I really don’t know where I would be right now is I was still a smoker. Luckily I managed to get quit, and stay quit, just over 10 years ago (2002) or I’m sure my health would have failed in some way before now. I kind of take it for granted though because I know I will NEVER smoke again. Sometimes I forget that not everyone has been given the tools to quit.
When I think back, I started quitting smoking almost 10 years before I actually finally quit. I tried cold turkey a couple times, then I tried nicotine patches. The patch worked as long as I wore it. As long as the patch was on I couldn’t even smell cigarettes burning so it was easy not to smoke. But, I didn’t last 2 weeks resisting on my own, and then I was a smoker again. The patch was still feeding my brain nicotine and really didn’t give me any tools to use for myself.
The worst part of quitting was that it seemed like every time I quit and restarted, I ended up smoking more than I did before. Which I guess in turn would make me feel worse and continue to make me want to quit. It was such a vicious cycle
There is one thing I think that gets forgotten sometimes when we try to quit smoking and that’s how much time we spend smoking. Each cigarette takes about 10 minutes to smoke. Since smoking now occurs in designated areas for the most part, we stop what we are doing to go smoke. Lets be conservative and say we smoke 10 cigarettes a day. That’s 100 minutes of time! Or 1 hour and 40 minutes! That’s your time and you should keep it for yourself. How many times in a day does a cigarette become a way to distance yourself from a situation? There are reasons we smoke: to give ourselves time to think, take a break, remove ourselves, skip eating, and among other things find time to procrastinate. Remember, I know, I used all these reasons myself. The worst cigarettes I still think were the ones I had instead of food because of time limitations or for other reasons. Those actually hurt my health by affecting my blood sugar negatively.
Give yourself that 1 hour and 40 minutes a day back, or maybe it’s even 3 hours and 20 minutes a day back (20 cigarettes or 200 minutes ). You owe it to yourself! You need that much time to yourself. If you couldn’t find time to exercise before because you couldn’t find the time, here it is! If you are wondering where you will find the time to make healthy snacks to eat when you are having cravings, here it is! Also a great way to add mediation or hypnosis to help with the cravings and withdrawals. It’s the time you use to make the lifestyle change, it’s your time.
By now you are probably wondering how I managed to finally quit and stay quit.
The main key is that you really have to want to quit. You have to want to be an non smoker or nothing will work. It is still you fighting your brain and the addiction. To me quit smoking drugs and patches try to trick your brain so the willpower doesn’t work so hard. Think of willpower as the good guy and the cigarette addiction as the bad guy. If the good guy is drugged,don’t you think the bad guy can still win by playing a sneakier game?
It’s a brain game so I chose hypnosis to help the good guy or my willpower overcome the addiction. I paid to see Romaine the hypnotist late in January 2002 along with what seemed like 200 other smokers in a convention room in Calgary Alberta. I can honestly say I didn’t think I was really hypnotized. I could hear people coughing and sneezing and rustling about but I was there because I wanted to quit and I was trying. At the end I purchased the quit smoking CD pack. I am very thankful I did because these CD’s were what really pulled me through. Although not free, these are very valuable tools and paying for them acts to enforce the commitment to actually quitting.
The Romaine Quit Smoking CD’s really did give my brain the extra boost it needed to believe in: why I didn’t want to be a smoker,why I deserved not to be a smoker and what I would gain by not being a smoker. I learned that cravings only last a few minutes and how to find ways to occupy myself and get through them. When things got really tough I would make 20 minutes to go lay down and listen to the hypnosis again. It was easier than you think. If you give your brain tools it can use instead of drugs it can’t you will give yourself the power to be successful.
Another tool that is useful for quitting smoking or any other mild addiction is EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique. “EFT is a form of psychological acupressure, based on the same energy meridians used in traditional acupuncture to treat physical and emotional ailments for over five thousand years, but without the invasiveness of needles. Instead, simple tapping with the fingertips is used to input kinetic energy onto specific meridians on the head and chest while you think about your specific problem – whether it is a traumatic event, an addiction, pain, etc. — and voice positive affirmations.” – Dr Mercola. EFT is usefully for so many things including: removing negative emotions, reducing food cravings, implementing positive goals and reducing or eliminating pain. All of these are aspects of quitting smoking and this costs nothing.
If you are still looking for free help for quitting smoking be sure to check Amazon’s Kindle book section. Often you can find free eBooks for a little boost to help you though the tough times. Reading is also good for the brain.
Here’s a few free eBooks on quitting smoking that I found today on Amazon.com. Prices change quickly so make sure they are still free before you buy. If you need more help with purchasing and storage of these free ebooks, see one of my weekly free ebook posts.
Quit Smoking Now! A doctor designed, truly effective smoking cessation program… (Boomer Book Series)If these ebooks are no longer free, here is a link to the best rated quit smoking books on Amazon Kindle.
If you really want to quit smoking give yourself and your brain tools for your success. Find a way to break free so that you can find your own Healthy New You!
Believe in Yourself!
Images: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
