... of Life sans cigarettes ...

Sober people who have met up with me over the last one week or so would have known that I've given up cigarettes (again) as of last Friday. That makes today day number five sans cigarettes.

I've dropped the habit of smoking twice before so far, once some time around 1999 for about a year, and again around 2003 for two years. Logical projections would dictate that this time I'd last three years without cigarettes, but let's see if I can go way beyond that.

Attempt number three was made with prior mental preparations (thanks to previous experiences) for the withdrawal symptoms that will hit - runny nose, all the coughing, sudden rush of interestingly coloured phlegm, grumpiness, the craving periods, and susceptibility towards resorting to food as a replacement. Life is, unfortunately, hardly predictable, and all the symptoms I've prepared myself for did not hit as expected.

My nose has gone dry. So dry it hurts, though I've started expectorating oddly coloured phlegm as of yesterday. I go into coughing fits when someone smokes too closely to (and upwind of) me. Surprisingly I'm not hit by any strong craving for cigarettes as of yet, though the urge to pick one up hits when someone smokes too closely to (and upwind) of me. Luckily such situations also push me into coughing fits, killing any urge to light up a cigarette.

The one symptom that I had not expected, however, is that I've been rotating between itsy-bitsy nagging headaches and cranium-crippling migraine spells. I've yet to determine if this is coming from worrying about work and not getting good sleep or the cigarettes, but for now I'd rather blame the tobacco. I'd rather dislike tobacco than my work.

The one big (and petty) advantage I've gained so far is that I don't have to wonder whether to bear the heat and sit outside when I'm at a cafe anymore.

Day five, and the rest of life to go.