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4meAndyou · F
Yes. I quit when I was 36 years old. I smoked from the time I was 19 to age 36. By the time I was 36 I was a chain smoker, lighting one off the other.
I was able to quit because I HATED it so much. I was chained to an ashtray. I couldn't escape from that ashtray. In between hating the ashtray, and the start of horrifying non-smoking regulations on airplanes and in restaurants, the ex quit smoking, and then he told me that he didn't want to kiss me anymore...because my breath smelled like stale cigarettes. After that, part of quitting was resentment of the ex...but that's another story.
Believe it or not, the toughest part of quitting is NOT the physical addiction. It's your MENTAL addiction to the ingrained habits. If, for 15 years or more, you have always had a cigarette after eating...your brain will want to keep doing that long after you've gotten rid of the addiction to the various chemicals in the cigarettes.
The only way I got through it was by a method called substitution. Every time I wanted a cigarette...HAD to have one...I popped a breath saver sugar free breath mint in my mouth. It worked. But it was not easy at all.
I had to fight myself. Fortunately, I knew myself really well. I knew that if I EVER picked up ONE cigarette, all my effort and the suffering I had gone through would be lost. ALL of it lost. I couldn't imagine going through that for nothing.
I was able to quit because I HATED it so much. I was chained to an ashtray. I couldn't escape from that ashtray. In between hating the ashtray, and the start of horrifying non-smoking regulations on airplanes and in restaurants, the ex quit smoking, and then he told me that he didn't want to kiss me anymore...because my breath smelled like stale cigarettes. After that, part of quitting was resentment of the ex...but that's another story.
Believe it or not, the toughest part of quitting is NOT the physical addiction. It's your MENTAL addiction to the ingrained habits. If, for 15 years or more, you have always had a cigarette after eating...your brain will want to keep doing that long after you've gotten rid of the addiction to the various chemicals in the cigarettes.
The only way I got through it was by a method called substitution. Every time I wanted a cigarette...HAD to have one...I popped a breath saver sugar free breath mint in my mouth. It worked. But it was not easy at all.
I had to fight myself. Fortunately, I knew myself really well. I knew that if I EVER picked up ONE cigarette, all my effort and the suffering I had gone through would be lost. ALL of it lost. I couldn't imagine going through that for nothing.
4meAndyou · F
@Royrogers It did. I was a little shocked when, 10 years later, I was working at the Homeless Shelter, and found a package of cigarettes someone had left on top of the pay phone in the hall. I picked them up...and I thought to myself, "If I smoked one of these, no one would EVER know!" TEN years later. But I fought that off, too, and made it out the other side.
twiigss · M
@4meAndyou I attended a free smoking cessation class, we got a free, one months worth of quit aid. That's how I quit. But the physical part for me was still there during the process. But once I quit the quit aid and found myself no longer addicted, I started going to junk food. That only lasted all of 4 weeks, then I completely reorganized my things.
Got rid of a ton of stuff I never used anymore but still had, that lasted for 2 or 3 weeks. I never went back to e-cigarettes or vaping. Our class instructor told us that when you quit smoking, you quit all of it, cigarettes and vape. I only ever did those e-cigarettes, never did the vaping, but I wasn't addicted to e-cigarettes.
He told us that it will take a while for all the addiction to really go away, but that it might not ever really fully go away. I was having very vivid dreams for a good 2 or 3 months of smoking, but I'm able to call him and talk with him about these things, even 6 years after the class was over with. I've been tempted many, many times to just get a cigarette and smoke, but I know I can't anymore. It's painful, because I loved smoking. The flavor, the smoke, but for the last 8 months of smoking I just kept coughing up phlegm non-stop. I think I was starting to develop serious symptoms of smoking, but that all stopped not long after I quit smoking.
Got rid of a ton of stuff I never used anymore but still had, that lasted for 2 or 3 weeks. I never went back to e-cigarettes or vaping. Our class instructor told us that when you quit smoking, you quit all of it, cigarettes and vape. I only ever did those e-cigarettes, never did the vaping, but I wasn't addicted to e-cigarettes.
He told us that it will take a while for all the addiction to really go away, but that it might not ever really fully go away. I was having very vivid dreams for a good 2 or 3 months of smoking, but I'm able to call him and talk with him about these things, even 6 years after the class was over with. I've been tempted many, many times to just get a cigarette and smoke, but I know I can't anymore. It's painful, because I loved smoking. The flavor, the smoke, but for the last 8 months of smoking I just kept coughing up phlegm non-stop. I think I was starting to develop serious symptoms of smoking, but that all stopped not long after I quit smoking.