How do I quit smoking?
How do I quit smoking?
any piece of advice is welcome
P.S. Thanks to all the people that have taken their time to help me (and not just me, but others as well). It is much appreciated, and, from what I‘ve read, the „cold turkey“ method seems the most appealing to me. I‘ll quit smoking today, on the 7th of November 2024.
Here's my advice on how to really and actually quit: make the decision to quit, and keep making that decision. Every time you feel yourself thinking "just one more.." remake that decision to quit. This was the only way I was successful. Keep making that decision and keep reminding yourself about your decision. You can do it.
You have to want to stop. I smoked 13 years, stopped several times, but the final real stopping was not that hard.
What also worked quite well for me as a crutch were nicotine free cigarettes. I decided I'd smoke as many of those as I wanted. Started with 20 at the first day and it slowly reduced by itself over time, till at one point o completly stopped without even realizing it.
My grandma quit using a program that basically attempted to break your habits.
She did things like:
-if you normally have a smoke break at noon, wait til 12:30. Tomorrow do it at 11:30 instead
-If you normally use a lighter, switch to matches, tomorrow use a lighter.
-On Monday, Wednesday,Friday switch to a different brand of cigarettes ... next week go the opposite days.
-Smoke, but every other drag put a pen in your mouth instead.
-Only allow yourself to smoke half a cigarette and then chew a stick of gum for the rest of the time you would normally smoke
-Alternate smoke breaks between smoking and chewing nicotine gum or using the patch (I don't think she used the patch so I'm guessing on that one).
And just a lot of things like that that didn't specifically stop you from smoking, but attempted to stop it being a mindless thing that you just do on reflex without much thought and made it so before lighting up she'd have to think about what the current rules are ... at a certain point, the habit has been broken and you don't seek it... it worked great for her. Was a 6 month or so process and then she never went back once she finished her last pack.
There was a whole program around it with those types of rules and things you'd do and time restrictions on certain days and stuff ... sorry, she passed a few years back and I can't ask her the name of the program.
Good luck! Just remember that even if you lapse, any length of time that you're able to smoke less or stop smoking all improve your overall health! Even if you have a setback, any time that you stop is still a win!
I was a heavy smoker for thirty years. I quit...16 days ago. So I might not be the best to advise you on this as I'm still just getting started myself. I have quit a few times in the past though, and I can tell you what is making this time easier. First, realize that nicotine is not the problem. That's out of your system in a few days, from what I understand. It's the habit that screws it up for you. And I am definitely feeling that. I no longer have that treat to look forward to when I get home. I don't have anything to do when I'm frustrated trying to figure something out at work. I can't go outside and have one to relax and think about things. Some of my best work was accomplished while taking a smoke break. Anyway, the way I dealt with that was to start breaking the habits first. Start small. Here's what I did. First, no smoking in the house. Took some time to get used to that. Next, no smoking in the car. That took a while, because I drive a lot, but eventually I got used to it. Then, no smoking at work. Didn't even bring them with me. The reason for all this was to get myself used to the idea of not smoking during these times, so that when I stopped it wouldn't bother me as much. While I'm at work, I'm used to not smoking at work so it doesn't bother me. Same thing with the driving. So, once I got all that down, I set things up so that I would finish my last pack right before I went to bed on Sunday night. That way I wake up and go right to work. A good head start. So, that's where I am now. And it definitely helped. Nothing will ever kill cravings completely, but for me this made things easier. It still sucks though. A lot. So willpower is still going to be a big factor. I wish you luck. It won't be easy. However, if it helps, I can tell you that even after only two weeks it has made a huge difference in my mood, and drastically reduced my stress levels. Aside from being a constant stimulant, I'm also not in a hurry all the time, just trying to get to that next smoke break. I don't worry about how many I have. Things like that. So, just do it. And stick with it. It's worth it.
