The Way to Really Quit Smoking

I started smoking at eighteen

First one, and I loved it. It helped me think. It helped me write. The moments of unwrapping the cellophane from the package… wow. Like a little gift every time. And I could make a miniature origami rabbit from the silver paper that I would leave on the tables of pubs, or hand to a child if I was outside. Their eyes would fill with wonder.

…

I was on to a pack a day in short order

I had bouts of bronchitis reminiscent of the pneumonia I’d had as a kid. I started to cough in my early twenties. I hated the smell of my hair, and when I returned from a club, I’d find burn holes in my clothes. Not from my own cigarettes, but others’. (Those were the days…)

…

I began to think about quitting

I tried. I tried cold turkey, but couldn’t. I couldn’t afford the patches and gums and other means they came up with. (And I noticed, with those that chose such methods, they never seemed to last long.) I did buy a cheap paperback that outlined a four week program, a program that worked with all the triggers that made me feel like “just having one.”

And week by week, I worked through the program. At the end of the not-quite-a-month, I was so tired of the whole thing, that I determined never to start again. In a nutshell, here it is.

…

Week One

Buy a small notebook or keep track on your phone. You’ll be jotting a “tick” for every cigarette you smoke.

Find the amount of tar and nicotine of your favorite brand and make a note in your book or phone.

Don’t change brands for this week however.

Here’s the trick

The “triggers” that cause you to want a cigarette, or are simply “habit” are these:

— Getting up in the morning

— Having a coffee or tea— or whatever your routine

— Meals and snacks and drinks of any kind (with water being the one exception — you can drink all you want and whenever you want throughout the four weeks)

— Going to bed at night

For the first week, you delay smoking for 15 minutes following any of these (and prior to going to sleep)

You’re going to spend time with the timer on your phone.

And track EVERY cigarette in between these times.

Note that you can smoke as many as you like/want in between

…

Week Two

Remember the note about tar/nicotine levels? This week you will cut back to a lesser amount. You’ll be doing this for the two remaining weeks too, so pace yourself. No need to go really low. It’s all about steps.

Same list of triggers, but this week you are delaying smoking 30 minutes after any, and before going to bed. Yes, you have to delay sleeping!

Continue to track every cigarette in between these times. Do NOT “punish” yourself by having less than you want in between!

…

Week Three

(Isn’t this easy??!!)

Lessen the tar/nicotine levels.

And now, you are delaying 45 minutes.

Continue to track every cigarette you smoke, and continue to smoke as many as you like in between. Notice how your snacks and extra coffees, etc. are diminishing. This will keep you from the dreaded weight gain, and I found it made me hyper-aware of any and all triggers.

…

Week Four

You know the drill… Super light tar/nic level for this LAST WEEK!

And delaying one full hour. Recording all.

…

Extra notes from my experience

I’m going to add to this.

I looked at the other arras of my life, so-called triggers that were not food and

drink/alcohol/caffeine related. So for me, writing was huge. I’d always smoked while writing; I was quite certain that I was incapable of thought or sustained practice without a smoke in hand; in fact, in college I did in-class essays with an unlit cigarette in hand.

So for me, I included writing in these time-increments. I also wrote a highly structured/outlined story through these four weeks — a mystery novel. I don’t usually outline. But I did, just to give me a direction (hoping I could by-pass some thinking…ha!)

At the end of the four weeks, I was able to write. It was not easy. But because I included it in my list of triggers, I did sufficient training of my mind and body on this.

Also at that time, I was working my way through levels of classical piano study, and taking exams. I would “reward” myself for practicing with a cigarette. (Yes, I did! Amazing to think about now.) So I included piano practice in my list.

Essentially, you want to think about the actions and tasks and pleasures in your life that are somehow connected with smoking.

You want to think about the ways you use cigarettes as “rewards.”

…

You want to find new rewards

What I’d always struggled with in trying to quit was the sense of punishing my own self; that never sat well with me.

So I took the money I saved from not smoking, and applied it to something I’d always wanted to do: ballet dance. Off I went to weekly lessons. The lessons had a bonus of reminding me why I was quitting! I could breathe easier. I so enjoyed the movement, the renewed sense of body, and how much I owned my own body and self, and had control. Again. At last.

If you can establish ways to reward yourself, and optimally, physically, to be able to climb up on your own mental podium and celebrate the Quitting You.

I can’t say that I didn’t still struggle with the addiction as those four weeks came to a close. But the sense of having invested precious Time (and the accompanying dread of what it would mean to have to do all this again…!) It was something to remind myself.

…