How I Quit Smoking

I was on the fence about doing a post on how I quit smoking, since it really has nothing to do with women, dating or attraction; at least not directly. Then I thought, in the interest of self improvement this may actually be an important blog post. Plus, I’m sure there are a lot of you out there either thinking about quitting or are trying to quit smoking as I write this.

I’ve quit quite a few terrible addictions throughout my lifetime. I’ve never really talked about my addictions of the past publicly, but perhaps I should start. Sometimes when people discover that you had addictions they stop taking you seriously, or they lose respect for you. So I was a bit apprehensive about making that public, because those addictions have little to do with who am these days. After all, a few of these addictions I’ve kicked include alcohol and I had a nasty drug addiction, as well. I kicked both of those addictions over 20 years ago and to the point where I barely even think about it anymore. Although, cravings occasionally surface when I’m around them. But I’m disciplined and strong enough these days where I just leave an event when I begin to feel like those cravings are starting to get the better of me. Perhaps I can do another post on how I quit drugs and alcohol too, because I know MANY of you struggle with it on some level.

How I Began Smoking

I started smoking cigarettes at around the ripe old age of 13. I was a metal head and punk rocker, and I often hung out with older kids. All these people smoked and I wanted to be accepted as part of the group. Basically, I wanted to be cool! And in my 13 year old mind, taking up smoking was the best way to do that. In my adult years, smoking cigarettes was a part of drinking and drugging. It probably only increased the amount I smoked.

Fast forward to about 40 years later, smoking a pack to a pack and a half a day, my breathing began to become labored. This came as no surprise. I knew I was going to have to quit one day, rather than roll the dice, hoping that I would be one of the few people who could smoke their entire life without any serious repercussions. But my breathing became labored enough where it concerned me enough to do something about it.

My Fear To Quit Smoking

Believe it or not, I was afraid to quit smoking. I realize that sounds ridiculous, but when you’ve been smoking for decades it’s difficult to imagine not smoking. Anytime I thought about quitting my mind would immediately start thinking, “What am I going to do with myself? What am I going to do when I get bored or after a meal?” It sounds dumb, but like I said, smoking was so deeply intertwined with my daily life I couldn’t imagine it any other way.

The other part of that fear came from people telling me how difficult it was. When I was part of AA (alcoholics anonymous) everyone there smokes like a chimney, holding onto one of the last addictions they’re allowed to partake in. The few people who tried to quit smoking told me that quitting smoking was more difficult than quitting drugs and alcohol. Recalling how difficult it was to quit all that, I couldn’t imagine something more difficult. Therefore I eventually just gave up on the idea of quitting smoking.

I Became Worried For My Health

When I began to really notice that my breathing became labored, I knew I didn’t really have a choice but to quit smoking. I always promised myself that I would quit before I HAD to quit; meaning, I didn’t want to wait until I had some sort of medical condition that forced me to quit. That’s how most people end up quitting their addictions; they hit rock bottom or their body simply can’t handle it anymore. I know this, as I’ve lost many friends to addiction, whether they died from addiction or ended up with long prison sentences for the same reason. Most people’s prison sentences are rooted in their addiction to drugs and alcohol.

I remember years ago, when I lived in the Pulaski Park neighborhood of Chicago, my neighbor had to carry around an oxygen tank with her. I couldn’t say if it was a result of smoking, but it certainly wouldn’t be the first time if it were. Surely, I didn’t want to end up like that. And now that I’m in my early 50’s writing this, it could very well be me carrying around that oxygen tank. It could get much worse too! I could end up with cancer and dying a slow, painful death of my own doing.

My Decision To Quit Smoking

Despite the health risks, it wasn’t an easy decision to finally quit smoking. Smoking was so deeply intertwined into my daily tasks. As an example, if I was driving, I had to have a smoke. After doing a difficult and laborious job, taking a break meant having a smoke. When I have a meal, having smoke afterwards hits the spot. After sex, a cigarette was almost mandatory. If I was bored, I had to have a smoke. If I had to think, I had a smoke. Not mention that even the women I dated who claimed to hate smokers, they would always tell me that it kind of turned them on seeing me having a smoke. Now I have to quit smoking? How was that going to work?