Get a quality vape device. Start with 18mg tobacco flavored vape. Try to always vape instead of smoke, but don't beat yourself up if you smoke. Just keep doing it. Eventually you'll notice that you're vaping more than smoking, and some time after that you'll realize that you haven't smoked in days. At that point you're basically free. Throw your smokes away and keep vaping for a month or two or three. Then reduce your nicotine concentration to 12mg and keep vaping. Then reduce it to 6, then 3, then 0 mixed with 3, then just 0. You'll naturally quit within a couple weeks after switching to 0. You might want to switch off a tobacco flavor at some point during the process.
I didn't think I'd ever be able to quit smoking. I wanted to, and needed to, but I couldn't. I tried all of the other cessation methods and none of them worked long term. I tried the above and it fucking worked! The best part is that it wasn't hard. It all happened pretty naturally.
It's important that you get a good vape device that gives good throat hit and feels like a cigarette. Don't get a massive cloud machine, and don't get a rinky dink disposable device. Try to get one with a round mouthpiece that is the same size as a cigarette.
You can totally do this! If I can do it, then anyone can do it!
What worked for me was to stop seeing friends that smoked and to go for a run every time I felt like getting a cigarette, instead of getting the cigarette.
Well, there are several methods:
*Cold turkey: just stop and ride it out. You can do things like chew gum to help deal with the cravings. *Medication: Talk to your doctor *The Patch: follow instructions on box. *Nicotine Gum: use as directed *Vape: not the best method, but works for people.
Not an exhaustive list
I overpressure myself, as if I was constipated, each time I get cravings. I basically make my body as uncomfortable as I can so it learns that cravings=pain.
In the past, I've used hand rolled tobacco to ween myself off. It's a lot harder to just grab a smoke when driving for instance. But cold turkey is best. I usually wait until I get sick before starting stopping since it tends to skip the nasty craving in the first few days. After a week or two, it gets much easier.
Remember, having a smoke every now and then will work until it doesn't.
Not a smoker myself, but I can tell you what worked for my brother when he quit in college.
AC went out in his dorm during an August heat wave, and it took forever for them to fix it. He decided that it would be a perfect time to go cold turkey, since he'd be so miserable from the heat that the few days of nicotine withdraw wouldn't really be comparably bad. And he said it was right, he didn't think about it during the worst part, and by the time they fixed the AC, he was 90% of the way through the process.
So if you live in one of the parts of the world moving to summer right now, it might be worth a shot.
I've been trying to quit for 18 years now. I've tried gum, patches, toothpicks, welbutron (or something like that), but this time it's going a bit better. We switched to cheap disposable vapes (Kadobar was what was near the house) which is totally not 'quitting' but when picking a flavor, Pick a bad one. I've found I don't like it, it's way too sweet and that keeps me from wanting to smoke it too much at a time, but when that need arises (bad meeting, car trouble, bad anxiety) it does deliver nicotine which keeps me from buying a pack.
As a side effect, I went from spending around $400-450/month on cigarettes, to around $
16080/month (my wife went with one she likes, but she's quit before and I think she could do it anytime).Edit: I'm bad a math
Not the answer you want, but for me, I quit cold turkey after smoking a pack a day for 15 years.
The thing that helped is that I wasn't being forced to quit for health or social reasons. I simply realized that all smoking a cigarette was doing was making me not want to smoke another cigarette for 30 minutes. I felt I had no more desire to continue the trend.
The first week sucked. I ended up rolling loose-leaf paper into the cylindrical shape of a cigarette, putting Scotch tape on one end, and poking holes into it so that dragging on it felt like dragging on a cigarette. That actually got me through week 2.
After that, the pull to smoke was far, far weaker. It's weird. It ends up coming in waves. You're fine, you're fine, then you get an overwhelming urge to light up. The need lasts for about 30 seconds and goes away quickly. Over time, the frequency between those cravings gets longer, and the cravings get smaller. At some point, I just didn't feel like smoking at all anymore.
But yeah, the first few weeks are not great.
Best of luck!
Edit: my main advice here is that if you don't feel like you really want to quit, you're going to have a much harder time. If your plan is to taper down, it may be torture. If you're plan is "I'll only show myself this one" every so often, it's going to be a long, drawn out losing process.
