One of the common preparations for quitting is getting rid of paraphernalia and this makes total sense, but I might have to work around it in another way.
Two of the ashtrays I own and use every day hold a great deal of sentimental value to me that is unrelated to smoking itself. The rest of them I can throw away, but these two I'm not sure what to do about. Will putting them away somewhere be enough? Is there some way to repurpose an ashtray? I can't think of anything. One of them is a Route 66 ashtray given to me by my parents from a trip they took. It is possible that once I quit, my mom and I can make another memory of throwing it away and that would be amazing, but she's several states away so I won't see her until next spring. The other is an old ashtray from IHOP that my husband and I stole right before they banned smoking at restaurants in Georgia. It's the only memory I have left of a group of friends I probably won't see again and it's deeply connected to some very trying times with my husband's family.
I also have a zippo lighter that I have to keep. It belonged to my brother who passed away suddenly at age 50 a couple of years ago. He didn't own much so there was not much for each of us to have. Since smoking was likely one of the contributing factors to his death, I'm thinking I might be able to view this item as a reminder.
Can people successfully put these things away instead of throwing them away? If anyone has, I'd sure like to hear about it.
