On November 1st, I stopped smoking. I thought I would chronicle my journeys in this post and hopefully offer up some help, advice and tips on quitting smoking for others considering stopping.
About 2 months ago I wrote down a bunch of goals, one of which was to quit smoking for good. Originally, I wanted to be done by 2010, but was hoping I could quit before Thanksgiving as I was going on a big family trip. So I decided November 1st, I would be DONE!
Making it a Priority
“Quitting smoking is easy, I’ve done it hundreds of times.”
- Mark Twain
I smoked my first cigar/cigarette in 5th grade. I really started smoking when I was 15. I started by swiping cigarettes from my mom and smoking left-over tobacco out of a pipe. I smoked heavily through high school, but finally quit for 4 years at 20. At 24 some shit hit the fan and I picked up a pack and started up again. For the last 1.5 years I’ve been smoking over a pack a day… because I’m half black I smoked Newports.
I have quit maybe a few dozen, but I’ve seriously quit 4 or 5.
The key to quitting is making it a priority. It’s not something you can just do, in my experience it’s not something you can push to the back of the list of things to do. You must prepare, set a date, and concentrate on it.
Specific Quit Smoking Tips
- Set a Date - Set a date and prepare. Think about what you’ll be doing on the first few days of your quitting, I read and re-read http://whyquit.com/ a great quitter’s resource.
- Tell Everyone - Tell everyone before and after you quit that you are or have quit. You don’t want to let all of those people down do you?
- Write Down Reasons - I wrote down all of my reasons to quit. I filled up 3 pages. I started the morning I quit (using up the time I normally would have smoked). Continue writing throughout the first few days, and refer back to your list if you get an urge.
- Breath Deeply - If you get an urge, breathing deeply can help mimic the same sensations of smoking, and will help calm your nerves.
Despite using these tips I found the first 72 hours (while nicotine is still physically in the system and you go through withdraw) to be particularly painful. It is an odd type of pain, you feel fuzzy, not all there, and just generally irritable.
Remembering It’s a Priority
Once you’ve quit, remember, no matter how long it’s been, that cigarettes will not solve any of your problems and your health is always a priority.