Speaking from my own experience here is my method.
- Start by accepting that you will suffer, but think of the suffering like having a bad cold or the flu. You'll hate it but it will pass.
If you are quite a light smoker (handful per day) I would just quit and ride it out. If things get really bad allow yourself 1 but no more. You'll be surprised how quickly the worst cravings go away after a week.
If you're a heavy smoker take more of a run up to it, as follows.
Put off the first smoke of the day for as long as you can. E.g. if you usually smoke as soon as you get up then hold off until after breakfast. Next Day try for just before lunch, and so on over a week or so. Try to also put a gap between eating and smoking. Once you are down to a few a day then do the cold turkey thing.
The trick is actually not buying more cigarettes. If you have them till probably smoke them. But if not, that barrier helps.
I smoked from about 19yo until I was in my early thirties (about 1 pack per day). I also spent the nights smoking a lot of spliffs as well (that's weed with rolling tobacco). Now I only smoke Weed when I go down to see my friends which is like twice a year. I bring back enough tobacco to make 3 or 4 small roll ups which gets me through the come down over the following week. Then it is done.
Quitting the first time is fuck hard but the cravings pass. Now I find it quite easy because I'm used to doing it.
Good luck. You can do it.
I dont have advice but best of luck with it!
There is no trick. This will require active repragramming from you for months.
I couldn't find a quit method that took the fight out of my addiction. You have to want to quit more than your addiction. That's nice but doesn't mean much.
I found in practice, this equates to action in meeting cravings with determination. Even if you don't really feel it. You're used to feeling anxious/angry/sad/sorry for yourself when you can't have a cigarette. Take back that moment, that feeling. Redefine it. It's a battle you're choosing, and the best thing you can do is practice fighting it.
The plus side is, the battle will change as you fight it. So you won't get bored!
The first two weeks are the hardest.
You already know the first fight, if you've ever had to wait for the shops to open to buy some cigarettes or tobacco. You've just got to raw dog that. It's going to suck, but it will at least suck with purpose.
After about 4 days, I started getting spiky, intense cravings that passed after about 30 mins to an hour. Several times a day.
By week two, I only struggled when I was around smokers, saw it on tv, read about it, had a drink (it's still hard).
There was a resurgence in cravings in month two. I felt I'd earned a puff or two. This is a trap. Notice it, it's a useful trigger to double down on deciding not to smoke
I'm now a year in off of vaping and cigarettes. It's still sometimes hard, but mostly I don't think about it, except to be glad I don't need to go for a smoke. I don't miss things at parties anymore. I don't miss moments with my daughter. Plane rides are way easier.
If you haven't already tried it, "The easy way to quit smoking" by Allen Carr has helped many people. I haven't tried his other subjects, but I recall his take on smoking in the book to seem relatively revolutionary to me at the time.
Here's my advice.
Rule #1: Avoid evironments that make you want to smoke (e.g. the bar, hanging out with smoker friends)
Rule #2: Get some drugs. Not the fun kind. Talk to your doctor and they'll likely prescribe you a low dose of Welbutrin or an alternative that you'll take for the first few months.
Rule #3: Don't be too hard on yourself. You're going to slip up. That's okay. You don't have to give up and start over.
Rule #4: Make it hurt (your wallet). If you buy a pack, have one cigarette, then snap the pack in half and throw it in the trash.
Rule #5: Replace your smoke breaks with another habit (e.g. going for a walk)
Rule #6: Learn to hate the smell. Wash your clothes, clean your car. Then, when you slip up after getting unused to the scent, you'll be fully aware of just how pungent that cigarette smell is.
God speed, comrade. It's a journey.
I switched to vaping, then gradually lowered the nicotine levels in my juice over time until I was vaping 0 nic for two months. Then I realized I no longer needed it, and stopped vaping altogether, quitting nicotine for good. This was back when you could get high quality juice sent to you in the mail, though, which is no longer possible, IIRC.
Obligatory TBD Liquids and Blue Dot Vapors, absolute GOAT.
