The Patch, Gum, Chantix, cold turkey. I've tried every way to quit before. Saturday May 17th is my last time quitting. Not that I wouldn't try to quit again if I had to, but I'm not going back. I'm done. That is the day I became an ex smoker.
I've quit before using the products listed, and had success with all of them. The problem was, I never really wanted to quit. I do now. I turn 30 years old in a few weeks, and that means I've been smoking (something) for almost half of my life. Now's the time.
Here is what I find amazing about about cigarettes and how painfully addictive they are. I am a recovering addict, since March of 2000, and I have had more trouble quitting these stupid little white things than any other substance. I stopped using drugs without batting an eyelash, or maybe it seems that way now after almost 10 years. I didn't smoke (cigarettes cough cough) until I quit using drugs so maybe I view them as my last cruch, the last way I can somehow hurt myslef. Who knows. All I do know is, is that I'm sick of smoking. I don't care why I started, I don't care what I liked about it. I don't like it anymore and I'm done.
I remember vividly the first few weeks of sobriety, sitting in AA meetings and watching all of these people talk about how great their lives had become. How sobriety had enabled them to live happy, healthy lives. And then they were all outside smoking butt after butt during the breaks and after the meetings. Whats wrong with this picture? Now maybe they were living "healthier, and happier" than before, but it's all relative.
Back then I was so focused on learning how to live sober. I was lost and looking for any help I could get on how to live life without drugs. I would join these folks outside of meetings to talk and to learn how they did it. I'd bumb a cigarette here and there. Then like the addict I've proven myself to be I started buying packs and ripping through them like a good addict should.
Skip ahead to know...Trading one addiction for another wasn't living sober. A crutch is a crutch. If it's bad for you, at some point you have to face it and change it. I've decided to change it once and for all.
Good luck everyone!
C