Been quit a year today - how I did it.

[ManchurianC]

1. When the time came, I realised that quitting smoking was not something I could attempt every day, and that I had to make the most of the willpower and determination I had built up, to do my very best to quit. Otherwise it might have been years, if ever, before I had the strength and resolve to try to quit again. I built up a genuine fear of starting smoking once I quit.

2. I made the decision that I would do whatever it took not to smoke (no matter how bizarre). For months I pretend-smoked when I was desperate, with a pipe. I did exactly the same actions and breathing as smoking, and even used a lighter to inhale heat into my lungs. Smoking is a lot more than just the tobacco - there are the rituals and the breathing etc. So I did whatever, to make sure I did not smoke a real cigarette or actually fill my pipe with tobacco.

3. I used nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), 4mg lozenges, for 8 months. I know some people think NRT is evil, and is just prolonging the agony, but for me I simply would not have been able to quit without it. My NRT usage went up and down, and at 6 months I was back up to 'day 1' levels of NRT support (9-a-day). But eventually I managed to kick NRT at 9 months (it's a 100 times easier to kick NRT than smoking, I think).

4. Also, I used a quit meter and doted over the time I had not smoked and proudly posted my stats on a forum (for about 6 months).

Here is the smoking quit meter I used (it's free and easy to use).

Quit Meter - Quit Keeper 1.08 - Tracking your statistics as you quit smoking - Home



The two things that I kept in mind while quitting were firstly, from native American philosophy, "Pain is a mater of opinion.", and secondly, from Buddhism or Islam, "This will pass."

The idea was that I owned my pain of withdrawal and I could manage it with my mind, rather that it controlling me (as if I had no say in the matter). And, that all things pass in time, so not matter how desperate and over-whelming cravings might appear, waiting, usually for just a few minutes, would make them go away.

It took me 11 months of not smoking before I went a whole day without thinking about smoking.

Anyway, good luck.

[historyteach]

Congratulations, ManchurianC!!!
You've done a great job and are an inspiration to the rest of us!

Shalom!