Alan Carr's stop smoking book is highly regarded, and encourages you to smoke as you read along, until by the end you won't want to.
Combine that with a NAC supplement (which doesn't do anything for withdrawals, but studies show it makes trying smoking again far more unpleasant for your brain which helps you stay off them.
There is a med called Welbutrin which can be prescribed for quitting smoking and it works really well. It's also prescribed as an antidepressant so one of my smoker friends was on it for that reason and they almost completely quit smoking without even trying to. Of course, it is not without It's sideeffects but among antidepressants it is one of the usually best tolerated ones. I'm on it for my depression now and the only issue I have is that it can make me really anxious, but I'm also on nearly the maximum dose where for smoking cessation you wouldn't be taking anything close to that amount.
I'll tell you the strategy that worked for me last time (quit for ~2 years), and that I'm using this time.
- Switch to a vape. Lung capacity increases immediately, and you get rid of the bad smell. If you haven't vaped, give yourself some time to get used to the different habit (no cigarette packing ritual anymore etc)
- Buy a 0 nicotine vape or two, or find a local place you can get them easily. This is your "inside" vape.
- Buy a refillable vape and get nicotine liquid roughly equivalent to the full-nic vape you switched to from cigarettes. This is your "outside" vape.
- Start restricting the locations you use the full-nic vape. I work from home, so I don't vape full-nic at my desk, I walk outside to do it. You want to break the absent-minded vaping+work or vaping+tv habit.
- Step your nicotine intake down over as long a period as you like, but don't ever step it back up. First time I quit, I did it over about a year. That's a little extreme. You could probably do it over a few months.
- Once you're on 0 nic all the time, either stay with that, or gradually wean yourself off the habit as well. This is much easier without the chemical addiction.
Good luck.
Other people have tried gum and not had it help them. I find it pretty helpful for me so far. I'm now two weeks in and I only chew 2 pieces a day now. Only have it when smelling others' cigarette smoke triggers my cravings. Overall, I'm gonna try to quit the gum by the end of next week.
I will note that I seem to have way easier of a time with nicotine withdrawal than other people I've talked to.
If you have children, remind yourself that you want to be around for as many of their achievements as possible.
I quitted few years ago already. I bought a pack of those peppermint like pills that contain nicotine to help stopping. They tasted so horribly bad I just had like 2 of them and quit smoking cold. So maybe go get some of those disgusting pills.
Pretty old video now but it explains why you smoke and helps to stop.
Probably safer to use qbittorrent's built in search to find it.
While I have no personal experience with tobacco addictions, there is an interesting literature review of CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) and MBI (Mindfulness Based Interventions).
Cold turkey is what works for most people but if you tried it and failed many times don't be afraid to use nicotine replacement in some form, medication ( I used Champix and I've quit successfully 3 years ago) or even therapy. You'll find online a lot of people who say that you only need willpower which is true if you have it but just depressing if you don't making your situation after numerous quit attempts worse and worse.
There are plenty of websites with concrete plans and tips on how to do it, all of them with good advice but you have find out what works for you and what doesn't. There are also some apps that can help you track your quit process, the health benefits of quitting and reward you.
Since you told nothing about your previous attempts if you had any or how long youve been smoking and why you want to quit I can only give some general advice:
Every day you don't smoke is a win. You need to find out why smoking hurts you, why stopping smoking would help you. Choose a plan, stuck to it and if you fail learn from it.
If I can offer you one piece of advice on quitting tobacco it's this: Understand that it may be possible that you don't succeed at quitting on your first attempt. That is okay. Most people don't succeed quitting on their first attempt. What is important is that you keep trying to quit.
There are many different strategies for quitting. Mine involved switching to vaping and mixing my vape juice so that I gradually weened myself off of the Nicotine two years later. Prior to that I tried using Rx Chantix which worked until my prescription ran its course. I also tried the gum with very little success, but that's not to say it won't work for you, it might. Explore your options.
Nothing worked for me until Covid came and I've stopped seeing my friends who smoked. Best of luck on your endeavour!
