Should we run a crusade against quit smoking?

[ranjitthewolf]

Hello All, Most of the people i know in this forum have quit for many years now. So my question is directed towards them. I was wondering if as ex smokers and people who understand the ill effects of smoking go on a quit smoking crusade towards smokers and keep nagging them until they quit or should we just wait till they see the light? Because we all know how we felt when people used to come up to us asking us to quit smoking during our smoking days.

Thanks.

[crazymama_Lori]

I just nonchalantly say that I quit smoking and then open the door for questions if they want to ask, but I always leave it there.  When I smoked, I ran from newly quit smokers.  I didn't want to hear the speech.  I always turned off the commercials on TV.  I just simply didn't want to face it, I guess.  NOW, when I was finally ready to quit, I couldn't get enough information about it and that even took 2 years to even jump on the band wagon

[YoungAtHeart]

Waste of time and breath to nag!  Remember how much we HATED that when we smoked??  My tried and true intro to anybody I see smoking is to approach them, tell them I quit but still enjoy the smell of it on the wind (truth!), as I walk towards them.  Almost ALL the time, they ask me how I quit and VOILA, I have the intro I need to give them an Ex card and tell them a bit about us.  I have no idea if any have actually joined, but at least I feel as though I provided an opportunity.

If you have people close to you still smoking, talk up all the quit  benefits you have seen, mention that you were surprised to learn that all the things you thought it did for you were lies, tout the benefits of freedom.  It's really all you can do

Nancy

[freeneasy]

There's been a lot said here about wanting to quit and willing to quit. When I still smoked ,if I was asked if I wanted to quit I probably would have said yes but I wasn't willing until I finally did.

[bonniebee]

Nagging is not the way to go but power of example is I was one of those smokers who got very angry with self righteous quitters but  I was very happy to ask quitters who did not belittle or nag me how they quit what it was like and what a great job they did  quitting and how I hoped i would get there some day !

[Thomas3.20.2010]

Ranjit. please go back to your first Blogs. Do you remember them? I do. And I know how and why you felt the way you did even after voluntarily coming here to search for answers to your own Addiction. I had similar thoughts and doubts when I first joined. In our 3D life we have to lead by example. When that 70% who want to quit they will ask questions and we have to thoughtfully empathize with their state of willingness to become Free. Only by putting ourselves in their shoes as much as possible can we find the words to bring them step by step into their own Quit Journey. We have a saying here, "You can bring a horse to water but you can't make it drink."  

I'm extra proud of you for your own Quit Journey!

[ret]

Hello everyone!

I really don't judge or crusade against smoking.  Everyone has their own life to live.  I am truly happy that I am not smoking.  My quit was in May of 2013. 

RET

[Giulia]

If you want to go on a crusade - go on it.  As a former smoker - you would have no impact on me.  As a matter of fact the more someone harped on my smoking, the more I smoked.  I put out little hints, myself.  Got the EX cards (as Ellen mentioned) and occasionally will come upon a situation where I feel it's appropriate to perhaps ask a person if they've ever wanted to quit.  If they say "yes,"  I'll explain this site and give them a card.  If they say no - I don't.  I'll sometimes drop them in the smoking area outside Walmart, where the employees go on their breaks.  I've passed them out in doctors offices.  I don't feel it is something that can be pushed.  Because the addiction is so strong it tends to create the opposite affect.  I became extremely defensive when the subject of quitting was broached.  My husband badgered me for 10 years to quit.  Irritated the hell out of me.  He bought me Smoke Away one Christmas.  Cost 75 bucks.  That's a lot of money.  I was not happy.  Didn't touch it 'til March.  I figured I owed him that much - to give it a try.  I used like half of one of the bottles.  But I quit at Lent.  I needed a higher source to which to hold myself accountable.  I knew that if I quit for 40 days, I would not then go back to smoking.  Not after the several times I'd quit for three months and then smoked for years only to go back to another day one.  I knew I didn't have another quit in me.  Didn't have another day one in me.  That this was kind of IT.  That was 11 years ago.  Did his 10 years of badgering finally get me there?  I don't know.  Was it the $75 he paid for the Smoke Away tablets?  I don't know.  I think perhaps so.  That was at least the catalyst to my final quit.  That took it away from "badgering" "nagging" into a whole 'nother range.  It showed the real love behind it all.  The fact that he would actually spend that money because he so wanted me to quit, cared so very much about me....  he put his money were his mouth was, so to speak!  lol  I still have all three of those bottles - two unused - as a reminder of that March 1, 2006 date.  I know this - as irritating as those 10 years of badgering were - I have him to thank for being smoke free.  Wish I hadn't of been so damn stubborn!  I might have quit at 46 instead of 56.

[maryfreecig]

Most smokers want to quit...the piece of the puzzle that seems to be missing from the public dialog is a hopeful message of "yes you can."  Hope and encouragement means something to quitters and wannabe quitters.

[c2q]

I am always on a crusade against smoking. For me, that is very different than being on a crusade against people who smoke. They have enough problems already.

I respect their space, which often means waving hello from a good distance away.

[MarilynH]

I have my daughter, her man and a sister in law that I want to quit so bad but I grit my teeth and keep my quit intact hoping and praying that they'll along with other smokers I know will decide soon to quit smoking but in the meantime they see that I'm still smoke free and enjoying the Freedom.....