How I Quit Smoking the 'Cold Turkey' Way

The huge range of smoking cessation products is visible proof both how much people want to quit and of how tough quitting can be. Seeing a doctor and getting medical help with quitting wasn't an option as I don't have that kind of cash. Nicotine gums and patches only seemed to delay the inevitable withdrawal.

For me, only one method would do and it's the most brutal: cold turkey. It's what I did a week and a half ago. I don't have huge reserves of willpower, nor was I a light smoker (three packs a day for the last few years, in fact) who had less of a nicotine addiction to handle. What I did have was a really good handful of reasons for quitting, an ability to fool myself, and a strong support network.

Why Do You Want to Quit Smoking?

Anywhere you look, you'll find other people's reasons to quit. Health organizations remind you of the dangers of smoking. Huge taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products are the government's reminder to you. Your family might get on your case to quit. But the only reasons that matter are your reasons. The first thing you need to do is dig for those reasons and hold fast to them during the worst of your nic-fits and cravings over the next few days.

For me, the first reason to quit was the realization that every pack of cigarettes I bought cost as much as what I earned on many of my articles both for AC and for other venues. That meant I would have to sit down and write three articles a day--no matter how I felt and regardless of whether I felt inspired--just to break even thanks to my stupid habit. I won't claim that all my writing is equally meaningful to me (let's face it, no one gets moved to tears writing about sump pumps and lighting fixtures), but it began to weigh on me that so many of the words I wrote were going up in smoke.

I also thought about what made me smoke in the first place. When I was fifteen, a friend offered me a clove cigarette; unlike most novice smokers, I thought it was tasty from the very first time I tried it. That clove at fifteen left me with a multi-pack habit at forty. But I realized that I have retained very little of the other stupid behavior I committed as a teen. I no longer paint black crap around my eyes, dress like Cyndi Lauper's socially-backward kid sister, stay out until dawn, or cry and pout when I don't get my way (well, usually not). So why should I retain this atavistic sign of my teenage stupidity?

My third reason was even simpler: I felt like hell. I realized that I no longer enjoyed smoking all that much; I was smoking not because it felt good, but because not smoking made me feel awful. I don't hit myself in the head with a hammer just so it'll feel great when I stop, so why should I pick up another cigarette just to stave off the inevitable withdrawal symptoms?

My reasons and yours might be the same. They might be entirely different. The important thing is to embrace your inidividual reasons, not the ones others supply for you. There are going to be some rough days ahead and having your reasons first and foremost in your mind will help strengthen your resolve.

How to Trick Your Smoky Brain

Nicotine doesn't last long in your body. Within a few days of quitting smoking, your body's physical reliance on nicotine is gone. You'll still be left with the psychological withdrawal symptoms, though, and those can be pretty harsh. Dealing with cravings is key to success. As a smoker, you have a lot of practice with selective reasoning; now you can put that knowledge to good use in your effort to quit.

Have you ever gone to light a cigarette, then gotten distracted by something else? Learn to do that all the time. Think of every situation in which you can't smoke--in the bath or shower, swimming laps, polishing your nails, knitting, whatever works for you--and do those things a lot over those crucial first few days after quitting.

Give yourself a license to eat. Nicotine is an appetite suppressant; without it, you will find yourself hungrier. Food will taste better, too, which means you'll want more of it. Eating also gives you something to do with your hands and your mouth, so it satisfies a smoking jones. Stock your house with plenty of crunchy, but relatively healthy stuff like carrots, celery, pretzel sticks and other baked snacks, and indulge in them often. While you don't want to replace smoking with over-eating in the long run, you also don't want to beat yourself up for a few extra bites while your body's adjusting to such drastic change.

During your first week away from smoking, focus on every benefit you notice, no matter how tiny. Can you breathe through your nose for the first time in a decade? Did you smell the roses when you went outside today? Have you climbed a flight of steps without feeling quite as winded? Did you buy a new shirt that will never get burn-marks now? Celebrate each and every one of these victories; they'll whet your appetite for the bigger ones to come.

Realize that you will get cravings. Time them. Your brain may whine that the craving has surely lasted forty minutes and it just can't take it any more, but your watch will tell you that it's only been three minutes. Even if you don't think of yourself as having much willpower, you have enough will to withstand virtually anything for three minutes. Stick it out for those few minutes, then use your go-to distraction.

Make Use of Your Support Network

Family, friends, and co-workers can be incredibly valuable to you as you quit smoking. Don't be shy about telling everyone what you're doing; knowing that you've made your decision to quit public will help keep you honest. There are more ex-smokers in the U.S. than there are smokers; you may be amazed at who used to smoke once you open up to others about your choice to quit. Pick their brains for great advice. Even friends and family who still smoke will almost invariably be supportive; don't rule them out as valuable allies.

If you don't have much of a built-in support network, seek one out. Make appointments with your doctor and dentist; they will be thrilled at your good news and will give you even more motivation to stay quit for life. Your local clinic or hospital likely offers smoking-cessation workshops for little or no money, and for some people, working with other ex-smokers can help. For others, internet support groups can also be a boon to deal with the worst cravings.

Some people--I'm one of them--may find that focusing too much on support groups and the effort of quitting paradoxically makes them want to smoke more. If you share my reluctance to join a smoking-cessation support group, join an entirely unrelated group that meets in a place that doesn't allow smoking. A book club at a local library or bookstore would be one great example; another might be a supper club. Art classes are a great way to keep your hands and mind busy for hours without once thinking about cigarettes.

Your smoking, depending on how heavily you did it, may have kept you from enjoying a lot in life. Maybe you put off going to a friend's house because she, an adamant non-smoker, asked that you refrain from smoking in her house or yard. Perhaps you've passed on book club or movie-night invitations because they would've required you to do without cigarettes for too many hours at a stretch. Maybe wine-tastings or supper clubs were lost on you because your taste buds couldn't tell Dover sole from a shoe sole. Now is the perfect time to get involved in all those things you'd been missing.

Work in Progress

I've only been a non-smoker for a bit over a week. I still reach for that nonexistent pack occasionally. I still get the after-dinner cigarette yen. I know many people try and fail to quit and that I may wind up being one of them (though this time, I truly doubt it). But if I've learned nothing else, I've learned that even my little bit of willpower is enough to dump that habit.

Even after so little time without smoking, I feel great now that the worst of the "quitter's flu" has left me. I sleep better than I have in years. I look all rosy and healthy. I can sing in the shower without my voice cracking.

It's also good to know that the words I'm writing now won't go up in smoke. I don't know that it'll make much of a difference to other potential non-smokers who read it, but simply by making it public, I've helped ensure my future success. It'd be embarrassing to light up in front of you fine folks after promising I wouldn't, after all.