Quitting smoking woes.

I don't know if this will help but the knowledge that allowed me to quit was that the chemical addiction to nicotine goes away after 3 days, everything after that is habit.

This allowed me to realign my thinking about it. All I had to do was effectively sleep for 3 days to beat the chemical side and then remind myself that I don't need one and it's in my head afterwards. It gave me a lot of power I did not have before.

when I quit (4.5 years ago) I got into crafting. something to do with my hands and head. sculpy, crappy paints, canvas, sand paper and little wood, boxes, stain.

so when I felt the pull for a smoke break, I would instead fiddle with something and maybe do a little work on it.

it was clutch to have like a desk area just for works in progress and their materials, because it makes starting and stopping easy.

I heard 3 weeks for full physical independence from addiction. everything after is about new habits.

one of the random things that helped me was washing all of my clothes and jackets, etc, so they smell nice. when the sense of smell returns, it's crazy how potent cig smoke is.

"you gotta turn your woes, into Woahs!"

but seriously, proud of you, i know it's tough to quit

I quit with the nicotine pouches. If it’s any consolation to you I tried smoking again and found it pretty gross so it gets better with time.

Have you tried vaping? Weirdly it helped me quit even though I only switched so I could "smoke" indoors lol. It was a good substitute at first, but over time I got tired of certain things about it (taste wasn't as good, it lacks the "rituals" of smoking, getting to "smoke" indoors meant I did it more and got nicotine poisoning headaches somewhat regularly) and when I ended up quitting vaping, I didn't feel a need to go back to cigarettes.

Ugh there's nothing worse than being in that 'sweet spot' where you regain your taste and cigs start to be tasty again, you just gotta fight through it until they get gross again.

I have dreams sometimes of buying a pack of Lucky Strikes but they're the old ones before the RJ Reynolds buyout that tasted like rust and dirt.

good luck soldier, im two months sober and every day is a battle but your skin and your lungs will thank you down the line.

Trans comrade chiming in to say i’m proud of you and you got this!

I remember turning back on my way to buy more smokes while going through withdrawal. Best decision I made.

Listen to your conscience

I quit by being in a place I wasn't allowed to smoke for 9 months. Obviously that's not something everyone can do. But isolating yourself somewhere you can't acquire any nicotine products will force you into going past withdrawal. I've heard of people going camping during a 3-day weekend and just not bringing any product with them. Even better if someone can drop you off and pick you up so you don't get tempted to buy anything in a nearby town.

I quit 3 months ago, easiest thing ever to do. Just get COVID

OP I never got addicted to nicotine, and I only know that fight as a supporting partner, or a family member. I know it's hard. I've also sobered up off opioids in my distant past.

It's a test of will, no matter what the substance is. Be angry, feel like shit. Start some fights. Be okay with doing those things, but don't be okay with alleviating the symptoms with more product.

Quitting pills, and later suboxone, was a fucking nightmare. I learned some tricks to get through it, supplements to take, behaviors to start the interior dopamine pumps up again - it's not intuitive when you spent as long as I did getting your dopamine from a pharamceutical of one sort or another. You forget how to find pleasure in life.

Nicotine seems similar, in that the things you used nicotine to cope with are coming into sharper focus, because your body isn't regulating that shit, right? So everything pisses you off. You don't have a chill bone in your body?

But if you make it, your body does return to normal. You get that back. It's better to punch a bag or a pillow or break whatever you're okay with to channel the rage while you feel it.

There's something I can't even describe about being free from dependencies. I don't know what cigarettes cost anymore, but it can't be a cheap habit when you're addicted. It can't feel good to feel wrong until you have some arbitrary chem coursing through you.

The nadir is a fuckin' nightmare, but i've always regretted letting myself yield to the cravings, i've never regretted pushing through them.

Sorry for the pep talk or whatever, but you can do it bud.

Keep it up, proud of you! I quit cold turkey in 2015 and I've only had one cig since (while drunk in 2017). You can do it! Also think of all the money you'll save lmao cigs are so expensive now

I still love the smell of secondhand smoke and think about smoking a few times a week though

What helped me was realizing that cravings were actually the onset of nicotine withdrawals. Smoking due to cravings just removed the withdrawal. I wasn't getting anything more from smokingremoved, just pushing withdrawal away.

I'm sorry, Comrade. I honestly hope you can find the peace you need. It sucks they make it so difficult but I'm happy you are trying to quit. One day at a time.

In a show of solidarity, I will let you fight me and punch my face as much as you want.

My face:

bro i believe in you!! you got this