Quitting Smoking...... *how I did it*

I quit smoking in a moment of rage and never looked back, beyond the very occasional cigar, but it's been about a year since I've had one of those. May not work for everyone.

I am trying without success to quit smoking and was wondering how all of you delt with the psychological part of it. The cravings and the factor that all smokers say it helps with their anxiety. I know this is false and I know it is a stimulant, but the smokers that I have spoken to swear it works verses their anxiety. So I'm wondering if this is psychological on their part and I should stop believing it or if there is actually some truth to what they are saying like a placebo affect in a way. I am currently on the 21 mg patch and am trying vaping to substitute smoking. So far it's working ok but when my anxiety gets really bad is when I have the worst urge to pick up a cigarette. Any wisdom would be greatly appreciated!!

You could try to coach yourself to it as an embarrassment.... see it as an oral fixation disorder ie revetment to suckling... being a baby.

I never got addicted, but when I realized my fingers were always smelling of it I just stopped buying or bumming them. I don't mind the smell but just talk myself out of it as soon as I start to consider it.

For if you use a stimulant enough (or anything) you desensitise to it (often leading to increased use to get the same hit) and so when not using it types of discomfort can emerge.. and thus its use redresses that discomfort. So if a stimulant is calming, then it might mean some type of dependance might have developed IMO.

At the end of the day it's not healthy and is expensive, plus everyone can smell it on a smoker and it's not a nice smell really to most people.. do or do not... but some things cannot be stopped cold turkey, so stopping is stopping - you just got to steer a solid course out and never return. And an addict is always addicted IMO, so it's not the addiction to escape but it's its control over you. Take control back, and keep control over it! All just IMO, good luck & may the Force be with you.

Yea I am kinda tired of smelling like an ashtray more and more. Thank you for your wisdom.

I was both more and less fortunate than most. I was living in Texas and my life had gotten totally out of control. The Force blessed me with a bus ticket to get back to my home state. I realized that I had screwed myself up badly and that leaving Tx was an opportunity for me to change. I knew that I had to change because the way I had been living was an utter waste. Yes, you can waste your life. I know because i wasted much of mine. You can waste your life by refusing to even try to become the person you could become if you only try.

Anyway, when I got back to my home state I went directly to my mother’s place. She had quit smoking a few years before and had a serious lung condition (which later turned into incurable lung cancer, which also killed my father many years before) and it was a strict NO SMOKING home. I enrolled in community college the following semester and spent most of my time at home. I still held onto smoking for a few weeks whenever i left the apt but all the time i spent at home NOT smoking made me fully realize and fully believe that I could be OK without cigarettes. Since I had come back home to rebuild my life, and since i understood the cost of smoking and the importance of quitting, it was just a no-brainer for me to quit. Once I really KNEW that I would be fine without smoking, the thought of beating the addiction, escaping the inevitable cancer, and finally being free after so many years was a much more powerful motivator than the impulse to smoke.

I started using the patch and I'm trying 0 nic vaping which seems to help. The only thing bad is my brother is still a smoker so when he comes back in from smoking he smells funny. It reminds me of an ash tray kinda. Also I've started thinking about getting something with the money I would save by not smoking. I really want one of those t-shirts in the totjo shop. TT_TT They look so awesome.