I hear sucking on a lollipop can help.
Two ways.
- Get a crutch and pretend you quit.
This can either be vaping, snus, nicotine pouches, the patch, anything.
- Cold Turkey
Quitting one morning by just never smoking that day.
That's all I know.
I tried quitting a number of times. Not easy, and demoralizing when you fail. You may have to try several times too.
When I finally did quit I had decided to put off my first cigarette in the morning as long as possible, reasoning that sleep was the longest I'd go without nicotine. One day I went the whole day.
A friend quit at the same time as me, using the gum. Six months later she was still using it, and gave up and started smoking again.
Probably helps that I had quit drinking by then as well. Pretty hard to drink and not smoke, for me.
Both my parents were longtime smokers, my dad quit cold Turkey after 25 years. My mum quit cold turkey after about 45. They both seemed fine with it, maybe some nicorette gum at first but they dropped that quickly. With my dad having 20 years smoke free ahead of my mom, his health is way better. He is active. My mom needed some heartwork done.
I used chantix back in the day, but it also required me basically not leaving the house for a month to really get there. When and where I quit for the first time (I would later start dating a smoker and relapse, then quit again), smoking was still allowed indoors and I had a huge association with drinking and smoking. Same for certain other places and situations. I basically had to do everything I could to avoid those. It got easier with time.
I used nicotine pouches for a year then cold turkeyed at day 365
I quit smoking successfully a few years ago, after at least a dozen unsuccessful attempts.
Here's what was different the time I succeeded:I changed my mindset. Basically, I told myself that I won't ever smoke a single cigarette again in my life, no matter how shitty that makes me feel.
The trigger for that mindset was a common cold that left me breathless for 4 weeks.
And the key to success was the realization that:1.) I'm not addicted to cigarettes, I'm addicted to nicotine
2.) Nicotine by itself isn't all that harmful
3.) Whenever I have a craving, I can just chew a nicotine chewing gum
4.) Nicotine by itself isn't even that addictiveSo I bought a whole lot of nicotine gum, and whenever I felt the slightest craving I popped one in.
After about 2 weeks the cravings subsided (cause nicotine isn't actually what makes you addicted).Get yourself a good nicotine vape rig. The kind that has a big tank so it'll last all day and you can use whichever flavoured vape liquid you like best. Switch to that 100% of the time, right away, no exceptions. Don't worry about how to quit vaping until you've gone without smoking for at least a few months.
It'll be hard, but not nearly as bad as it is if you try to quit both smoking and nicotine at the same time.
You already have! Congratulations! That last one, was the last one. Throw away the rest, you're done.
Talk about placement
I read Allen Carr's book "easy way to quit smoking without willpower" and took a drug called Chantix (prescription drug here in Sweden and my first doctor didn't want to prescribe it because all I needed was willpower according to him). The book helped with the habits, the drug removed the cravings and I've been cigarette free since then. It was my third or fourth attempt, and it was BY FAR the easiest. Ignore everyone telling you to quit cold turkey, to have willpower or whatever else, and get Champix prescribed to you.
I vaped for quite a while. Got a bit addicted to the tinkering and the juice hunting. It can be a fun hobby which probably makes it a bad way to quit if you're anything like me.
I worked myself down on the nicotine levels until I was at zero.
Relapsed back to cigarettes after not having vaped for a few months due to stress.
Finally stopped cold turkey. Didn't go back to vaping just decided it was time.
Things that ultimately helped:
- Having a reason to quit that I could remind myself of daily as an affirmation.
- My partner was also quitting, I needed her to stop and needed to be there to support her efforts.
If I was going to do it again, I'd probably look into Fum or something similar. Probably add some nicotine gum at the start to ease the chemical addiction.
This might help https://www.artofliving.org/in-en/happiness-program
I went cold turkey with the help of Wellbutrin. Best of luck!
Find other ways to cope when you get the urge, ie vape etc
Or big balls daddy cold turkey it
Read or listen to Allen Carr - how to stop smoking. There's an audiobook on torrents.
