I didn't plan to quit in any normal sense. I didn't want to quit.
Someone asked me to quit to influence their brother. I felt like I was being cornered and was hesitant but still, I agreed to at least consider quitting.
BUT HOW?
I started telling myself to wait a little longer when wanted to smoke and in 4 weeks went from a pack a day to 5 a day without once ever denying myself a smoke. I had proven I didn't need to smoke just because I normally would have.
I used 11 patches in my first two weeks and played guitar at my friends house 10 hours a day for dopamine. When I forgot the patch two days in a row, I realized I didn't need them. I put one in my wallet with a promise that I would put it on rather than smoke.
I THEN JOINED A QUIT SMOKING SUPPORT SITE.
It was a quick single thread site, and, IT WAS FAST.
I asked questions of the long term quitters and learned all I could.
I had my three hardest days in the 50's. People were dropping away from the site like flies in the first 4 months. It was contagious.
The more I watched, the more curious I became. I began doing research. I began to worry when I heard about the nicotine receptors. I wondered, "How is it going to be possible to forever quit smoking if those nicotine receptors were always clamoring for nicotine?"
Through my research, I found those receptors are replaced with one's that have never known nicotine and thus had not become addicted to nicotine and that this happens within a year. Near the end of my first hundred days, I found a medical study that said if you quit for 16 weeks, there was a greater chance you would succeed.
I had my breakthrough at 128 days when I was driving up the hill to a job I had done when I was a smoker. I reached for a ghost pack on my truck seat. It actually made me laugh and I knew at that moment, I WOULD NEVER SMOKE A CIGARETTE AGAIN.
Get Through The First 4 Months And You'll Have A Better Chance Of Success
And, Hopefully Be More Willing To Accept Life As A Non Smoker When
You Are Not Thinking Of It Constantly.
The Only Way Out Is Through