My First Attempt

I first had the idea of weening myself off of cigarettes. Most people told me that I’d never be able to quit that way. So naturally I had to prove them wrong. Over the next 8 months or so, I did ween myself down to around a half pack a day. Once I got used to it, it wasn’t so bad. However, I began to cheat, telling myself, “I’ve been good! I can have a couple extra smokes today”. I started to cheat more often than I didn’t. My labored breathing wasn’t getting any better of course. Then my parents were very worried and insisted that I get checked out by a doctor to make sure there’s nothing wrong. Yes, I know, a visit to a doctor should’ve been my first step, but I avoid the doctor as much as possible.

Quitting Cold Turkey

Just making a doctor’s appointment wasn’t enough to sooth my parents’ worries and they began to demand that I quit smoking cold turkey. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the expression “cold turkey”, it simply means to stop immediately; no weening, no cheating. I still had about a half pack of cigarettes and decided that I was going to quit smoking cold turkey…after I finished the rest of the pack. In fact, I started smoking half a cigarette and save the other half for later, holding on to the addiction for as long as I could. It’s typical for anyone with an addiction to get the most they can before they quit. Everyone I know that has been to drug rehab does as much drugs as they can before walking through the doors of the rehab center.

The next couple of days I only had a few smokes each day and chewed nicotine gum in between like it was going out of style. It wasn’t easy, but I was coping okay, even though I was fighting cravings. But then I was finally out of cigarettes. My pack was empty and I promised myself, and my family, that I wasn’t going to buy or smoke anymore. My only plan to stop for good was sheer will power and nicotine gum. From what I read, the vaping route wasn’t much better for you than smoking cigarettes, so that was out of the question. However, I didn’t like the gum that much. It tasted okay, but it gave me terrible hiccups and heartburn, not to mention that my teeth were getting sore from chewing gum practically non-stop. This wasn’t a good long term strategy.

Visit To My Doctor

I went to my doctor’s appointment. I was pretty nervous about what I may learn about my health. For the most part, I live a relatively healthy lifestyle aside from the smoking. I usually eat healthy foods, I take supplements daily, I try to stay in shape and I have a strong immune system as a result. But all the nasty stuff in cigarettes that I ignored for so many years, along with my labored breathing and age, had me very concerned. The doctor took a lung X-ray and asked me if I wanted to wait for the results. I did and they came back surprisingly quick. The doctor told me that she’s not seeing anything concerning in the X-rays. I’m sure you can imagine the relief I felt. So I asked her, “So does that mean I can go back to smoking”? She laughed, followed by a very firm “no!” Of course this doesn’t mean that I’m completely out of the woods. Something can still happen in the future, but for now I’m relieved.

I Need A New Strategy

I still had no real strategy to keep me from smoking aside from will power. Kicking any addiction can be miserable for quite a while. Working my job and living my life was still something I had to do. Feeling miserable only causes one to make excuses and giving themselves permission to relapse. In fact, I remember when I was getting sober and I was often told that, “relapse is a part of recovery”. This kept echoing in my head, chipping away at my will power. I was only about a week into quitting cold turkey and I was already trying to figure out a way to smoke again without feeling the guilt. Yes, guilt really helps with your will power. You don’t want to let yourself down and you don’t want to let down your loved ones. But sometimes the guilt isn’t enough.

I began searching for a better strategy. I was already going down the road of relapse, and it had only been a week! Then I remembered, a few years ago the local convenient store where I bought my smokes started giving me canisters of nicotine pouches. Nicotine pouches were knew at the time and they were giving them away as a promotion. I threw them in a box when I’d get home, saving them for some day when I wanted to quit smoking. I dug them out of the box, but they were years old. Were they still good? I figured as long as they were sealed and there was no expiration date on them, I’d try them out anyway.

