This how I quit. It may not be like your quit.
It is not the only way to quit but, I believe it has some good points as to a good place your head should be to not falter in your quit and help you succeed.
This is my only quit. I smoked for 40 years so something worked correctly.
Where your head is and how much you put into your quit mean everything
(my more complete quit story is on my page)
The idea for me was to use the aid
NOT BE USED BY THE AID
I used 10 patches over the first 14 days
Yes I had to go through the same crap as everyone else but I was in control of my quit from day 1.
By day three I had come up with this hypothesis.
"Smoking is just a choice"
That made me laugh because it was so simple. Laughing made me feel good.
From then on, I laughed whenever I got a crave.
Laughing releases dopamine which is the same chemical nicotine triggers.
And if you used to smoke 20 a day, imagine laughing instead and times that times 7 days and within a week, you will think about laughing instead of smoking.
This is self-fulfilling and completely in your control.
There were days I know I would have smoked without the patch
There were days I didn't wear the patch and just did not allow myself get to worked up or negative about it. I knew I could make it home in 15 minutes if I really needed a patch.
I stopped using the patch completely after 14 days. My mind and body had a powwow and decided I did not need it any more.
Listen to your body, not the addiction. You know your body better than anyone. Get in touch with it for this journey.
See, the best part is , the discomfort and "missing" go away in time, and I mean, typically within a month the hardest phase is over.
The next three months are critical because the memories and emotions can and will sneak up on you from out of nowhere. But, it isn't as difficult or constant a fight as the first month was.
You set the parameters you don't let your addiction set them and you don't let the NRT set them. You have to get involved to make this work. Wearing the patch for the duration isn't going to do anything except keep paying the tobacco companies their profits untill you have your head in the right place.
