How I Quit Smoking and How You Can Too

I was never a big smoker, having started as a teen simply because everyone around me smoked at that time, and then later, because I was bored, nervous, upset, fidgety, tired, anxious, hungry, full, tired, awake... well, you get the point: I smoked because, for some reason, I wanted to smoke. I had tried to quit smoking several times, and was mostly successful, for about an hour.

Two-Years Mostly Smoke Free

As of this month, I am one full year completely smoke-free, and nearly two years mostly smoke free. Prior to stopping completely, I became a 'social smoker', if there is such a thing, smoking only when I was writing fiction or when I was with other people who were also smoking. For that year, I was the worst kind of smoker: the cigarette bum. You know, the type of person who doesn't buy their own cigarettes, but rather bums them off of others who do.

You Simply MUST Quit

Whatever your reasons for smoking, whatever causes you pick up the cigarette or makes it hard for you to put it down, there are at least 100 other reasons why you shouldn't pick it up and should put cigarettes down completely.

Sadly, to this day, there are times my body still craves a cigarette. Even knowing I don't want a cigarette, and nearly two years after I stopped smoking, I still crave one regularly. I think cigarettes are the single most addicting things in the world, more than heroin, cocaine, and alcohol combined.

Stop Smoking Because You Want To Stop Smoking

The very first thing you need to do in order to stop smoking is to really want to stop smoking. I know this sounds silly. You're going to say, "But of course I want to stop smoking." I'm going to argue that maybe you don't. I would have said the same thing when I was smoking too. "Wish I could quit..."

No, I didn't. I liked smoking. There were times when I even 'rewarded' myself with a cigarette. In order to quit smoking, I had to want to quit smoking, and the truth was, I really didn't want to quit.

Retrain Your Brain to Quit Smoking

That leads me to the next step in the stop smoking process: retrain your brain. If you sit at a desk during the day and have a pencil holder by your telephone, move the pencil holder to the other side of the desk. Then, during the day, see how many times you reach for the pencil holder by the telephone, even though you know it's been moved.

That's your brain enjoying the 'habit'. In order to seemingly perform more than one task at a time and hold everything together, our brain learns certain things as patterns and can let us perform those tasks 'without thinking' about them.

Cigarette smoking is a habit formed, usually without thinking about it, and in order to break the addictive habit, you have to 'move your pencil cup, figuratively speaking. For stopping smoking, that means you have to retrain your brain to fill in the smoking habit with something else. A habit isn't ever really lost; it's merely replaced with a better, healthier habit.

Essential Oils to Help Quit Smoking

I found that citrus essential oils, particularly tangerine and lemon, really helped to quell some of my cravings. Spearmint, orange and grapefruit all seemed to help too. I would put one or two drops of my favorite oils on the inside of my left wrist, quickly rub it together and into the skin on my right wrist too, and then I could sniff my wrists when I needed a quick reminder to not pick up that cigarette.

Healthy Snacks Can Replace Smoking's Oral / Hand Fixation

Reaching for some low-sodium pretzels, some apple slices, celery or carrot sticks, and nuts all seemed to help me with smoking, especially when I placed them in a bowl where my cigarette used to burn down in the ashtray. I would snack on them exactly like I would if I were smoking, while doing my work, etc, not focusing on the snacks. This way, my body was still 'going through the motions' of smoking, and this would frequently trick the brain while I was busy working.

Some people chew on pens, use 'fake' cigarettes, or even use (if you have tremendous willpower) an unlit cigarette, to keep up the physical habit of smoking even while the chemical habit is not hitting you.

Meditation and Hypnosis to Quit Smoking

You don't have to pay big bucks to a hypnotherapist in order to meditate or do self-hypnosis about stopping smoking. Learn to meditate and focus your thoughts and energy of your body on breathing in and out with good, clean, healthy air while repeating positive affirmations. For hypnosis, you can even record relaxation exercises with your computer's mic and do your own hypnosis MP3 or guided meditation.

Even if you do nothing more when a craving hits than to stop, relax, control your breathing and focus on positive things about quitting smoking instead of desiring the cigarette and focusing on the negative things you perceive quitting smoking brings, eventually you'll train the brain to enjoy the positive aspect.

Repeating Wanting to Quit to Quit Smoking

For me, quitting was easy, once I really wanted to quit. I was able to walk away cold turkey and never pick them up again. It was getting to the point of really wanting to quit smoking that was hard for me.

You absolutely have to truly want to quit, or else nothing I or anyone else says or sells you is going to make you quit. That's why I have to repeat this section of how to quit smoking. It's that important.

Make lists of all the reasons why you want to quit smoking: live longer, run with my kids/grandkids/pets, breathe better, food tastes better, reduce cancer risks, get healthier lungs, and so many more. When you're craving a cigarette, pull your list out, and read at least 10 of those reasons to remind yourself why you want to quit, then quickly follow up with 10 positive things you can have because you did quit.

It might take time. Failure isn't giving in and having a cigarette, because you might end up cheating once in awhile, but when you really want to quit, you won't let one little slip stop you from trying to quit smoking.