Quit Smoking: How Did I Do it

After twenty years, I finally was able to say no and I am happy I've done it. I am writing this so that maybe some of you (smokers) can have an idea and try it yourself if you also want to quit.

It is really a matter of choice, some sort of change of a lifestyle. This is one of the most important factor which can affect the success or the failure if ever you will also decide to quit smoking. Some can be said to try quitting just because somebody tell them or maybe one of the main reasons, conscious about ones health. Some reasons like I have to quit because it is very expensive now, or your wife or your mother telling you she doesn't like it so you have to stop it. There are some other more reasons, and what I want to say is that if your reason falls under one of these, I would say you are closer to failure than success. It should be that no other factors or persons could be the reason, but it has to be a decision coming from you. These external factors or influence can add to the pressure and the more they are putting you in pressure the more you would find reasons to smoke. I do not recommend patches or artificial cigarettes as these intend to cheat yourself. Also, you have to admit that the process of quitting will not be as easy as you want it to be.

I started it by using the delay-by-one-hour-a-day technique. This means that I have to postpone lighting one cigarette by one hour. After that I can smoke again as much as I want. The next day it will have to be two-hour postponement. Let me just remind you that it is always the second stage which will give you a problem. Then third day it will be three-hour, and so on and so forth. You will notice when you try this especially when you reached half-day postponement that you will feel something strange like being a little excited or your heart beating faster than normal. You should always remember this feeling and you have to say to yourself that this is a very good feeling. This is what I told myself that is why it became easier for me to quit.

You don't have to repeat the process continuously, usually after three or four postponement you will feel that it seems that your body is now ready to quit permanently. If not, you just have to continue it and the utmost will be trying to delay it for one day. So if you are in this stage and you have successfully avoid lighting a single stick for one day, you just have to say to yourself again that this is a very good feeling and you are glad you have not lighted a single stick.

As I've said the second stage usually is the crucial stage and as long as you are successful in passing this stage you will be more successful. It is actually a mind-set and this is the most important step in this process. At this stage it is better that you have convince yourself that you are already a non-smoker.

You have already passed the first day, after the first day you will be fine and you will tell yourself that if you light a single stick at this time you already have one day sacrifice and it is not a good idea to waste this and you will now attempt to pass one week.

My experience is that it is usually the second period (day, week, month, etc.) on which urges are stronger. But as I've find out, after successfully reaching the third, my conviction became stronger.

If you reach the second week you will again be fine and you will tell yourself that if you light a single stick on this day you will just waste one week of sacrifice, and you will try to pass one month.

If you reach the second month you will again be fine and you will tell yourself that if you light a single stick at this time you will just waste one month of sacrifice, and you will try to pass two years.

It has to be progressive like this as you have to convince yourself that every success you made should be followed by a longer challenge. Remember: starting from day one your mind-set is that you are no longer a smoker.

Finally, it has to be a continuous awareness that a single stick can ruin everything you have done. So it is important also that at any period you can just waste every inch of sacrifice you have made.

Here are some tips that can help you:

1) Avoid drinks that are usually good while smoking, like coffee, softdrinks, etc. Avoid also activities or situations which will induce you to smoke.
2) If your urge seems to be getting strong, frequent some place or do something where it would be not good reason to smoke like theaters, hospitals, libraries, etc. Or have a chat with your grandma or your child. There are some activities though like playing chess, mahjong, and other boardgames which can induce smoking.
3) Be or at least pretend to be an enviromentalist, that you are concern about the environment.
4) Complement your program by having a regular exercise (a simple breath in, breath out exercise is a good start)
5) Avoid near a smoker if you can, especially during the early stages. If you are a drinker do not allow yourself to get drunk or if ever you get drunk it is better to go to sleep right away than staying awake and make conversations. Usually trying to stay awake induce smoking.
6) Do not have a diary of your progress, always you have to be or act as if you were a non-smoker before.

These are the things I did and I am glad I quit and this is my third year now without a single smoke. I hope this can also be of help to others.