Incredible, but true: I’m holding on. At the same time, it would be difficult for me to crack in public, especially at work. The walls of the open-space display large posters “Me(s) Sans Tabac” and my colleagues had the hashtag #marionstop printed on mugs, dedicated to my detoxification. My best friend, herself weaned 263 days ago, calls herself a “weaning godmother” and my whole family is “so proud”. Talk about pressure.
#Moistanstobacco At the house of @WhyDoctor when we say we support, WE SUPPORT! ???? Team #marionarrete D+8 Congratulations to the colleagues who are holding on! pic.twitter.com/aVEfr41NPW
— Stef (@S_Gardier) November 8, 2016
So my withdrawal continues, with a frequent feeling of satisfaction and self-transcendence, and, sometimes, a little despondency and frustration – but it’s fleeting. I repeat to myself over and over that the smoker does not relieve a need or a desire, just a suffering that he himself has caused and that he continues to feed, so you might as well break the chain. When the rational argument no longer works, I try to entertain my tobacco-crazed mind. So, I navigate through the weaning apps on my Smartphone.
Community of future-ex-tox
I downloaded four of them and in my humble opinion, the top of the anti-tobacco app comes to us from our Swiss neighbors: stop-tabac.ch. Green-optimism interface, countdown of days without fapping and hours of life gained – 24, as far as I’m concerned, defined according to a calculation whose scientific rigor leaves me skeptical, but still, it feels good.
Calculation, also, of the number of unsmoked cigarettes: 170, for a saving of 51 €. When I configured the application, true to my bad faith as a smoker, I of course underestimated my consumption, which is a bit silly because if I had been honest, the result displayed would only be more impressive. But the smoker rarely realizes he’s shooting himself in the foot when he’s lying to himself – and it often does.
In addition to the counts, the app offers a forum that brings together the community of future ex-addicts and other smokers in repentance. This is the real advantage of this app. We can look for support there: when I expressed my desire to smoke everything that was in front of my eyes (pen, paper, plant…), I was treated to a shower of messages of benevolence, compassion and altruism. You can also read about the suffering of other tortured smokers: it keeps you busy.
Sometimes the urge stagnates. I then go to the second application in my ranking: Kwit. The designers have understood that any addiction is a disease of reward. They offer to pass levels and win trophies according to its weaning. Replacing a cigarette with a “well-being” trophy: the string is a little big, but with the will, you end up believing it.
To harass a tobacco specialist?
Tabac Info Service is the app for the “Moi(s) Sans Tabac” campaign; it has had a makeover for the occasion. If there is a risk of an imminent relapse, you have to go to the “I’m going to crack” tab and test the “tips of the day”. Example: mentally revisiting a place, doing push-ups, playing with a dog or listing gifts. These are perfectly normal activities for a day’s work.
Otherwise, you can call a tobacco specialist, directly from the application. At the beginning, I had the project to harass them since they are there for that. In the end, I never contacted them but I often think of them. It must not be easy every day to serve as an outlet for 175,546 edgy ex-smokers, according to the latest official data from Me(s) Sans Tabac.
Finally, if the urge really resists, it is necessary to go as a last resort on MLC (my last cigaret), in order to practice the art of autosuggestion with bogus figures and a transfer of emotions, sometimes appeased, sometimes horrified . The application calculates the relative risk of lung cancer and heart attack, evaluates the number of people who have died from smoking since we ourselves stopped (not creepy at all…). The doctor in the app, represented by a pictogram, has a happy and friendly word every day. Today it’s: “smokers = species in extinction”!
Well, this is all a bit time-consuming, but I’ve often heard that smokers save time when they quit. And I have to admit it’s true. I don’t know where I managed to capture extra minutes during the day, but it’s a fact: since I quit smoking, I’m less late, more punctual. I have no explanation. Maybe I’ll ask a tobacco specialist…
