Smoker :(
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PhilaDallas
Contributor
I stopped smoking nearly 40 years ago and think it was one decision that has allowed me to continue diving as long as I have (50+ years).
My housemate, an instructor, smokes 1 1/2 packs a day and he has no trouble doing up to 6 dives a day. Your mileage may vary.
My housemate, an instructor, smokes 1 1/2 packs a day and he has no trouble doing up to 6 dives a day. Your mileage may vary.
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I smoke a pipe sparingly (yes, you do have to inhale -- or it will go out). The Swim test is a favourite subject of mine. I had trouble with the DM one of 400 metres until I "re-located" my lost form of 39 yrs. before on the HS team. Then I had to get my "swimming" muscles in shape-- I re-took it and did pretty well, especially for my age. Exercises other than actually swimming laps don't really seem to help much. But you may already be a good swimmer. Some (PADI as far as I know) Instructors let you do the 300 yard mask fin and snorkel swim instead (no use of arms), which IMO is 100 times easier if your not in swimming shape-- you just need to know how to kick and have reasonably strong legs.
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I've battled smoking for many years, the longest I gave up for was 5 years. I'm not as young as I used to be and certainly have noticed the in past two years it seems to be affecting me more that it used to, age and accumulative damage I guess. This year I bought a drysuit, ironically to extend my diving life, and am wearing considerably more lead than diving wet. The walk from car park to water is only a hundred meters or so but it almost kills me especially at the end of the dive. I went out this morning and bought some patches and gum it helped last time, now or never. Congrats to you, OP, it's not an easy addiction to beat. I've had a few in my life but smoking has been the hardest. I wish I'd never smoked that first one, the price of being "cool". We are having a baby in September so that combined with diving is my impetus. Interestingly in the water my air consumption is significantly lower than most of my buddies and none of them smoke, go figure, although I'm sure their insides look prettier than mine.
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Congratulations on quitting. For me, it was very easy to quit; when I "actually" wanted to.
I quit on the day my (now ex-) wife told me she was pregnant with our first child. That was 12 years ago.
On that day, I quit and never have it a second thought.
It was easy then, because I genuinely wanted to.
At other times in my life, my "attempts" to quit we just non-committed efforts to quit.
Those reasons weren't real enough in my mind....so quitting was difficult....and my efforts were short lived.
I believe it comes down to flipping a switch in your own mind, finding whatever it is that provides that internal motivation.
Find your switch.....be matter of fact about it, and flip it.
Do that....and it's an easy thing to do...quitting smoking.
Prior to being told "We're having a baby.".....I never truly wanted to quit.
Smoking by others doesn't bother me, but the perception of a diver that smokes.....well there are some aspects of smoking that they don't know about, or simply choose to ignore.
An Instructor that smokes?? They are seriously separating what they know vs. what they do.
We all make choices. To each their own.
The ease or difficulty of walking up multiple flights of stairs is felt by only one person.
You can make those things in life your daily reward, or your daily punishment.
Congratulations on quitting!
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Mitch
I quit on the day my (now ex-) wife told me she was pregnant with our first child. That was 12 years ago.
On that day, I quit and never have it a second thought.
It was easy then, because I genuinely wanted to.
At other times in my life, my "attempts" to quit we just non-committed efforts to quit.
Those reasons weren't real enough in my mind....so quitting was difficult....and my efforts were short lived.
I believe it comes down to flipping a switch in your own mind, finding whatever it is that provides that internal motivation.
Find your switch.....be matter of fact about it, and flip it.
Do that....and it's an easy thing to do...quitting smoking.
Prior to being told "We're having a baby.".....I never truly wanted to quit.
Smoking by others doesn't bother me, but the perception of a diver that smokes.....well there are some aspects of smoking that they don't know about, or simply choose to ignore.
An Instructor that smokes?? They are seriously separating what they know vs. what they do.
We all make choices. To each their own.
The ease or difficulty of walking up multiple flights of stairs is felt by only one person.
You can make those things in life your daily reward, or your daily punishment.
Congratulations on quitting!
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Mitch
- Messages
- 17,251
- Reaction score
- 9,449
- Location
- Somewhere between here and there
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
Congratulations on quitting. For me, it was very easy to quit; when I "actually" wanted to.
I quit on the day my (now ex-) wife told me she was pregnant with our first child. That was 12 years ago.
On that day, I quit and never have it a second thought.
It was easy then, because I genuinely wanted to.
At other times in my life, my "attempts" to quit we just non-committed efforts to quit.
Those reasons weren't real enough in my mind....so quitting was difficult....and my efforts were short lived.
I believe it comes down to flipping a switch in your own mind, finding whatever it is that provides that internal motivation.
Find your switch.....be matter of fact about it, and flip it.
Do that....and it's an easy thing to do...quitting smoking.
Prior to being told "We're having a baby.".....I never truly wanted to quit.
Smoking by others doesn't bother me, but the perception of a diver that smokes.....well there are some aspects of smoking that they don't know about, or simply choose to ignore.
An Instructor that smokes?? They are seriously separating what they know vs. what they do.
We all make choices. To each their own.
The ease or difficulty of walking up multiple flights of stairs is felt by only one person.
You can make those things in life your daily reward, or your daily punishment.
Congratulations on quitting!
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Mitch
Absolutely, if you can find that place in your head it's not so difficult, found it before, having difficulty finding it this time. As with most things it's mind over matter.
If you have a 12yr old you have a far better reason to quit smoking than scuba diving.
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