hit 40. I tried to make a few lifestyle changes for my kids and stuff. I wasn’t getting any younger you know! My mum’s died of a smoking-related disease which wasn’t pretty to watch her go through, and my health started deteriorating a little bit so it was just the right time to give up smoking.

I live in a share house with lots of other people smoking. I have asked them to not offer them to me and they’ve turned around and said ‘yeh fine.’

Sort of lasts for a couple of weeks and then, you know, it’ll get forgotten about and they’ll turn around and ask me again so it is tough. There has been times where I’ll just go chill out in my room and separate myself from them. I’ve tried to keep myself busy, I’ve been studying a lot this year and stuff like that, keep myself away from it.

Definitely after food, I definitely want to have a smoke. There’s been times where I’ve been stressed out in my life and I’ve smoked more. Definitely when I used to see other people having smokes. Even still now I still feel like having a smoke, so it’s just those little triggers that, I mean, there’s like a thousand of them I guess, little triggers that could make you want to have a smoke. One of the hardest things to do, you know, go do a Sunday session somewhere  and you know, there’s people around you smoking. I just bite the bullet and say no, I can’t do that, if I have one I’ll have another one.

Know your triggers, and when you’re going to be in a situation where you’re going to want to smoke, and have a plan to get out of it. The urge usually passes pretty quickly so just try and get over that urge and you’ll be ‘right, you’ll get there.

Read the transcript:

I started smoking when I was, probably had my first cigarette when I was 14. My folks used to ask me to run cigarettes from one side of the house to the other. We had business running from home and I used to take puffs of them on the way because they used to be lit up and my dad caught me one day, sat me down and made me smoke a whole cigar! I didn’t touch cigarettes for another couple of years after that.

This is probably the only time that I’ve really tried quitting, probably a year ago when I hit 40. I tried to make a few lifestyle changes for my kids and stuff. I wasn’t getting any younger you know! My mum’s died of a smoking-related disease which wasn’t pretty to watch her go through, and my health started deteriorating a little bit so it was just the right time to give up smoking.

I live in a share house with lots of other people smoking. I have asked them to not offer them to me and they’ve turned around and said ‘yeh fine.’

Sort of lasts for a couple of weeks and then, you know, it’ll get forgotten about and they’ll turn around and ask me again so it is tough. There has been times where I’ll just go chill out in my room and separate myself from them. I’ve tried to keep myself busy, I’ve been studying a lot this year and stuff like that, keep myself away from it.

Definitely after food, I definitely want to have a smoke. There’s been times where I’ve been stressed out in my life and I’ve smoked more. Definitely when I used to see other people having smokes. Even still now I still feel like having a smoke, so it’s just those little triggers that, I mean, there’s like a thousand of them I guess, little triggers that could make you want to have a smoke. One of the hardest things to do, you know, go do a Sunday session somewhere  and you know, there’s people around you smoking. I just bite the bullet and say no, I can’t do that, if I have one I’ll have another one.

Know your triggers, and when you’re going to be in a situation where you’re going to want to smoke, and have a plan to get out of it. The urge usually passes pretty quickly so just try and get over that urge and you’ll be ‘right, you’ll get there.