Do You Want to Quit Smoking?

Step One: Remove all sharp objects from the home.

Step Two: Move into a hotel far away from everyone you know. Let no one know how to find you.

Step Three: Cry continuously until you can no longer produce tears due to severe dehydration.

Okay, I’m just kidding! Well, sort of. The point is that I know how incredibly difficult it is to quit smoking. I also know th at it can be done; I did it about seven years ago. I had smoked for over twenty years.

I’m not going to lie; it was hard, very hard! I always hated the articles I’d read that sounded like they were written by someone who had never touched a cigarette in their life. They made it sound like all you have to do is make up your mind to quit or take this drug, and so on. If you smoke, you know that smoking is more than a bad habit; it is a way of life. It’s an unhealthy one for sure, but it’s a lifestyle nonetheless.

Desire to Quit Is Only Part of It

How many times, when you’ve attempted to quit and failed, have you heard someone say, “Well, you have to really want to quit? Duh! Or, “Your problem is that you just don’t want to enough.”

Let’s think about this for a minute. Why would a person put themselves through the pain and suffering of withdrawal, or even attempt to quit in the first place, if they didn’t want to? If you don’t want to quit, you aren’t trying to! The same is true for all of us, we start smoking because we want to; we keep smoking because we have to (unless we happen to be okay with feeling completely insane! I’m not kidding this time.).

Legal Drug Addiction

Just because it is legal to purchase products containing nicotine (for adults over 18) doesn’t mean that nicotine is not a powerful and addictive drug. Nobody would expect a heroin addict or a crack addict to just quit cold turkey, without any help or support. Nicotine is no less addictive than these substances. Smokers are, put simply, drug addicts. We need to be honest with ourselves about that, even if the tobacco industry won’t be. Still, there is hope. Most people fail many times before they succeed in quitting, so the most important things are to not beat yourself up over failures, and to keep on trying. If you don’t stop trying, you’ll get there eventually. Each time I tried and failed, I became angrier about the suffering that I endured and that something could have that much control over me. That anger built up until it, ultimately, became my most powerful motivator.

Things to Try

Everyone is different. What worked for me or for somebody else may not be what works for you. I will attempt to share with you things that helped me, as well as a few things that I’ve heard have helped others. These are not listed in any particular order of importance.

Rigorous Exercise – When I would get to the point where I felt like I was going to snap, I would do push-ups and sit-ups until I exhausted myself. It is a good physical outlet for frustration, and the endorphins it produces help to ease the withdrawal symptoms. I wish I had been disciplined enough to keep this up after I felt victorious over smoking. People say that you gain weight when you quit; I was in the best shape of my life. Now, not so much!

List Everything You Hate About Smoking – This includes the expense, the inconvenience, the way you feel when you need a cigarette and for whatever reason can’t have one (I would tell myself and others that I smoked because my nerves were bad, the reality was that my nerves were bad because I needed a cigarette!), the smell, the shame, the example that it sets for young people you care about, health problems (or potential health problems), and anything else you can think of. Write it all down, keep it on you, and pull it out whenever you need to remind yourself that your suffering will be worth it.

Allow Yourself An Emotional Outlet – If you feel like crying, cry! If you feel like screaming, scream! Go in your room, shut the door and beat the crap out of your pillow (or hurl every shoe that you own at the wall as hard as you can like I did!). Don’t try to hold it all in and act like you’re okay, because you’re not! You’ll feel so much better after you release it.

Prepare Your Family the Best You Can – Make sure that your family understands that you will not be yourself for a while, but that you’ll do the best you can. Make no promises that you’ll succeed. Ask them for encouragement (it may get very difficult for them to offer it when you are behaving like a raging-insert your colorful expletive here!). If encouragement from them is too much to ask, appeal to them to at least avoid discouraging you with comments like, “Oh for the love of …, just smoke already! Want me to go get you a pack? I will no problem!”

See Your Doctor – There are a variety of things available that can reduce withdrawal symptoms and make quitting easier. I don’t personally believe that any one thing is powerful enough on its own to completely eliminate cravings, but they can help. I used a combination of nicotine gum, the use of which I gradually reduced and eliminated by increasing the intervals between pieces and by gradually replacing them with regular chewing gum, and a prescription drug, Bupropion HCL (marketed as Wellbutrin or Zyban). There are new medications that have been developed since that time that I have heard help, as well. Although the rigorous exercise, and occasional insane outbursts will still necessary, I believe these medications (or at least my faith in them) helped quite a bit.

Drink a Lot of Water – I’m not sure if it’s because it speeds up detoxification, or it’s just because it give you something to do, but it helps.

Pray – You don’t have to be of a particular religion, or even believe in God to do this. You only need to believe a power greater than yourself and your will, and then turn to it.

Contact a Help Advisor and Provider – This is one I did not take advantage of personally, but I have heard from others that contacting agencies like the Center for Disease Control’s 1-800-Quit-Now begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-800-Quit-Now end_of_the_skype_highlighting and similar coaching and planning services are very helpful.

The bottom line is there is no one thing that is guaranteed to succeed in helping you to quit smoking. Don’t believe anybody who tells you there is. Oh, and yes, you do have to want to. Duh!

It will not be easy. But you are much stronger than you know. Seven years later, I have no problem telling you, honestly, that it was absolutely worth every minute of hardship I had to endure to finally be free of the bondage of addiction. My children were young, but they remember what I went through, and I believe that they are less likely to smoke because of it. Good luck to you, and bless you.

Author Bio: To find out an easy shortcut to quit smoking fast, go to The Smoking Answer.

Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
Keywords: stop smoking,lung cancer,quit smoking,quitting smoking