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Smoker quits after 63 years Yellowknife resident Joe Ouellette uses self-help book to kick habit
Candace Thomson
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 9, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Eighty-six days ago, Joe Ouellette finished a self-help book, threw his pack of eight remaining cigarettes in the trash and hasn't looked back.
Joe Ouellette, pictured in his home in Yellowknife on Wednesday, hasn't had a cigarette in 86 days. He quit in June after smoking for 63 years and failing countless earlier attempts to quit -- a feat he attributes solely to a self-help book he read on quitting smoking. - Candace Thomson/NNSL photo |
The 78-year-old had tried everything to quit since he began smoking in the 1950s, including patches, Nicorette and the daunting cold turkey method, but it was Allen Carr's book The Easy Way to Stop Smoking that finally did the trick.
"It surprises me that I quit after 63 years of smoking, it really surprises me," he said. "If that book can help me quit after that long, then it can help anybody."
He heard about the book while trying and failing with other methods, but it was when his daughter Tammy used it to quit two years ago that it really caught his attention. After his oldest son Darrin read the book, Ouellette said he picked it up next.
"After I read the book, I realized I hadn't been a really good role model for the kids," he said, frowning. "And it's all in the way (Carr) wrote the book. He tells you how to think about smoking, that your addiction is a psychological thing."
Smoking was a big part of his life, a crutch when things were going wrong, and a way to top off a good day by treating himself. While he serving 12 years in the military, he'd smoke at least a pack a day.
"You used it for so many things, it seems. It was always there," he said. "Any problem you had, a smoke could fix it."
Panic would set in at the thought of going without cigarettes to the point Ouellette said he would walk to the store in -40 C to ensure he had enough for the next day.
The habit was a part of his life since he was a boy growing up in Saskatchewan, back when smoking signified a sense of maturity. When Ouellette was 14 or 15 years old, boys became men the moment they were told they were allowed to smoke -- it was a right of passage.
"At that time, it was something you looked forward to as you grew up. When they thought you were big enough to quit school and go to work, you were ready." he said.
He remembers his father giving him a Black Cat Flat 50 -- a metal tin with 50 cigarettes inside. That was in 1950, when cigarettes cost about 15 cents per pack. Costing an average of $16 a pack now, Ouellette said he was spending more than $200 a month on cigarettes.
"I'm on a pension, and I really couldn't afford the cigarettes," he said. "I'd put other things aside to make sure I could buy cigarettes but now I don't have to worry about that anymore so now I get those other things."
Quitting has brought positive health changes to Ouellette's life as well, he said. As a diabetic, smoking affected his blood pressure. Since he's quit, both his blood pressure and blood sugar have improved. Aside from that, Ouellette said he's sleeping better, enjoying the taste of food more, and even feels more confident about his appearance.
"This time when I quit, I knew that I would never smoke another cigarette," he said. "All the other times, I was hoping."
Ouellette's timing was impeccable because Aven Ridge, where he lives with his wife Dorene, will become smoke-free as of April.
"I'm glad I quit when I did," he said. "I won't have to walk off the property to have a smoke."
Cigarettes don't cross his mind anymore, even during common smoking triggers such as after his morning coffee. Now that he's on the other side of an addiction, he said he doesn't understand why he allowed himself to get so pulled in.
"I can't see why we done that, y'know? Why we got so involved with cigarettes?" he said. "Hopefully more people are going to realize it's not the way to go."
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