HOW TO QUIT SMOKING

Hey, Guys in this one I’ll give you some tips and inspiration on: “How to quit smoking”

But before starting I’ll firstly mention few things for those who wonder if I’ve even been a smoker. And how bad my addiction was.

I started smoking at age of 9 and quit when I was 19. Already smoking 2 packs a day, at the final stages I was also very often collecting cigarette butts. I was pulling out the tobacco, re-rolling it in rolling paper and then smoking the new made by me cigarette.

Expectorating up to 40 times a day, my sputa had dark brown color and I was huffing and puffing 24/7. And, the smallest physical activities were causing me a lot of exhaustion and breathing issues.

Despite I’ve been a smoker for close to a decade, I made only one attempt to quit cigarettes and I succeeded in it. (Without any difficulties, relapses nor additional help.)

If you want to find out more about my story of abusing the s*it out of multiple substances including Nicotine. Then I suggest checking my essay “From Addictions To Life”.

While the written in it is mostly about my experiences with various drugs, in this post I’ll tell you how overcome the addiction to nicotine. Or in other words: What were the things which helped me do the same 11 years ago.

Last but not least: You can take all of the written below as total bro science. Because I don’t have any form of scientific evidence to back it up. So with that being said, lets begin…

Change Your Perception &DevelopThe Right Mindset

A lot of people tend to believe quitting cigarettes is way more difficult, than it actually is. That not only automatically discourages them from the very beginning, but as well couldn’t be further from the truth.

If you suspect you’re one of those people, then changing your way of thinking will be the 1st and probably the most important step for you to take.

Simple as it sounds, the biggest part of quitting cigarettes boils down to making the decision of doing it, after being in the right state of mind.

Don’t Trust Anyone

You have to understand that very often 2 things appear as huge obstacles when someone’s fighting their nicotine addiction: The advices given them by some so called experts and the stories and opinions of people who failed to do so.

Why? Because they negatively influence person’s perception and make them see things scarier and much more difficult than they actually are. Then the person starts expecting to relapse and that ultimately affects his or her motivation and hope of succeeding.

I really don’t care if it’s your mommy, daddy, girlfriend or boyfriend. Just because quitting cigarettes was way too difficult to them or to Joe Shmoe doesn’t mean that it truly is. Nor that is going to be to you.

The results those people have gotten have nothing to do with your own journey to freedom.

Since you’re reading this than most likely you have difficulties quitting the habit, which means you more or less susceptible to any opinions given on that topic.

Trust me! Telling people about your intentions puts everything at massive risk. Plus that you’ll feel way better if you let them find out on their own after you’ve already quit. Have the idea of quitting in your head, think about it daily, but not tell anyone about your plans and especially not other smokers.

Use Mental Transmutation To Detach Yourself From The Habit

Start preparing yourself for the times when you’ll no longer be a smoker. Visualize how every aspect of your life will look without the awful habit. Be specific and come up with as many details as possible.

Make it a daily ritual. Think of all the things you do on daily basis. How would they look if you weren’t a smoker.

Remember those 2 things : To become nonsmoker you have to firstly start seeing yourself as one.

Regardless of how addicted you may or may not currently feel and of what the nicotine is convincing you, smoking is not part who you truly are. You haven’t been born smoker.The habit came later in your life and now it’s time for it to leave.

Do Not Reduce The Number Of Cigarettes

Why this method is so ineffective ?

By using it you put yourself into position where,although less frequently, you’re still fueling your cravings.The longer you smoke that reduced number of cigarettes, the longer you’ll keep having the same need to have a smoke. To get rid of it, you have to simply bite the bullet and quit smoking for one day.

Only after stopping entirely, the cravings will begin fading away.The longer you’re not putting sticks in the fire of that need the weaker your cravings will get. Until they eventually disappear. The sooner you face all of that, the sooner you’ll start moving towards freeing yourself completely.

No, that doesn’t mean to jump on it just like that, and especially not if you’re currently smoking 2 packsa day. Use the previous tips I gave you to condition yourself mentally. And then become ready for the day when you’re going to start living your new life.

