Grandmother of two, Sally, 58, has lived in Nottingham all of her life. She recounts her journey from smoking at least 20 cigarettes a day to zero. She describes her motivations for wanting to stop and the benefits she’s experienced from quitting.
I can imagine being a non-smoker for the rest of my life now, I’m not thinking about smoking at all.
Sally started smoking at age 17 along with a group of friends, and she continued for around 40 years. She refers to herself as a ‘heavy smoker’, as, pre-pandemic, she typically smoked 20 cigarettes every day. She then switched to roll-ups during lockdown to save money – and this is when her intake significantly increased. For Sally, cigarettes felt like a coping mechanism to get her through stressful periods – something we know is not really the case, as nicotine addiction actually creates stress itself.
She admitted to enjoying smoking for a long time but when her grandchildren came along, she came to the realisation that she wanted to ‘try everything to be here for longer’ and that it was ‘just a habit’. Financially, Sally could see the savings she would make, which was another driver to quitting – ‘If you buy seven packets a week and they are £12 - that’s £85 a week on cigarettes!’.
Sally recognised that she needed to break the cycle of reaching for a cigarette at break times and after dinner, and it took her around 4 years to build up the motivation to make a quit attempt. But she is proud to say she had her last cigarette in January 2024 and hasn’t looked back. Her family have praised her achievement, especially her husband, who ‘never liked’ the fact that she smoked.
In the first instance, she kept her quit attempt private, and chose not to align it to a New Year’s resolution to lessen the pressure. She chose to go ‘cold turkey’ without any support, but was very keen to not be hard on herself if she slipped up and had another – but this never actually happened.
40 years ago, it was quite trendy – the thing to do. Me and my friends bought a packet of 10 cigarettes between us, and we each tried one and that was it - three of us smoked ever since. I’m the first one to completely give up – I don’t vape or anything.
It was a Sunday and I needed some more cigarettes, but it was raining, it was cold, it was dark. So I was a bit like, should I go and get some? I couldn’t be bothered to go to the shop. And then I thought, you know what, it’s Monday tomorrow - let me do it. Something just came over me.’
Overall, Sally hasn’t found quitting to be as challenging as she expected – she has surprised herself and ‘surprised a lot of people’ - which she feels proves that it was the right time for her to quit. She has noticed some weight gain, but is thankful that it’s not as significant as she anticipated.
I've probably spent a couple of years convincing myself I shouldn't be doing it really. So I think that's what made it easier, thinking I’m doing the right thing. I have put a little bit of weight on – sometimes I’ve gone for food instead of cigarettes. But then I think, well I can tackle that another day, and I’ve not put on as much as I thought I would.
Sally generally feels better in herself post-quit – ‘better than for years’. She’s ‘more alert and livelier’ and ultimately feels her life has changed for the better. She doesn’t even think about smoking anymore. She’s pleased she can be there for her children and grandchildren without having to consider when and where the next cigarette can be smoked.
When I was a smoker, I'd be sort of looking as we were going into somewhere, oh, there's an ashtray – that’s where you smoke. I'd be looking for little signs of the smoking area. Now I don't even think about it. I just go in and do whatever I'm going to do.
Reflecting on her life as a smoker, Sally now finds it hard to comprehend that she smoked for so long and so heavily – especially when considering her two pregnancies. Illustrating how attitudes have changed, and how knowledge of smoking harm has increased over the years, Sally shockingly described how she was directed to the smoking room on the maternity ward at hospital 40 years ago.
It absolutely baffles me looking back to when I was in hospital having my daughter, who’s 30 now. On the ward was a smoking room, and we just used to go and sit in the room, me and two or three other pregnant women, nine months pregnant, and we’d sit in the smoking room and have a coffee and have a couple of fags. I said to my daughter when she was pregnant – God to think I sat in a room with other pregnant women smoking, it just baffles me. But four years later when I had my son, there was no smoking room but we were allowed to go outside and smoke.
What advice would I give to smokers
Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Give it a go but don’t beat yourself up about it.