Any former smoker gurus here or people on the struggle? I´m quitting cold turkey since April 1st, almost full 5 months on my belt as i write this. As of now i´m sitting with my laptop listening to the prodigy shaking my body to the music wanting a cigarette badly. Still it was worse before. Month 1 i barely slept and was a rabid bear at times. Month 2 i was full of motivation and proud on the progress i don't remember much bad. Month 3, feels like i could climb walls and jump off a cliff. Month 4 i slept a lot so i wouldn't be awake and suffer my inability to enjoy life without the fag. Month 5, August, is manageable and not much of a problem not smoking save for a annoying constant desire to smoke. I swear, 5 months, feels like the desire to smoke lasts forever. I want so bad to reach a point where im more or less indifferent to smoking and my daily life doesn't take a hit. So, any former smokers?
Do you want your kids to watch you dying a slow, painful and horrible death at the age of 65 from lung cancer?
I did quit 12 years ago. For some reason it was very easy for me. And the difference became clear after a month or so - tastes, scents were back at full scale, and clean breath...
I quit in 98 cold turkey and never looked back. It can be done just have to have the well power to do it. 5 months is good keep it up, StewieTech.
When you quit, the big thing to remember is that cravings are temporary. Mine were strong the first couple months than slowly faded away. When you get a strong craving, do something that takes your attention away. For me I would clean my house or tidy up things or go for a walk. Within 30 mins the cravings would be gone.
I never got addicted to cigarettes. I used to smoke daily in college, now only once per week or less. I can go without smoking. But smoke does calm, so I keep it in aid kit instead of chill pill.
I'm coming up on 5 years tobacco free next month, smoked for 33 years. From my experience it takes about 3 months to get the nicotine out of your blood, 3 years to get it out of your brain. Every once in a long time I still have an occasional mental urge, thankfully the want to never have to quit again is stronger. You seem you be dealing with the physicality of it still at 5 months so I suspect you are still hanging out with your smoke break friends catching a second had helping? You have to be at least a little vigilant about keeping tobacco and nicotine out of your system, no fair hitting a blunt, that tobacco wrapper is just as addictive.
Nope i dont hang with smokers and i didnt put any nicotine on my body since april 1st. I wouldnt call it pysical, i just want to smoke. Its been 5 months but i still want to smoke simple as that.
Never smoked or even tried. I can't even breath when there are smokers around so it's not a big surprise why I avoid cigarettes like plague. My grandfather used to smoke (before I was born). If I remember correctly he ruined his shirt because of it and throw cigarettes out of the card window and never smoked again.
Quit smoking in 2006-2007, best thing i did for my well being.poisonous Was hard, hard and i was sick and in a very bad mood for a year or so... I had recurring dreams even 3 years after i've quit about going out in pubs with friends and smoking our lungs out....made me think how evil and sneaky addiction can be, just made me even more stubborn to keep smoke free and never go back. I made the best out of quiting smoking, starting working out, saving the money i would spend on tabbaco and spending it on buying hardware parts or going out to fancy places, etc. I kept away from smoking friends, and searched for new ones who didn't smoke.I avoided like plague periods of time doing nothing or being bored....i did everything to keep my mind focused on things and surrounded by people or being in places where smoking was prohibited. There is no magic trick, it is just pure strong will and focused on quitting a bad habit.I drank big glasses of cold water when i had a craving and went for a walk or ran a few minutes...win-win. Just hang on.Remeber why you quit, and ask yourself: Are you that weak to be controlled by a poisonous cigarette?
