Giving Up, Giving In

Yesterday was the first meeting of the Quit Smoking group I’m attending. This is my third attempt at quitting with group support. Since 2005 I’ve also tried one-to-one counselling (twice), the Pharmacy Cessation Service, and made two attempts at quitting by myself.

The counsellors told us the one-year-on success rate for those who stopped on their quit date. It’s 15%. Stats aren’t my thing, but I worked out that this would mean you’re more than four times more likely to lapse than you are to succeed.

Ah, well. As an incredibly sexy genius once put it: ‘Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.’ This then, is my solemn and stated intention: I intend to give up giving in to the siren call of the demon weed, and if I am not wholly successful, then I shall at least fail better.

I am appointing Samuel Beckett and The Three Degrees to watch over me in this endeavour and help me keep to the straight and narrow path.

I’m blogging it because I have a terrible habit of blocking out pain. If I do fail again, fail better, I’d like to have a record of just how it felt along the way. So anything posted under this category will be self-indulgent and dull, I have no doubt. It might be good to read only if you’re struggling to become one of the 15% yourself …

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