I quit cold turkey about 5 months ago after smoking for a decade. Might start again, might not. I still get cravings. If I do start again I'm going to make myself learn to roll them by hand instead of buying packs so that it's cheaper and takes more conscious effort.
First time I quit i was sick and cigarettes tasted awful for a week, so I figured if I had already gone a week without I might as well quit. Whenever I got a craving I thought about how disgusting they tasted with a cold, and imagined spongey lungs filling with black tar till I gave myself a shiver of disgust.
I started up again years later while traveling, then quit for good while visiting my parents for 2 months - I know I'm too embarrassed to smoke around my parents.
I'm not the guy to ask. That was taken yesterday.
If you find out, let me know, please. :)
Just quit, there is no easy way than this. You just have to quit. İt will be tough but not from the nicotine itself, from the actions you had to take daily. That is the most hard to pass, but then you’ll learn to live in a new way without any addiction.
Nicotine pouches
my accidental 2 step program: 1: switch to these "heets" and the "iqos" and smoking no normal cigs. 2: when i got sick and wanted to smoke i couldnt stand the taste of these things without vomiting. They basically ruined tobacco for me, i never touched a cigarette after that and i stopped smoking one and a half year ago :)
Just stop!
But what helped me: often smoking is part of a daily routine or ritual, so mix up your routine. Take up a new hobby or take the bus instead of the car. Go for a walk after lunch. Giving up smoking is a big change, so don't be afraid to make big changes. Get new clothes. Make new friends. You have discarded your old identity as a smoker. Still smoking? Doesn't matter! You already want to stop - you're becoming that person already.
And don't be so hard on yourself if you have a smoke now and then. Be conscious of what situation or routine triggered the reflex, and change it in future. If you have a smoke every few days or weeks, don't sweat it, you've broken addiction as far as I'm concerned!
I think it depends what your goal is. If you want a less painful quit wheen yourself off it. If you want to be off them ASAP then cold turkey.
I had tried multiple times previously, but when I stopped using snus (tobacco in pouches you put under your lip) for good these are things that helped me succeed:
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I actually wanted to quit (this is the most important one. If you just feel like you should quit and don't actually want to. It's gonna be really rough).
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I set a deadline for myself. For me, that deadline was during a family vacation so I planned for myself to get through the last box of snus before the vacation was over. I had a single box of snus that was already opened and a week long vacation (a single box used to last me maybe 2 days normally). This made me ration it out so I had a natural decrease in amounts used before I quit.
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I distracted myself from things that would normally make me want to grab a snus. Some were harder to avoid like when having morning coffee or when I had just eaten a large meal, but those could be substituted with chewing gum, breath mints, etc. I had also just recently started dating again at the time, so my daily routine was almost always different from the norm, which made ignoring the cravings a lot simpler.
And honestly, from there it was just staying true to my goal and making sure to be proud of every milestone. Even now, 5 years later, I made sure to be proud of being 5 years clean.
And you will think about it every now and then. Especially in situations where you normally go for a smoke, your brain will occasionally go back to "ahh, shit, a smoke would be nice now". I still have those moments when I have stressful situations, have been out drinking, or just randomly from time to time.
If you really want to quit, you can do it! I believe in you!
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From my experience, I would say it really depends on what kind of smoker you are.
I smoked on and off for over twenty years. I made strong associations with cigarettes in my college years. It was a way to get away, to be different, to meet new people, to relax, etc. Sometimes I smoked two packs a day, but more often a pack a week. I smoked the most while driving or after work or at the bar. My friends at the bar smoked, my girlfriends smoked, my coworkers smoked.
I read long ago that, for some people, nicotine fits like a puzzle piece into a receptor in their bodies. I believe I lack this receptor that causes biological addition and my smoking was due more to Pavlovian conditioning. I never had a morning craving. I never got "the shakes". I quit over a dozen times, sometimes for more than a year.
