A few tips on stopping smoking

Health & Diet Health & Diet: Questions / Help
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I am a reformed cigarette smoker. For me, stopping smoking was the best thing that I ever did both for myself, and for my family. So how did I do it?

Firstly don’t believe the hype regarding how difficult stopping smoking is, OK it’s not a walk in the park (although that definitely helps at times lol) but really it’s just a matter of getting in the right mind set and after that it’s a piece of cake (no, that’s not an invitation to eat instead :grinning:) You have to realise that stopping smoking is more of a mental thing than a physical one, and I found that no artificial aids are necessary once you have that determination (and believe me, I had tried them all over the years) Just do not smoke, and avoid people, places and situations where smoking gives you the most pleasure, and that really is all that there is to it. If you do not smoke then you will stop smoking, simple… .

I was a forty year, two packs a day smoker who tried all sorts of products to ease my stop smoking passage but to no avail so one day I just said bugger it and stopped. I found that the worst of the physical cold turkey cravings lasted no more than a few days, and as every day passed my confidence grew.

A couple of tips though…

1.After you stop do not smoke at all… ever. I stopped one day 12 years ago and haven’t had a single puff since. You have to realise that it is like being a reformed alcoholic, one drink is all that it takes to fall off the wagon and all the good work that you have put in will be for nothing, and you will hate yourself for it.

  1. Do not substitute the cigarettes with food, when the craving starts find something to do to take your mind from it, I used to make a cup of black coffee with no sugar, and the taste was that foul that it was all that I could think about so the craving passed. Ironically though I quite got to like black coffee with no sugar and drink it to this day…
  2. Feel good about yourself and yes, allow yourself to be a little bit cocky about your success as it really is an amazing achievement after years of addiction.
  3. Look forward to and concentrate on the benefits it will give, not just financial (which are considerable), but to your general health and fitness and energy levels, which will improve dramatically.

The above worked for me, and to this day consider 23rd March 2009 as my freedom day from the tyranny of cigarette addiction, and the satisfaction I feel, even now, regarding how well I feel, how much better off I am financially, and even the fact that I never have to consider picking up all of my smoking paraphernalia before I go anywhere or do anything is immense.

23rd March 2009 was the best day of my life and my only regret is that it took me forty years to get around to it.

So good luck on your own journey, and I hope it works out as well for you as it did for me. :wink:

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Some great tips there,Barry…:+1::+1:

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Couldn’t fault anything you said. I gave up in 1983 as a 40 a day smoker. I actually gave a up a year previously but I thought I could have the odd fag but soon found myself chain smoking again.

The only thing you didn’t mention was the return of your sense of smell and taste. About two weeks after I stopped I had to wash all my clothes, bedding, curtains and more because they stank of cigarette smoke, it was absolutely awful.

Haven’t had a cigarette since though for several months afterwards I often felt the desire but eventually the craving gave way to dislike and like all ex smoker became rabid anti-smoking.

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Hi

Having a few heart attacks also concentrates the mind.

I just stopped, it was hell and still is at times, so tempting.

Not going there again, just stopped.

It can be done.

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Some good points there @Bruce , I’d forgotten just how much everything stinks of cigarettes, your clothes, your car, your house, must be awful for non-smokers living with a smoker as my wife did for many years after she stopped. Looking back it was pretty bloody selfish.!

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I used Champix to get me over the worst and it was hard and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
I on the other hand did not become a rabid anti smoker, I have no issues if people choose to smoke around me, I don’t allow it in my flat but thats it.
I do think that people that have kids should not smoke because of the damage to young lungs.

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I quit in the Spring of 2002 …

Many smokers might not associate the miseries (?) of stopping smoking with the joys of holiday, but that’s what I did. I decided smoking was a habit starting with elevensies coffee break finishing with a whiskey nightcap.

And the best way to break that habit was to break all other associated habits, daily routine. So I took a few days away, drove down to the coast, had a pre lunch beer (not something I normally do) minus fag. And that was the start of days of things I don’t normally do, minus fag.

I got home a week later, to a new life, same as the old life, minus fag. :icon_cool:

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Congratulations, @Barry. I used to work as a hypnotist & we had a 100% success rate. Becoming an ex smoker requires a genuine desire to stop.

