After a lifetime of smoking, Thom walked away.
For Thom, quitting wasn’t about willpower. It was about choosing something more important.
“Don’t quit trying to quit.”
For a long time, quitting wasn’t on the table. But things started to shift when he got into long-distance running. “Eight-hour runs. Ultramarathons,” he says. “I’m putting all this work into it, eating all this special food... and I’m smoking.”
So, “bit by bit,” Thom says, “I just kind of walked away from it. I had something more important. The smoking was taking away from it.”
Then he got injured and had to stop running. “I started smoking again. I coughed all the time. I woke up during the night sitting on the side of the bed. I coughed.” On top of the health toll, it was costing him. “I was spending $300 a month on cigarettes. I’m somewhat retired and $300 is a lot of money.”
Eventually, he saw a newspaper article about a six-week quit smoking class. That helped him reset. “One of the things in my quit smoking class — and I’ve heard from a lot of other people — is to engage yourself in other things. Keep your hands busy. If your hands are bothering you when you’re not smoking. Delve into your hobbies. Gardening. Play with your cat.”
Even now, cravings happen. “When I get that feeling, and I do, ‘Wow, I’d like a cigarette,’ I just don’t smoke for a minute or two. And that need passes. That craving goes away. And then my choice kicks in.”
Thom’s advice to others? “Find your way. There’s replacement. There’s patches. There’s sprays. There’s lozenges. There’s gum. There’s rubber bands on your wrists... all sorts of ways. But there’s never a wrong time to quit.”
“And if you quit for a month, two months, and you relapse? You just quit for two months, good for you. Try it again. Each day adds up.”
