Hi, It’s Ian McKenzie here.

Why have I published a Web Site called ‘Staying Stopped’?

Why my interest in helping smokers who wish to become nonsmokers and to stay stopped?

Well, I am a former smoker. Although I stopped many years ago, I can still vividly recall the many difficulties I had in doing so.

Yes, I smoked like the proverbial chimney. Many times I remember trying to cut down the number of cigarettes I smoked, only to go out on a Friday night, have a few beers, and pronto ...., I would be back to the same high level of smoking once again.

I remember my mother bought me my first pipe when I was twenty. My father at the time regularly smoked a pipe, and my mother figured that it was a more healthy alternative than smoking cigarettes.

So I smoked the pipe, I smoked ready made cigarettes, I smoked roll your own cigarettes, and I smoked cigars. I remember sitting up studying in my early twenties. I would light up a cigarette, and then look down and notice that I still had one burning on the ash tray on the desk. Now, what does that tell you about my smoking behaviour?

For a major part of my working career I have been involved in Education. After starting as a Primary school teacher, I completed further studies and became a Health and Physical Education teacher. Being in my twenties, I was like many other young people and believed that I was surrounded by this in-penetrable glass bubble. Unfortunate things happened to other people, but not to me.

I played sport, I was fit and generally healthy. Despite being reasonably intelligent, I did some crazy things like riding a motor cycle for years. I climbed each of the Glass House Mountains with nothing more than a pair of shorts, a T shirt and a pair of gym shoes................!

Well, each of those mountains has sheer cliff faces requiring three point climbing. We didn’t even consider ropes and other safety equipment.

Risk taking does seem to be an integral part of growing up for many. Any parent whose children survive their teenage and young adult years relatively unscathed, can be grateful. Many in that age group do think they know it all. They think they can use recreational drugs, smoke tobacco, (and other things), and everything will be OK. They will be able to stop when they want to. Unfortunately, many people can not!

My recollections of the day I quit smoking.

At the time I was a Health and Physical Education teacher at Salisbury High School in Brisbane. The last lesson before morning tea break on this particular day was on the dangers of smoking. It was with a class of boys aged about fifteen.

After teaching that class, I did what I had always done. I went back to the staff room, I sat down at my desk and lit a cigarette. Back in those days, smoking was allowed in staff rooms, and I was in an all male staff room in which all the teachers happened to be smokers.

I don’t know if it was after the second or maybe the third time I inhaled the smoke from that cigarette, but I remember thinking something along the lines of “what sort of credibility can you have.....?, why should anyone take any notice of what you say about the dangers of smoking, when you go and light up yourself.........?”, ..................and I stubbed the cigarette out.

Now, I make it sound like stopping and staying stopped was easy. It was not. On another page on this site I discuss behaviour change, and the difficulties most people have in making any changes to behaviour. I had previously attempted to cut down and to stop smoking on numerous occasions. I suppose this particular day was the time that I really decided that I was fair dinkum. I did really want to stop smoking and stay stopped. And, this time I was really going to try to make it happen.

But how!

I had to use strategies to assist me in my endeavours to stay stopped.

I discuss strategies for staying stopped elsewhere on this site.

I think it could have been very easy for me to start smoking again any time in the first six to eight months after I stopped. However, after about ten to twelve months I knew that I would never smoke again. Even the thought of my smoking again actually repulsed me. It was not until then that I believed I could really claim to be a nonsmoker as opposed to someone who had stopped smoking.

On occasions in the past I have been accused of verbosity. I feel I am perhaps guilty of that now. This is probably more than enough for one page. I shall discuss my involvement as a Health Professional in smoking cessation programs on the next page entitled Cardiac Rehabilitation.

Web Design Ian McKenzie

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