That's the one thing people seem to ignore when talking about quitting: Stress. Everyone's brain reacts differently to stress, everyone's job is different, everyone's home situation is different, ... Depending on how many stress factors you have in your life, quitting smoking cold turkey can be easy as pie or tough as nails. I choose the slow route that seems to be working: Vaping, started at 18 mg, now down to 11 mg. After that I'm going down to 8 or 9, etc. It's not perfect, but when I go swimming now and have to dive, I can actually breath in enough air without coughing again.
i smoked from the age of 18 until i was 23 or so. might have been 24...i forget. varied from a pack every other day at its worst to a pack or two a week. never got addicted, although i liked doing it - it was an excuse to get away from people. it got old when i wound up hanging out with people who all smoked as well & then i couldnt get away! i quit cold turkey, just got sick of it. wasnt hard for me, i was disgusted by the habit from the beginning anyway. nothing good comes of it. think of your future - if not for your own health, then think of the people who care about you. you want to be there for them years from now, dont you? without trying to get overly dramatic, ill leave yall with a quote from aristotle: "i count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self" the most important part of your statement is unsaid, so ill say it: it matters more HOW you deal with it, not so much how much there is to deal with in the first place.
I learned something very powerful when I quit smoking that I've only recently rediscovered. I had smoked on and off for over 10 years, all throughout my teenage years and into my twenties. One day I just decided I'd had enough after steadily feeling worse and worse by my smoking. For me, the lesson was that once you really decide something, and commit to your effort 100%, it is MUCH easier to accomplish it. For a long time I was sorta on and off, thinking "yeah, I should probably quit". This type of ideology doesn't get it done.. if you don't believe in what you think and want to do deep down, you will never accomplish it. I go so sick and felt so crappy about smoking at one point, that once I decided that enough is enough, it made my desire possible. What I did was take a pack of smokes and a lighter, and leave them on my dresser. At any point, they were right there for me to grab and have. This was key to me breaking the habit, because at that point it only came down to my desire and my will to choose to not smoke, not about other extraneous crap like "well, I don't have the money right now" or "hmm, i could always just bum a couple off of buddies". After the first week, I never looked back. I do still smoke from time to time.. the difference? I control it 100%. As of right now, I had a ciggerette maybe a week ago, haven't had another since. Don't have cravings, don't have any desire to buy a pack. Nothing. Moreover, I can go out drinking, smoke a half pack, feel grizzly the next day in my lungs, and then go three months without a single craving. Easy. It is possible to get there.. you just have to know through and through what you want, and how you want it.
It depends, like I said, everyone reacts to stress differently and everyone has different levels of stress in his daily life. It's not so much the cravings that cause me problems, it's the rage and anger I get on top of it and this isn't a problem when gradually decreasing the nicotine levels, something which you can do way better with vaping vs normal cigarettes. And with rage and anger I literally mean that I had to sustain myself from punching someone in the face at work. Odds are if I had a job that I was fully committed to, that made me feel more fulfilled and satisfied in life, I would probably struggle way less with the anger issues.
dont get me wrong; i wasnt knocking your tapering-off approach or saying that everyone should be able to quit cold turkey. do whatever works for you. i only meant to say that many smokers use cigs themselves as stress relief, due either to the very common physical nicotine addiction, psychological attachment to smoking, or both. when you take that outlet away, you have to tackle the stress that was always there in a different way. believe me i can understand anger issues. i have a HELL of a temper, & its been years since i smoked good luck to you, stewie, & everyone else reading this considering trying to quit.
^^ this is a classic case of denial of addiction. People convince themselves that they are in control but it's a delusion. You just don't realise how silly this sounds to other people. On one hand you preach about willpower and on the other you say you still go out and smoke half a pack. :bang: To the OP, this is a good example of what not to do!
I quit smoking for a year, twice in the past. Overnight, went from smoking about 15 a day to zero. No problem. First time I lasted a year, never had a single craving until a drunken night in Berlin. Started smoking again after that weekend. Smoked for about 2 years and quit again for a year, until I met a girl that smoked. I smoke again. Not as much as I used to, but I smoke. I'm getting into vaping and my plan is to quit smoking on the new year. I have no problem quitting again. Let's see how long I last this time.
I quit 25 years ago. Don't miss it. All I can tell you is that you can't do it for anyone else. Your reasons for wanting to quit have to be your own and for you.
