Doing that thing from that one brochure

Hey everyone,

Some news I’d like to share with you. I’m going to be making another attempt at quitting. Don’t worry, I won’t be asking you to spot me smoking for your chance at a dollar (probably one of my worst ideas) nor am I asking you to celebrate. I just wanted to share because it is crucial step for quitting smoking to make it known among friends and family.

Reasons why I’m quitting:

• It’s expensive. Even though I make my own cigarettes with a machine, the tobacco is still expensive and the taxes on tobacco-related products have skyrockets in the last six months (increased twice since moving back to Chicago).
• It smells. It’s easy to forget, as a smoker, just how awful the smoke smells. Even as a smoker, I have pretty stellar sense of smell, but smoking makes you almost completely oblivious to the smell. I don’t want to push people away because of my smell. Also, I’m very self-conscious about my breath.
• It’s killing me. At this point in time, most people are aware of how dangerous smoking is and what the cost to one’s health is, so I won’t go over the facts. It’s lethal.
• The longer I wait, the harder it will be to quit. Experts agree that the older you are when you try to quit smoking the harder it is to quit. If I recall it has something to do with developmental flexibility: younger people can learn and unlearn new habits easier than their older counterparts.
• I need to set an example. As a minister who proclaims the beauty of life, it seems a bit hypocritical to throw away my own life by smoking.
• It doesn’t really solve my stress problem. One of the top reasons why many people smoke and certainly one of the reasons I fall back on, is that it’s a stress management tool, but the truth is that smoking doesn’t alleviate new stress. One of the reasons we experience stress as smokers is that we are nicotine sensitive. When we are stressed, it triggers a nicotine craving which usually inspires people to light up. The truth is that I need to manage my stress rather than pretending to escape it through smoking.

Strategies to overcome the addiction:

• Weaning off of nicotine. I have some patches and gum I’ll be using to help get through those first couple weeks. Doctors say it takes about two weeks for the nicotine to work its way through your system, but after that it’s mostly about stress management and breaking habits.
• Breaking routines. One of the biggest things about smoking is that people develop routines for their smoking. Wake up? Smoke. Finish eating? Smoke. Get off the train? Smoke. Write a paper? Smoke. By changing up the routine and never being consistent when I smoke, I can help break free from the habitual portion of smoking.
• Cutting back. Keeping track of how much I smoke and being intentional about smoking less will also aid in the weaning process as my body learns to cope with less nicotine.
• Relearning healthy stress management. As I mentioned, smokers tend to set aside actual stress management techniques in favor of smoking. Part of the process of quitting will be to relearn and practice stress management.
• Replacing habits. I believe it was William James who talked about overcoming habits by replacing them with other habits. This is not entirely hogwash. My plan is to take some of my stress management techniques and turn them into habits that I can use to replace smoking.

All that said, I don’t want to make light of the challenge that’s ahead for me. I went 13 months smoke-free so I know I can do it, but I also know that I will probably carry the burden of being a smoker with me for the rest of my life and that means I can’t get overconfident.

Quitting is my birthday present to myself, so my quit date is September 10th.

Good for you. I went cold turkey after I got out of the military as it was a promise to my mother. I will say that I found cold black coffee helped me with the withdrawal headaches and stress ( I love coffee so it was a comfort thing). So that might be something to help you if you are into coffee. Adding honey and cinnamon to the coffee are good natural sweeteners with their own set of health benefits that could be useful to you. Any how good luck because I know there are still times I want to smoke now even though its been five years since I last smoked.

Breaking the tie between smoking and certain activities was the hardest part for me while quitting. As you mentioned, certain times just called for a cigarette. For me it was after meals especially. You'll need to find something less harmful to replace that ritual with.

I also fell into the trap of being a "social smoker" who justified the behavior by telling myself "I only smoke when I drink" or "I only smoke around other smokers". Refusing a cigarette while in these situations can go a long way toward convincing yourself and others that you are serious about the change.

And finally, you will have to forgive yourself. There will be moments of weakness and times when a craving will make you downright miserable. Keep going anyway. Quitting is not an "all or nothing" proposition for most people. It is a process that will take time.

You got this, Jamie

Good Luck, Jamie

for me it was "easy" to quit cigarettes because i made a major life change (including moving to another city) and smoking was one of several bad habits that i dropped

it was kind of a whole-life life-overhaul

the thing that helps me the most now is the idea of getting fit and being fit, i still have a lot of work ahead of me but i have made some athletic commitments to myself and i can see a lot of progress compared to where i was two years ago, and now, at this point, no cigarette in the world is good enough to compromise all the work i have put in

for me that was the motivation and even the reward: i enjoy the opportunity to do something else other than smoke, and to actively say "no" to smoking as a moment of CHOOSING to be healthy RIGHT NOW

i sort of made that one moment of doing the right thing into a symbolic gesture to represent my whole life. and if i did smoke (i personally didnt relapse once i got going, but if i had) i would see that as being like lfe too - i can choose to take that one relapse as failure, or i can choose to focus on all the cigarettes i dont smoke and call it success, with challenges)

and then of course the fitness goals are one part of the larger goal of "Becoming a Whole and Healthy Person aka Living the Jedi Ideal"

my health and ability improve my performance over time, with practice, have become really important to me

i smoked for almost 20 years, and i was a heavy, and truly addicted smoker

those are the main things that help/ed me

You can do it!
Good Luck

I believe in you!

Awesome!

I found this really helpful when I was struggling (at the end of my rope...) to quit sugar binging. Perhaps you might too. http://www.rational.org/index.php?id=36

It is the opposite of a "12 step" course, which I found really attractive.

i smoked more than a pack a day for years and years

ive never gone more than a couple/few years without getting into some kind of fitness prorgram (usually a martial art) but the last couple of years as a smoker, my lungs got pretty bad

i really couldnt exert myself for any length of time and it was a constant worry and fear

i must have done more than the average amount of damage, because its taken quite a while to get my cardio even in the general vicinity of "healthy person who exercises", but i have

i can run!

it took a long time and a lot of work, but it is sooo worth it

i hope youre doing well, and if youre not, i hope you havent given up

its worth it when you get there