How I Quit Smoking After 30 Years
I was never able to picture myself as a non-smoker. I had smoked so long that I couldn’t know what that looked like anymore. I started smoking around the age of 16 and now I’m in my 46th year. 30 years of smoking…I wonder what my lungs look like…gross. I had always thought about quitting, but had never really had any success doing it, nor the real desire to do so. I knew it was bad for me for so many reasons, yet I still continued to keep puffing away. The more stress in my life, the more heavily I would smoke. After my son died unexpectedly two years ago, I thought I would smoke for the rest of my life. I was wrong. Here’s how I stopped this nasty, expensive addiction:
Convince yourself you are ready to quit and believe it. The key to quitting is being ready to quit. If you aren’t mentally prepared to quit, you will fail. Take yourself seriously and if you really want it, you will succeed.
Pick a hard quit date. Pick a date - a week from now, two weeks from now, but write it down and stick to that date. Write it on your calendar at work, home, etc. That is your hard quit date. No negotiating with yourself when the date arrives…this is your date.
Prepare your NRT arsenal. I chose to use nicotine patches and nicotine gum as my weapons. Make sure you have enough on hand to get you through 8 to 12 weeks and the proper nicotine mg per patch for each week. The correct strength of nicotine will be dependent on how much you smoke. (Check with your pharmacist or the manufacturer’s website for their recommendations). After so many weeks, you will change nicotine strength to a lower one for a few weeks and in turn, slowly ween yourself off of nicotine. Then I chose to use nicotine gum (which is very low nicotine) for the final farewell.
Change your routine. Change your people, places and things. For at least a month or until you have a grip on your new lifestyle. Yes, there is most definitely a physical withdrawal when you quit smoking, but honestly, the mental battle is way more difficult to conquer. The habit of morning coffee and smoke, smoke break at 10:00am at work, smoke after eating, smoke after sex, etc. you get the point. This will be the single most difficult aspect of quitting smoking. For the first month, I switched to tea in the morning and instead of going outside for a smoke, I would make my lunch for work. 10:00am smoke break at work? I chose a quick walk from one end of the building to the other and a stick of peppermint gum. Smoke after eating? I chose a stick of peppermint gum and a game on my phone. The peppermint gum helped me immensely as it gave my throat a quick blast similar to that of a cigarette, but it smells better. It doesn’t matter what you chose to do, but you must consciously divert your attention to something else during these “habit times”.
Hold yourself accountable. Tell EVERYONE you’ve quit smoking. Tell everyone you work with, your family members, friends, etc. The more people that know, the more it will keep you motivated to stay the course. I mean, who wants to look like a failure, right?! Plus, they will be a huge support system for you on your journey.
Prepare yourself for brain fog: Nicotine is a stimulant. It keeps you feeling awake, able to stay sharp, able to function. I started to feel this a couple of weeks after quitting. Whenever I got this groggy, fuzzy feeling, I would chew a piece of nicotine gum and it would be enough to get me through. This should eventually go away once your body is used to not having nicotine.
Start an exercise regime. I don’t care what it is….start something — Yoga, join a gym, running, karate, home workout (if you have the self-discipline). I chose to join a kickboxing/ Muay Thai combat and fitness club. The classes work you so hard that you feel like you’re going to die, but it feels so good after. It helps manage and cope with stress in your life and you get in really great shape doing it.
If you follow these steps, you can be successful at quitting smoking. I’m not going to lie, it’s not easy to quit smoking BUT it can be done.