When I was finally ready, and I have to emphasize that you need to be ready, I actually went out of my way to not have a cigarette while doing the things I strongly associated with smoking. I knew I was ready and it was going to stick because I quit over the course of "Beer Week" (Beer Week is when all the bars in the city have beer specials and events and serve one-off or collaboration beers from around the world). It was the worst time to quit but also the best time to quit. It was a challenge. When my friends at the bar all went out for a smoke, I joined them - without a smoke. When I was done eating dinner, I'd go outside and just sit and think without the cigarette. I even went for a drive with a cigarette in my hand and pretended to smoke it without lighting it up.
Being ready to quit isn't about knowing it's bad for you. To be really honest with you, I quit because I was flirting with a super cute girl who happened to be a doctor (I still remember her name - Rose. Because Rose + Doctor Who). Everything was going great then I interrupted her so I could go outside for a cigarette. The disappointment felt by the both of us when I returned was the gut punch I needed. I still have that pack of cigarettes that I only had three smokes out of.
I've not had a single urge to smoke for nine and a half years now.
Or you could try hypnotherapy. Worked for my mom after smoking for over 45 years.
Quitting isn’t very hard if you've got a valid reason, determination and, most importantly, you set your mind properly. Don’t do “strong will” quitting where you force yourself to go through painful experience of quitting, but you don’t fully understand why you have to. Your mindset is the key - if you start to truly believe you don’t need tobacco and there’s not much that you sacrifice by quitting, it comes naturally and you can call yourself a non-smoker from day 1. You must be certain that there won’t be any reasons to feel there is something missing, you no longer have your daily ritual, you don’t have chat with smoking coworkers or you don’t know what to do with your hands. No matter how hard it sounds to imagine now, as a non-smoker you cannot care less. The typical imagination on how hard it is to change habits or how nothing is the same after that change, you must remember that your mind projects that to you in a very hyperbolic way. Same goes as the physical aspect of nicotine addiction - some say that your body would absolutely freak out if you suddenly remove nicotine from it. For the most part, this is utter bullshit. Yes, you can totally perceive nicotine hunger, but it’s there only for as long as there’s some nicotine left in your body. You only need 10-14 days to get rid of all of the nicotine and that’s it. In practice the hunger isn’t even as bad as smokers typically make it out to be. The mental addiction is much harder, because if you stay addicted and keep feeling as you were robbed out of something you liked, you can go back to it even after long time, even if cigarettes taste like shit and make you sick to the stomach and you want to vomit and poo at the same time.
I’ve quit smoking multiple times, sadly you can go back to it after some time if you decide to experiment with it to maybe teach yourself to be “casual smoker” (which you won’t be, believe me), or like in my case smoking weed mixed with tobacco has put me right back in nicotine addiction. I’ve quit smoking 2 years ago now, I was sick of that shit.
Educate yourself about what smoking does to your body. Imagine it on every inhale. Make yourself really hate it. Set a specific end date in the near future (but keep it to yourself, you don’t need outside pressure). In the meantime continue thinking about how much you hate smoking. Then stop cold turkey.
If you miss smoke breaks with others at work or whatever, just keep hanging out with them but don’t smoke. If they ask about it, don’t say you are trying to stop, say you did stop.
Getting healthy is a personal journey. What works for some will not work for others. I hope you find your way.
As for how I quit tobacco cold turkey:
Every day, I would delay the first cigarette as long as I could. There was no limits to my smoking. There was no rules. Just me doing my best. No putting myself down for sparking one up, no goals to disappoint myself by missing.
Slowly over the course of months I got later and later in the day on average. Till one day I forgot to have one. Did I have a smoke the next day? You bet I did.
But eventually I made it a couple days. Then once I got past a couple days I tried to push for a week. Once you get past two weeks the cravings really dropped. It eventually become a "when I drink" thing. And then I abstained from alcohol to help that along.
I still drink, but I don't smoke (tobacco). It's been years since I actively smoked, although two years ago I did slip up when i was drunk tubing down a river and bummed like 5 cig from a friend who had a couple packs. It was a really good day. Next day, I didn't want to keep smoking. I felt really strong to be able to smoke some cigs and just drop it. Haven't smoked (tobacco) since then.