Sure, it’s going to be tough for a while. But the longer you sustain it, the easier it will get until your cravings are finally gone.

2 Weeks

My advice is do not plan to do anything important nor special during your first 2 weeks as a nonsmoker. You’ll most likely get very angry, anxious and not capable of getting stuff done. You might as well act like a total jerk and snap on people for no reason. Although they’ll be very unpleasant, once you go pass that period, you’ll start feeling much better.

No, that doesn’t mean the need for having a smoke will be completely gone after that time. Significantly weaker you’ll have nicotine cravings for quite a while, but ignoring them will get easier with every single day, minute and even a second.

Forget About The Myths
Probably the biggest myths when it comes to quitting cigarettes are things similar to the following.

“If you quit smoking you’ll get fat”
“To stop smoking you have to slowly reduce the number of cigarettes you’re smoking per day…”
“To quit you firstly have to smoke 5, 6, 7 or some number cigarettes per day for extended period of time…”

While the first is mostly used as an excuse by people who avoid facing their problem.The 2nd two seem to be more like scary threats, because they’re usually followed by the phrase: “Otherwise something bad could happen…”

Promoted by so called experts, others – selling nicotine gum or stickers and favorite to those who never managed to quit, all of them couldn’t be further from the truth.

What will truly happen when you quit is that tobacco industry will lose another victim. Some of the people around you will figure out you aren’t like them. And every single cell in your body will greatly appreciate your newly made lifestyle adjustment.

No, you won’t get fat. You’ll have so much more energy. One you could invest to improve other aspects of your life. Like getting in shape and/or overcoming another problem you’re currently dealing with.

How To Deal With Cravings The Habit Of Autosuggestion

Even though by itself quitting cigarettes is not a process, dealing with the cravings certainly is. Being prepared for it mentally is something, importance of which you should by no means underestimate.

Yes, the cravings will be there for quite a while. Due to that having number of things to constantly remind yourself the final goal is vital to your success, especially during the earliest and most difficult phases.

You can look on it as: Self Hypnosis or Motivation. I prefer to call it the habit of Autosuggestion.

That is really doesn’t matter. Truly important are only the actual things you’re going to pick. Thinking of them must have the power to make you not want to smoke.

To help you understand better what I mean, I decided give you few suggestions you could use on your own. Those were the exact things to which I was going in my head every time when fighting my last nicotine cravings.

#1.The Idea To Become An Example.

Sure I was afraid my body seriously damaged, not only because of the years of smoking. But also because of other stuff I did to myself during my late childhood and whole puberty. Yet, sometimes that fear wasn’t as powerful as the goal of becoming an example and making my mom quit.

After months of preparation and following the same protocol I gave you, my mom ultimately quit cigarettes for one day. That happened during my first 11/2 year as nonsmoker.

#2. Money
Money works as an incredible motivator for most people. And thankfully it does, because it helped me to completely ignore many of my last nicotine cravings.

Having an exact idea of what you’re going to do with the cash, you’re no longer spending on cigarettes is powerful tool, you should definitely take advantage of.

My advice is to not save your money on something big from the very beginning. Instead make sure to buy smaller, yet awesome things more frequently.

For example: You could collect and use the weekly amount, you were previously spending on cigarettes to buy yourself something nice in the end of each week. That will not only help you staying on track, but as well give you something to always look forward to.

Something like a present to give yourself, because you’ve done another week successfully. As the time passes, your cravings get weaker and you begin having more control, you can start saving for bigger things.

Here’s what I did…

During the 1st months I was mostly spending the money on clothes, sneakers and accessories for my turntables. After the first year however, I started saving for longer periods. That allowed me afford more expensive things like studio gear and others.

#3. Other or problems addictions (if you have some)

I don’t know you, nor your current situation in life, we all have to deal with some issues.

Trying to fight multiple addictions is tougher than many could even imagine. The best thing you can possibly do is eliminating them one by one. And the same goes to your day to day problems and issues.

Focusing on one at time always gives you better chances of winning. And makes things easier and less scary every time their number decreas.