Before we even accepted anyone, we asked why they wanted to stop. A lame reason, like it’s bad for me, did not get them accepted. Everyone has known for decades it’s bad for you & without a genuine reason to stop, we had nothing to work with. I really need to for my health, or even, I don’t know, I just want to, were acceptable answers.

Next we only used three sessions & guaranteed, the results. Clients only paid at the end of session three if they had already stopped. This is a great psychological enforcer. As if I only charge if I meet my promise, then I have to be telling the truth.

Third, we taught self hypnosis & expected it to be practised every day between our weekly sessions. Any sign of it not being done & goodbye. You were off the course. Better to dump you on session two, than ruin a 100% success rate. Self hypnosis gave a daily boost to what we did & gave people a tool to help them remain an ex smoker after the three sessions.

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Great tip there Barry, I completely agree you have to be in the right place mentally also.

The way I did it was I made my mind up in the October that I was going to have my last cigarette on New Years Eve that year and told myself every day. I mentally prepared myself and took my last drag of a cig at midnight on 31st December 2008 the day after going into 2009.

12 years I have now been smoke free.

Personally I didn’t find it difficult at all, I’m not sure why unless the mental preparation is the reason. don’t get me wrong, there were times when I thought about cigs.

One of my saviours was also I joined a forum called Quitnet and the people on that forum all had the same thing in common, we wanted to, or had quit.

If ever I thought about having a cig I just used to log on there and we all helped each other.

I suprised myself with my willpower and was very proud of my strength.

I remember the first time I went for a carbon monoxide test and I was absolutely thrilled my lungs were clear.

If I can do it, anyone can. We are stronger than we know and we can beat the Nicodemon I named him Nic O’Teen

So, if anyone is looking in here and wanting to quit heed our Barrys advice and realise YOU CAN DO IT.

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One of the things that I tried along the way @Gee3 , but hypnotism didn’t work for me…

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Hi
Every t ime I wanted a fag I put £10 in a jar, that coventrated the mind.

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It was the hypnotist that failed, not the hypnosis. Hypnosis is an art & your subconscious is not easily fooled. Hypnosis does work every time. Sometimes it takes more effort to make it work from the hypnotist, than is worth the effort. But it always works.

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There are enough scientific papers that suggest that not all people can be hypnotised so obviously it cannot work every time.

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I never thought I could stop smoking but did so 33 years ago. I might not have stopped if it hadn’t been so important for me to do so (I got cancer).

It’s probably a more admirable achievement for those who manage to stop smoking without that sort of reason to do it.

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Unless of course it doesn’t, when you then throw the client off the course… :joy:

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Hypnosis works 100%. But if a client is not putting any effort into what they are doing, then I had other clients waiting for my time, who would put that effort in. We always made it very clear that the self hypnosis was needed & checked to make sure they were happy to do it between sessions. And it was very clear on the second session if they had not.

I only got paid if I achieved what I said I would. So why waste my time & effort on someone who did not want to change their life? The self hypnosis between sessions was a big part of what made our system work, what made us able to say, no fix, no charge. So if the client is not engaging in the solution, then we both loose.

Edited to add. It is also worth noting, that by teaching someone self hypnosis, we also gave them a tool for life. As once learnt, it can help with many of life’s little irritations. By not practising self hypnosis, they not only set themselves up to fail, they also lost a tool that others pay extra for.

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But not on everyone as some people cannot be hypnotised.

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Not true. I have never met anyone I could not hypnotise. Yes, some people are much easier to hypnotise than others. But everyone can be hypnotised by a competent hypnotist.

A lot of people are naturally resistive due to cowboys like Paul McKenna etc who use it to make people look foolish on stage. But there are workarounds & if the hypnotist lacks the ability to put a client at ease & relax them, that is not the clients fault.

Hypnosis does not need prolonged relaxation periods, or clever looking performances to achieve success. In the 1960’s psychologist Milton H Erickson developed the hand shake induction. Properly called the Handshake Interrupt Induction. As one example of how simple the induction can be.

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Well there are plenty of scientists out there that beg to differ.
Google “does hypnosis work on everyone” and have a read of some scientific papers on the subject. Admittedly it seems it is only a small minority and perhaps you have never met someone who could not be hypnotised but that does not mean they do not exist?

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Cancelled