How did you STOP smoking?

KingBel said:
Well done Ockie! I do believe that you should try the Allen Carr book though.. you need to change the mindset that you are giving up nicotine as if giving up is some sort of sacrifice. The correct mindset is to rather think of it as "escaping nicotine".. You will find that the cravings will be much less.. perhaps even non-existant.
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Thank you. A friend of mine who has also encouraged me to try and quit again has told me about this Allen Carr thing. He apparrently went to a workshop or something of his....but it was bloody expensive. He said he went to it and walked out of there and never touched a cigarette again. I am very sceptical of things like that though, specially considering how expensive it is .... but I did not know there is a book you can read. Thought you have to go to the workshop stuff.

I have quit cold turkey before, even without the patches.....so I know I have it in me. I just tend to turn into a a rather unpleasant person while I am doing it. When my sister gave me the patches she made it clear that when I start, I am not to come visit her. Last time I quit we were living on the same property and well, I pretty much would go ape **** if she just looked at me funny. At least now I am not like that, but turning into a sex fiend seems to be my other coping mechanism if that avenue is open to me lol.
 
Ockie said:
Thank you. A friend of mine who has also encouraged me to try and quit again has told me about this Allen Carr thing. He apparrently went to a workshop or something of his....but it was bloody expensive. He said he went to it and walked out of there and never touched a cigarette again. I am very sceptical of things like that though, specially considering how expensive it is .... but I did not know there is a book you can read. Thought you have to go to the workshop stuff.

I have quit cold turkey before, even without the patches.....so I know I have it in me. I just tend to turn into a a rather unpleasant person while I am doing it. When my sister gave me the patches she made it clear that when I start, I am not to come visit her. Last time I quit we were living on the same property and well, I pretty much would go ape **** if she just looked at me funny. At least now I am not like that, but turning into a sex fiend seems to be my other coping mechanism if that avenue is open to me lol.
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Sail the high sees...
 
pedruid said:
When I was 20 I was smoking 50 a day as I was in the RAF in a little place called Aden and they were 2 shillings an 3 pence in those days.
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RAF_Khormaksar_Crest.jpg
 
Ockie said:
Thank you. A friend of mine who has also encouraged me to try and quit again has told me about this Allen Carr thing. He apparrently went to a workshop or something of his....but it was bloody expensive. He said he went to it and walked out of there and never touched a cigarette again. I am very sceptical of things like that though, specially considering how expensive it is .... but I did not know there is a book you can read. Thought you have to go to the workshop stuff.
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Probably uses NLP which you can teach yourself.
 
Ockie said:
Ah ok. I see. Thank you for that. ;) I will give it a go. Nothing to loose.
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Ditch the patches and listen to the book. Just do as it says and you will stop smoking. Brainwashing or not the result is that it works, and makes it easy at the same time. No more climbing walls and shouting at family members.
It took me three or so days to get through the audiobook and I had my last puff 577 days ago. Easy.
 
NBC said:
My wife asked me, if not now, when? We were both smokers, she quit a year before I did (after 23 years of smoking). It's a mind thing. It's almost like a switch that was flipped. It sounds cliche, but believe me, the decision is the hard part, once you make it, it's easy. Just do it, and don't doubt yourself. Use Champix or Zyban if you need to, but do it. What helped me is, I kept EVERYTHING the same: my routine, habits etc. And DO NOT replace your smoking with anything else. Not even mints or chewing gum or anything. Then you are just replacing one bad habit for another. Rid yourself completely.

Make no mistake, it's hard initially, but it's only for a short while. You won't be sorry. Best decision I ever made. Today it's around 6 years later, and I don't even think about it anymore.

Be like Nike. You really can.
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If anyone still reads this thread...

It is now 5 years (could be 6, not sure) of no smoking. Oh, and one year sober now as well. There is hope, do it!
 
goku-revive-chat-chat-revive.gif

How are all the "new" non-smokers here doing?
Never thought I'd see myself in a place like this, but here we are.

25 years of not just smoking, but being completely and utterly defined by it.
I got off a call with my sister on Monday night and realised I had chained almost 5 smokes in an hour.
That was it.... I can't do this anymore.... I went full retard.

I've been ramping up from 15-20 smokes a day to almost 2 packs in the last few months... it's almost as if I've been unconsciously speed running towards quitting while smoking even more on the way there.
The brain can be a f**ed up thing.

Anyway, since I have 3 weeks off, I decided to use these 3 weeks and purely focus on getting this done once and for all.
I've never really tried quitting before. The closest I came was switching to vaping for 3 months just before the COVID lockdowns and I had been vaping less and less, until our wonderful government stopped the sale of tobacco products and I got into cigs again.

If I can at least get the physical suffering out of the way and just be left with the psychological hurdles, I'll be able to do it. No amount of motivation would be able to get me to quit if I'm busy working, 'cause my brain goes on autopilot when I'm focused on work taks and stresses, and before you know it you're sitting with a fresh pack on your desk. I need the physical nicotine addiction out of the way first.... I need to get to that point where a smoke tastes like garbage again and 3 weeks should be more than enough.

I will say, it's only my 2nd morning waking up without cigs and while my chest is absolutely killing me I'm surprised at how much less groggy I feel already. That said, the "fun" is only beginning....

P.S. I'm actually using a "project" on ChatGPT Plus as part of the quitting process. The thing works masterfully. It's obviously properly trained to handle this kind of stuff and can tell you exactly what to expect, how to get there, and it doesn't bulls**t you with lofty promises about how psychology can somehow magically make the physiological cravings and change go away. I had a look at some of these highly rated quitting programs on the internet, and the amount of psycho bulls**t they spin about quitting would make me want to smoke again.
 
