How to Quit Smoking - Without Using Products Or Programs
Having been a three-four pack a day smoker for many years, 32 to be exact, I feel I have acquired a little knowledge on this subject that I feel I should share with other smokers or would be smokers not only about smoking but also about how to quit.
I not only smoked for many years but I also tried unsuccessfully to quit a number of times but quit I finally did and what I want to share with everyone is not only why I quit but also how I quit.
Prior to finally giving up the worst habit I had ever acquired I smoked and smoked and smoked...
I come from a family of smokers, we all loved to smoke.
I loved smoking so much that I have, believe it or not, smoked 5 packs in a single day.
Unbelievable I know but true never the less.
This little history of myself should give me a little credibility on this subject so let us get on with how I finally did quit.
I tried many different ways, both products and programs, to end this habit but it was finally logic that dictated I quit.
I thought about the cost of what I was doing and this is how I broke it down.
At the time I quit cigarettes cost $14 a carton and between my wife and I we smoked a carton every other day.
Hard to believe I know.
At the time that would have been a car payment for a very nice car but instead I was burning it up in cigarettes and doing considerable harm to myself while doing it.
Anyway I broke it down in cigarettes smoked per day and then down even farther to how many an hour.
I discovered by doing this I was smoking a cigarette on average approximately every 15 minutes or so.
This, from a financial standpoint, was absolute lunacy and not logical at all.
Since I considered myself to be at least somewhat logical I decided I needed very badly to do something about this situation.
I began to research some on the subject and this is the conclusion that I finally accepted.
Smoking is a habit and not an addiction as so many would prefer you to believe.
I will explain how I arrived at that conclusion.
Simply put, a habit is something you choose to do and an addiction is something you are forced to do.
Observe a drug addict when they are in need of what is referred to as a fix.
They have no choice in the matter what so ever.
They simply have to have it or suffer some extremely dire consequences.
A smoker on the other hand can go for hours if need be without a cigarette if that is required.
For instance: a long plane flight, going to the movie or a whole list of different scenarios.
Most smokers think they are addicted and there are people that would like for you to believe that (would it be because they in some way make money from your habit?) but do not be fooled like I was for years.
Smoking is a habit and habits, as we all know, can be broken...
So how did I manage to quit this habit after 32 years? I realized two things: # 1- it was and is a very expensive, annoying and deadly habit.
# 2 - it is simply a habit and not an addiction.
If I had viewed it as an addiction then it would have been extremely hard to quit but when viewed as a habit (although it is hard to break) it can definitely be broken with a little will power and perseverance.
So exactly how did I quit? "I just quit".
I got up one Monday morning and decided that this was the day I beat the cigarette habit.
That was 20 years ago so I guess it worked.
Was it easy? That would depend on what you mean by easy.
I will have to say the first week was a real challenge but you have to remember I was breaking a 32-year three - four pack a day bad habit and as they say, "Good habits are easy to break and bad habits are hard to break" and this was definitely a bad habit.
So no, it was not particularly easy, but the benefits of not smoking far outweigh the discomforts I went through while going from a smoker to a nonsmoker.
So you might ask how I got through that first week of not smoking? You have to focus on the benefits of being a nonsmoker (and there are many) and not on what you feel you are having to give up.
It is simply a mindset...
You are either a smoker or a nonsmoker.
Decide to quit, set your mind to it and do not be deterred by the calling of your habit to smoke just one more.
Just one more...
You can smoke just one more or you can refuse to smoke just one more.
It truly is a choice because it truly is just a habit.
You are either bigger than your habit or your habit is bigger than you...
I not only smoked for many years but I also tried unsuccessfully to quit a number of times but quit I finally did and what I want to share with everyone is not only why I quit but also how I quit.
Prior to finally giving up the worst habit I had ever acquired I smoked and smoked and smoked...
I come from a family of smokers, we all loved to smoke.
I loved smoking so much that I have, believe it or not, smoked 5 packs in a single day.
Unbelievable I know but true never the less.
This little history of myself should give me a little credibility on this subject so let us get on with how I finally did quit.
I tried many different ways, both products and programs, to end this habit but it was finally logic that dictated I quit.
I thought about the cost of what I was doing and this is how I broke it down.
At the time I quit cigarettes cost $14 a carton and between my wife and I we smoked a carton every other day.
Hard to believe I know.
At the time that would have been a car payment for a very nice car but instead I was burning it up in cigarettes and doing considerable harm to myself while doing it.
Anyway I broke it down in cigarettes smoked per day and then down even farther to how many an hour.
I discovered by doing this I was smoking a cigarette on average approximately every 15 minutes or so.
This, from a financial standpoint, was absolute lunacy and not logical at all.
Since I considered myself to be at least somewhat logical I decided I needed very badly to do something about this situation.
I began to research some on the subject and this is the conclusion that I finally accepted.
Smoking is a habit and not an addiction as so many would prefer you to believe.
I will explain how I arrived at that conclusion.
Simply put, a habit is something you choose to do and an addiction is something you are forced to do.
Observe a drug addict when they are in need of what is referred to as a fix.
They have no choice in the matter what so ever.
They simply have to have it or suffer some extremely dire consequences.
A smoker on the other hand can go for hours if need be without a cigarette if that is required.
For instance: a long plane flight, going to the movie or a whole list of different scenarios.
Most smokers think they are addicted and there are people that would like for you to believe that (would it be because they in some way make money from your habit?) but do not be fooled like I was for years.
Smoking is a habit and habits, as we all know, can be broken...
So how did I manage to quit this habit after 32 years? I realized two things: # 1- it was and is a very expensive, annoying and deadly habit.
# 2 - it is simply a habit and not an addiction.
If I had viewed it as an addiction then it would have been extremely hard to quit but when viewed as a habit (although it is hard to break) it can definitely be broken with a little will power and perseverance.
So exactly how did I quit? "I just quit".
I got up one Monday morning and decided that this was the day I beat the cigarette habit.
That was 20 years ago so I guess it worked.
Was it easy? That would depend on what you mean by easy.
I will have to say the first week was a real challenge but you have to remember I was breaking a 32-year three - four pack a day bad habit and as they say, "Good habits are easy to break and bad habits are hard to break" and this was definitely a bad habit.
So no, it was not particularly easy, but the benefits of not smoking far outweigh the discomforts I went through while going from a smoker to a nonsmoker.
So you might ask how I got through that first week of not smoking? You have to focus on the benefits of being a nonsmoker (and there are many) and not on what you feel you are having to give up.
It is simply a mindset...
You are either a smoker or a nonsmoker.
Decide to quit, set your mind to it and do not be deterred by the calling of your habit to smoke just one more.
Just one more...
You can smoke just one more or you can refuse to smoke just one more.
It truly is a choice because it truly is just a habit.
You are either bigger than your habit or your habit is bigger than you...
Source...