DO YOU HAVE A QUIT KIT?
Please add your own as you have discovered it during your quitting process.
I don’t know if I ever had a quit kit, actually. But I think it would be a good idea to have one. What that kit consists of is entirely personal. What motives me to stay free and keeps me free may not mean a thing to you. So lets share what works for us and why.
My Quit Kit
First days/weeks/month:
Water bottle with a nipple (like a sport bottle). I’d fill that thing with water and suck on it all day long. The need to suck is primal and if you’ve continued that mode by smoking for X number of years, weaning off is a gradual process.
Taking long deep, slow breaths. Take as long a breath as you can through your nose, hold it for as long as you feel comfortable, then exhale slowly through your mouth. Between sucking up water and sucking up air I didn’t know whether I’d sink or float.
Straws. I’d cut them to cigarette length and wad up a little piece of paper and stuff it in until it created the same kind of draw as a cigarette. I sucked on so many of those things I went into straw withdrawal when I tried to go off of THEM. LOL.
Positive notes to myself stuck everywhere around my home. “You CAN!” “You’re DOING IT!” “Don’t give up.” “You wimp - get over it!” For me the last one was the most potent.
Supporting others: I found this incredibly helpful. The more I supported other people, even early in my quit before I had a lot to offer, it reinforced my own mindset. The trick is to heed your own words.
Keeping a sense of humor. Making fun of the misery of withdrawal helped me deal with it and bear it.
Reinforcement. Especially of “smoking is NOT an option.” NOPE came after that for me.
Using the energy of the cravings in a creative way. Craving energy is phenomenal. It is all consuming in the beginning. We are filled with anger and wanting and desire to overcome and it’s HUGE. We’re consumed with all these conflicting emotions at once. And if you can harness even a part of that energy in constructive ways - it’s so enlivening. That’s why I suggest doing ANYTHING new, anything you’ve never done before that you may have contemplated at any time in your life. It will occupy your mind, take it off the cravings, and you may even discover talents you knew not of.
For the long term quitter: come to a support site and blog if you get a craving. Express it. Use the site to help you remember where you came from and why you don’t want to go back there. Keep in touch with those who are in the early stages of withdrawal. It will remind you, in case you forget. And they need your wisdom. On the other hand, don’t remain too close if it keeps you thinking about cigarettes. Know when giving support helps you and when it hurts you. Sometimes we need our distance. I didn’t recognize that until several years after I quit. There are times to be active and times when refraining may be better for us.
Warning Signals. Attune yourself to them. Any time you start thinking about the possibility of smoking - that’s a warning bell. At any stage of your quit. Any time any excuse pops into your head - that’s a warning bell. Heed the bells at all times.
What does Your Quit Kit consist of?