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RaptorSA said:
View attachment 1871670

How are all the "new" non-smokers here doing?
Never thought I'd see myself in a place like this, but here we are.

25 years of not just smoking, but being completely and utterly defined by it.
I got off a call with my sister on Monday night and realised I had chained almost 5 smokes in an hour.
That was it.... I can't do this anymore.... I went full retard.

I've been ramping up from 15-20 smokes a day to almost 2 packs in the last few months... it's almost as if I've been unconsciously speed running towards quitting while smoking even more on the way there.
The brain can be a f**ed up thing.

Anyway, since I have 3 weeks off, I decided to use these 3 weeks and purely focus on getting this done once and for all.
I've never really tried quitting before. The closest I came was switching to vaping for 3 months just before the COVID lockdowns and I had been vaping less and less, until our wonderful government stopped the sale of tobacco products and I got into cigs again.

If I can at least get the physical suffering out of the way and just be left with the psychological hurdles, I'll be able to do it. No amount of motivation would be able to get me to quit if I'm busy working, 'cause my brain goes on autopilot when I'm focused on work taks and stresses, and before you know it you're sitting with a fresh pack on your desk. I need the physical nicotine addiction out of the way first.... I need to get to that point where a smoke tastes like garbage again and 3 weeks should be more than enough.

I will say, it's only my 2nd morning waking up without cigs and while my chest is absolutely killing me I'm surprised at how much less groggy I feel already. That said, the "fun" is only beginning....

P.S. I'm actually using a "project" on ChatGPT Plus as part of the quitting process. The thing works masterfully. It's obviously properly trained to handle this kind of stuff and can tell you exactly what to expect, how to get there, and it doesn't bulls**t you with lofty promises about how psychology can somehow magically make the physiological cravings and change go away. I had a look at some of these highly rated quitting programs on the internet, and the amount of psycho bulls**t they spin about quitting would make me want to smoke again.
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Yeah, it’s the last vice. Stopped drinking in 99, stopped all other substances ( apart from occasional doobie )
in 02. But cigarettes remained, also on and off until present day. Lungs are still okay, but for a few years it’s started to mess with my sinuses sigh. It’s time to finally quit for good, think I’m almost ready))
 
Allen carr's easyway...

It becomes much easier to stop once you truly realise that smoking has absolutely no benefits. It offers no real pleasure, no stress relief, and no long-term reward, only harm disguised as habit. When that illusion falls away, quitting stops feeling like a sacrifice and starts feeling like a sensible, positive decision.
 
borro said:
Yeah, it’s the last vice. Stopped drinking in 99, stopped all other substances ( apart from occasional doobie )
in 02. But cigarettes remained, also on and off until present day. Lungs are still okay, but for a few years it’s started to mess with my sinuses sigh. It’s time to finally quit for good, think I’m almost ready))
Click to expand...

I did recreational drugs in my younger days, for about two years, if I recall correctly. Coke, khat, that kind of stuff.
Nothing crazy, but things that are supposed to be considered highly addictive if you do it over such a long-ish period...

Quitting that was an absolute no-brainer. Barely an inconvenience.
Everything I suspected never happened.... but smoking, smoking is the motherf**ing boss of all addictions. It still feels unreal that I'm even attempting this, but dear lord, even if I'm OK dying from it, I physically don't want to keep feeling like this on my way there. I got s**t to do, and this habit has now finally gotten to the point where it's not enhancing my daily experiences, it's actively crippling me and has become an annoyance.

I've been inadvertently blessed with genetics from my mom's side that makes me look younger etc. than I am (I only got 10 new chest hairs in my mid-40's, true story). So I need those genes to do their thing and repair some damage while there's still some time.
 
BBSA said:
Allen carr's easyway...

It becomes much easier to stop once you truly realise that smoking has absolutely no benefits. It offers no real pleasure, no stress relief, and no long-term reward, only harm disguised as habit. When that illusion falls away, quitting stops feeling like a sacrifice and starts feeling like a sensible, positive decision.
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The issue is: It very much has short-term benefits, and denying that doesn't feel to me like progress towards quitting. One has to say goodbye to those.
Nicotine is an incredible drug, the mind lights up like a candle when you ingest it and when you're someone who works a problem-solving desk job those smoke breaks and nicotine highs can definitely improve one's life. But as a friend once told me, once it takes more than it gives, it's not worth it anymore.
 
I just said that's it, I'm not smoking anymore and did, same as drinking. Not sure how people make things out to be so hard.
You just stop
 
satanboy said:
Hello, Dick van Dyke. :laugh:
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RaptorSA said:
I did recreational drugs in my younger days, for about two years, if I recall correctly. Coke, khat, that kind of stuff.
Nothing crazy, but things that are supposed to be considered highly addictive if you do it over such a long-ish period...

Quitting that was an absolute no-brainer. Barely an inconvenience.
Everything I suspected never happened.... but smoking, smoking is the motherf**ing boss of all addictions. It still feels unreal that I'm even attempting this, but dear lord, even if I'm OK dying from it, I physically don't want to keep feeling like this on my way there. I got s**t to do, and this habit has now finally gotten to the point where it's not enhancing my daily experiences, it's actively crippling me and has become an annoyance.

I've been inadvertently blessed with genetics from my mom's side that makes me look younger etc. than I am (I only got 10 new chest hairs in my mid-40's, true story). So I need those genes to do their thing and repair some damage while there's still some time.
Click to expand...
Yeah, nicotine is brutal mistress…
Same for me, but I did quit a few times, but started again sigh. It’s expensive now and actually quite stupid to continue, simply given the inflated cost of habit. The only benefits actually lie in the nicotine part, not the smoking section hehe. Very soon I’ll be 50. It’s probably time. When they pull another plandemic, I’ll get some patches))
 
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