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.
One day at a time. Every time you want a cigarette but don’t give in, you have built strength. Use that strength to better resist the next urge. Really internalize that what you are doing is strong and powerful. Each victory accumulates and supports those to come.
thank you ^^
Find other ways to cope when you get the urge, ie vape etc
Or big balls daddy cold turkey it
I hear sucking on a lollipop can help.
Nicotine patches. It gives your brain what it wants with little to no adverse effects
The problem with patches is you don’t satisfy the oral aspect of the habit so you may need to chew gum or sunflower seeds to replace the act of smoking.
Nicotine gum or pouches may seem like a simpler option, but you can up your dose frequency too much to be able to ween off effectively if you do not have the willpower to keep to a plan.
Gum and patch also means you can not use a patch after a while and mindfuck your reptile brain into thinking the gum is what it wanted and not the nicotine patch.
This might help https://www.artofliving.org/in-en/happiness-program
Nicotine pouches
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.
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.
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).
Just stop doing it. You won’t quit until you really want to stop, and then it’s actually kind of easy. You hear this from a lot of people who quit, that all the circumstances and programs and nicotine substitutes are kind of secondary to the mental aspect of it.
Got it!
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.
I dont have advice but best of luck with it!
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 stopped a pack and a half a day habit of ~10 years cold turkey. It was either food or smokes.
As others have said, there is no effective short cut. Ultimately, it is all will power. At least it is easier now. When I quit, EVERYONE smoked.
there is no effective short cut
As someone who quit by switching to vape pens, I strongly disagree. There are multiple studies that show a success rate of greater than 60% when using vaping as a smoking cessation device. The next closest method is 3%. 3 fucking percent! Guess who owns those methods? It’s the tobacco companies.
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.