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Share your quitting journey

An unplanned, seat of the pants quit that worked for me

JonesCarpeDiem
3 8 32

Here is what worked for me. (This is what I did to avoid anxiety over quitting and eliminate any and all negative thinking before I quit.)

a friend asked me if I would quit to influence his older brother to stop. I said I would consider it.

During the next 4 weeks all I did was every time I wanted to smoke, I simply told myself to "wait a little longer." I never counted how much I was smoking. I never denied myself. I simply told myself to wait a little longer.  This minimized focusing on quitting smoking and allowed it to happen naturally.

After 4 weeks I had gone from a pack a day to a pack every 4 days. At that point I had proven I didn't need to smoke just because I thought of smoking.

I bought my last pack at the counter on a Friday and quit the next Tuesday. I saved one cigarette for the morning of my quit so I wouldn't feel deprived, smoked it and went and got a box of patches a couple hours later.

I forgot to wear one the 4th day and rode it out to see how I would do. I did fine but the next morning I felt like I needed the nicotine so I continued on the patch. (I was listening to my body not my addict)

By the end of the second week I forgot two days in a row, so I just stopped the patch. I put one in my wallet and promised myself I would put one on and wait an hour rather than smoke. (Once again, I was listening to my body. I knew the patch wasn't what was keeping me from smoking, I was.)

By telling myself to wait but not denying myself, I never got anxious about quitting. I didn't even set a date until 4 days before I stopped completely.

Quitting can be a decision and not the torture we've heard about our whole lives if you don't amp yourself up and agonize over it before you get started.

8 Comments
About the Author
Hello, My name is Dale. I was quit 18 months before joining this site and had participated on another site during that time. I learned a lot there and brought it with me. I joined this site the first week of August 2008. I didn't pressure myself to quit. HOW I QUIT I didn't count, I didn't deny myself to get started. When I considered quitting (at a friends request to influence his brother to quit), I simply told myself to wait a little longer. No denial, nothing painful. After 4 weeks I was down to 5 cigarettes from a pack a day. The strength came from proving to myself, I didn't need to smoke because I normally would have smoked. Simple yes? I bought the patch. I forgot to put one on on the 4th day. I needed it the next day but the following week I forgot two days in a row I put one in my wallet with a promise to myself that I would slap it on and wait an hour rather than smoke. It rode in my wallet my first year.There's nothing keeping any of you from doing this. It doesn't cost a dime. This is about unlearning something you've done for a long time. The nicotine isn't the hard part. Disconnecting from the psychological pull, the memories and connected emotions is. :-) Time is the healer.