I am going to start off and say that I didn't want to quit smoking.
I actually really liked it.
I felt it was a part of me in some sense.
There was nothing better than walking around in the fall with my pea coat, scarf, and cigarette in hand while waiting for my next college class to start.
I graduated with a degree in English so I had a VERY heavy work load taking six classes and writing 10-20+ page papers all the time.
Cigarettes honestly did keep my stress under control.
However, we all have reasons we want to stop which could range from health to the smell.
Below are 5 things I learned while trying to quit smoking and I kept these things in mind on my journey to quit.
I am now smoke-free.
1) Breaking a Habit This doesn't mean the addiction.
That is a whole other battle.
For me, the hardest part was the habit.
For years I constantly brought the cigarette from my waist to my mouth over and over again.
When I would try to stop, I would have an urge to bring my hand to my mouth all the time.
So what I did was by a big bag of the diced up Twizzlers and start throwing those in my mouth every time I had the urge.
Eventually you will get full and not want to smoke or eat.
The thing to remember here is to fill voids.
You can't just stop the habit (which it takes 21 days to break a habit).
You have to replace it with something else until you're not craving it as much.
Maybe start chowing down on something healthy when you have an urge to bring your hand to your mouth? 2) Bettering yourself This is what won it for me.
I always find a way to better myself.
In this case, I wanted to be healthy again.
I want to also break bad habits.
I just wanted to be a machine over all.
It was sad to see what I became.
I use to work out a lot, I ran a 4:31 mile at my prime and now I couldn't make it up four flights of stairs.
I didn't want to live my life that way.
You shouldn't either.
3) Actually knowing what it does to your body (especially for men) The most annoying thing to a smoker is when people would tell you the health risk of smoking.
I would always respond with "No shit" since I was the smoker and did my research.
I think every smoker knows what it does to their body.
It's until some health problem happens where you start to regret telling people that you know better.
Nothing happen to me personally.
However, I didn't want to wait to figure out.
I didn't want to be an older man and worry about erectile problems or my weight when it could be avoided just by not smoking.
4) Triggers or Anchors This is what breaks people down.
I had so many triggers (things that make you smoke) it wasn't funny.
I actually never smoked at home since I hid for years from my family that I smoked but the minute I was in a car or school, I would smoke a whole pack by the time I got home.
I also had friends who were heavy smokers and would smoke every 20 minutes.
They were my triggers.
My brain connected them to smoking (Thank you Classical Conditioning) and when I would see them I would want one.
The terrible thing was they were my best friends so I saw them every day.
5) Cold Turkey and Guilt Don't try to cold turkey it.
Slowly cut back week by week.
Try to extend the time between your cigarettes so you smoke less in a day.
Or only take a couple with you to work/school.
If you cold turkey it, you will fill miserable, hate the idea of quitting, and bounce right back.
Don't feel guilty either.
Just smoke the cigarette and jump back on your journey to quitting.
Do you guys have tips for quitting?
I actually really liked it.
I felt it was a part of me in some sense.
There was nothing better than walking around in the fall with my pea coat, scarf, and cigarette in hand while waiting for my next college class to start.
I graduated with a degree in English so I had a VERY heavy work load taking six classes and writing 10-20+ page papers all the time.
Cigarettes honestly did keep my stress under control.
However, we all have reasons we want to stop which could range from health to the smell.
Below are 5 things I learned while trying to quit smoking and I kept these things in mind on my journey to quit.
I am now smoke-free.
1) Breaking a Habit This doesn't mean the addiction.
That is a whole other battle.
For me, the hardest part was the habit.
For years I constantly brought the cigarette from my waist to my mouth over and over again.
When I would try to stop, I would have an urge to bring my hand to my mouth all the time.
So what I did was by a big bag of the diced up Twizzlers and start throwing those in my mouth every time I had the urge.
Eventually you will get full and not want to smoke or eat.
The thing to remember here is to fill voids.
You can't just stop the habit (which it takes 21 days to break a habit).
You have to replace it with something else until you're not craving it as much.
Maybe start chowing down on something healthy when you have an urge to bring your hand to your mouth? 2) Bettering yourself This is what won it for me.
I always find a way to better myself.
In this case, I wanted to be healthy again.
I want to also break bad habits.
I just wanted to be a machine over all.
It was sad to see what I became.
I use to work out a lot, I ran a 4:31 mile at my prime and now I couldn't make it up four flights of stairs.
I didn't want to live my life that way.
You shouldn't either.
3) Actually knowing what it does to your body (especially for men) The most annoying thing to a smoker is when people would tell you the health risk of smoking.
I would always respond with "No shit" since I was the smoker and did my research.
I think every smoker knows what it does to their body.
It's until some health problem happens where you start to regret telling people that you know better.
Nothing happen to me personally.
However, I didn't want to wait to figure out.
I didn't want to be an older man and worry about erectile problems or my weight when it could be avoided just by not smoking.
4) Triggers or Anchors This is what breaks people down.
I had so many triggers (things that make you smoke) it wasn't funny.
I actually never smoked at home since I hid for years from my family that I smoked but the minute I was in a car or school, I would smoke a whole pack by the time I got home.
I also had friends who were heavy smokers and would smoke every 20 minutes.
They were my triggers.
My brain connected them to smoking (Thank you Classical Conditioning) and when I would see them I would want one.
The terrible thing was they were my best friends so I saw them every day.
5) Cold Turkey and Guilt Don't try to cold turkey it.
Slowly cut back week by week.
Try to extend the time between your cigarettes so you smoke less in a day.
Or only take a couple with you to work/school.
If you cold turkey it, you will fill miserable, hate the idea of quitting, and bounce right back.
Don't feel guilty either.
Just smoke the cigarette and jump back on your journey to quitting.
Do you guys have tips for quitting?
Source...