Although quitting cigarettes is not so difficult, after doing so you’ll feel like you’ve accomplished a such a great deal. That will strengthened your will power, boost your confidence and make you gain momentum.

I sincerely suggest you remembering that: Whatever life throws at you, you’re going to be able to deal with at a lot better as a non smoker.

I knew I firstly needed to get rid of smoking, in order to increase my chances of succeeding when later in life I dealing with my alcohol problem…

Inspiration

My addiction to nicotine wasn’t the only one I had. So let me tell you little secret as former heavy abuser of many things including tobacco. Pay extra attention to the next few sentences:

Despite I was smoker for close to a decade, quitting cigarettes was piece of cake when comparing it to the struggles I had with each of the following substances: Weed, Junk Food, Porn, Speed and especially, Alcohol.

Based on that I dare to say that: The whole smoking thing is extremely overrated. And that is exactly what makes quitting cigarettes more difficult than it really is.

Have no doubt about it. For many consecutive years I used to believe that I would be smoker forever, but luckily that changed.

Understanding few key things helped me to see my problem from different perspective and due to that get into the right state of mind.

First one was that in contradiction to what many specialists preach: Quitting cigarettes is not a process, but something you do once and for all.

The biggest inspiration to realize it came from story my, mother told me about her father.

After he’s been smoker for so many years in a row and having plenty of triggers on a daily basis, the grandfather I never had the chance to meet, quit cigarettes for single day. The fact I’m named after him inspired me even more.

Hearing it for the first time, I was so impressed by the story. Because all of the people I knew, or heard of either failed or were keep failing to quit over and over again. Just for the record they were smoking at least 1 pack a day.

Besides the relapses however, same people had something else in common as well. That was the way they were trying to deal with the problem. Advised by specialists and maybe others like them, they were trying to gradually reduce the number of the smokes they had per day.

Comparing their experiences and results to those of my grandfather helped me understand 2 things.
(1) Freeing myself from the horrible habit was quite possible. Actually way more possible than I previously told it was.

(2) All of those mofos have been doing things the wrong way.

Even though I was still a smoker, my mentality about the problem changed and I knew that one day I won’t be one. However, that wasn’t enough.

Not sure when, nor how exactly it happened, but after a while something in my mind clicked. And I started comparing the cigarette smoking to all of the other things I’ve ever used.

Without paying attention to it, soon my mind was making that comparison, every time when I was having a smoke. It became part of the actual smoking and after a while I realized the truth: Smoking is full of s*it.

While with everything else I was experiencing some kind of high, that certainly wasn’t the case with cigarettes. And I started asking myself what exactly I was I craving, because at that point I was no longer sure.

Almost meditating on the question made figure out that people who struggle with nicotine addiction are much more of slaves than they are real addicts.

By being unbiased and thinking clearly, you’ll eventually come to the same conclusion to which I came 11 years ago. Absolutely nothing happens when you’re having a smoke.

You don’t orgasm, nor get to taste something delicious. You don’t get high, stoned, drunk nor wired. Smoking also doesn’t give you any form of mental or physical rushes.

It only makes you craving it more, while wasting time and money to destroy your health. For what ? – To get some short lasting relief but really not experience anything.

Let me tell you another secret. The true relief comes only after you manage to get rid of the cravings forever.

After months of planning and thinking about it I quit cigarettes without telling anyone. Differently of the other stuff, I started noticing the benefits of not doing it, almost immediately after quitting.

Sure I had massive cravings, but I never missed the habit.

No, all that that is not permission nor a recommendation, to you to start f*cking with some other stuff. Just some food for thought. So you could open your eyes and realize how pathetic the nicotine addiction truly is.

Based on what I saw and went through I believe that: By silently, yet surely destroying people’s, lives cigarettes, porn, sugar and of course liquor make many see the heavier substances as the solution of their problems.

However that has a good side. Since you don’t experience any of the things I’ve mentioned, nothing is really holding you back from quitting.

I hope that makes sense, yours Truly:
Peteonthebeat