It’s Working!

The nicotine pouches were working! It curbed my desire for a cigarette and I didn’t have to chew that awful gum! But it still wasn’t enough. My craving for nicotine was satisfied, but I till craved putting a cigarette in my mouth and inhaling. For non-smokers this sounds ridiculous, but a part of the addiction, or perhaps a better word would be ‘habit’, is the hand to mouth motion and ultimately taking a big drag (ie: inhaling), then exhaling. It’s said that not having a way to satisfy this is often what sends people back to smoking. Either that, or they put on a bunch of weight, because they substitute eating for that hand to mouth habit. Gaining weight was not an option for me!

Needing Something Else

I began searching for something to give me the feeling of putting a smoke into my mouth and taking a drag. It turns out, there are actually quite a few products to satisfy this craving. One product, in particular, stood out to me and I gave it a shot. Yahtzee! This product wasn’t much different than smoking, but without the smoke, vapors or nicotine. It’s really just inhaling the aroma of essential oils, which is perfectly safe. The only thing I didn’t like about is that it was more like smoking a menthol cigarette, which I despised when I was smoking. But, after going through many different options of products, it was closest thing I could get to actually smoking. They had some fruity flavors, but they weren’t doing it for me. So it was peppermint and spearmint for me. I liked the feeling of coolness going down my throat.

Something That Works!

After a few months, my strategy became the occasional nicotine pouch along with the these inhaler pens I found. Do I still crave having a smoke? Absolutely! I didn’t realize how much I smoked out of boredom. Doing pushups is one way I’m trying to to replace going out for a smoke when I’m bored. I got the idea from Henry Rollins. I once read that anytime he gets writer’s block he does pushups; hence part of the reason he’s in such good shape. Of course a smoke would be much more enjoyable, but doing some pushups helps to work out the craving for a cigarette. Plus, keeping in shape and getting the blood flowing is a good thing. The pushups are far from a habit at this point, but after enough time and repetition it will eventually become a habit.

This Helped Me To Quit Smoking

Everyone has a different way of beating their addictions, but my process worked so well for me that I wanted to share it with others who are struggling with trying to quit smoking. If you’re one of those people, than I highly recommend trying my process. The nicotine pouches kill the craving for nicotine, plus some of the flavors are quite tasty, and the inhaler pens satisfy the urge to take a drag.

Of course eventually you’ll want to cut out the nicotine, as well. The good news is the nicotine pouches come in a variety of different strengths. They range anywhere from 2mg of nicotine per pouch all the way up to 15mg per pouch, with 6mg being considered average strength. The good news about this is that you can tapper off and eventually completely cut out nicotine. Sometimes I just chew gum (regular gum, not nicotine gum) until the nicotine cravings get so strong that I need to pop a pouch into my mouth. This helps to keep the nicotine usage down.

Alternative To Pouches

Perhaps not everyone is okay with putting a nicotine pouch under their lips, like a wad of chewing tobacco. Don’t get me wrong, there’s no tobacco is the nicotine pouches, but how you ingest the nicotine isn’t really much different. You just don’t spit. My point is, there isn’t a graceful way of putting the pouches under your lip, nor taking it out. I haven’t tried them, but there are also nicotine lozenges available that might be an alternative to the pouches.

Where To Find These Alternatives?

If you want to try the nicotine pouches, then I recommend going here. They have a wide variety of nicotine strengths and flavors. Plus they have many ways to get discounts.

If you want to try the essential oils inhaler pens, then you can find them here. Yes, they’re a bit on the expensive side, but all smoking alternatives are. These companies know you’re willing to pay high prices for cigarettes (a pack of smokes in Chicago cost about $14-15!!), so they jack up the prices for smoking alternatives.

After a little more time, and after developing some of these healthier habits, I plan on kicking my biggest addiction, and the most addictive drug on the entire planet; sugar!