How to Stay Off Cigarettes
Do you want to know how to stay off cigarettes? That really is the only goal in quitting smoking because everyone quits smoking all the time when they put out their last cigarette for the day and lay down to go to sleep. The only problem is in staying stopped and anyone who has tried to quit smoking before knows that it is a long and hard battle to stay abstinent from the darn things. Staying off cigarettes is not easy and even after it has been several weeks or months away from them you can still get the occasional crushing urge to smoke.
Well the first suggestion that I have for you is to create a zero tolerance policy in your head for smoking. Make a mental deal with yourself that you will not smoke no matter what. Then take your zero tolerance policy one step further and make a deal with yourself that as soon as you become aware that you are romanticizing the idea of a cigarette that you will immediately shut it down and think about other things. This really works and if you stick to your policy of not allowing yourself to entertain the thought of “how nice it would be to smoke just one” then you will be much happier as a result. See, if you allow yourself to think in detail about what it would be like to smoke then you are going to become miserable over time (unless you give in and relapse). Your brain is going to be screaming that you are missing out on something great, whereas your brain will not care that it is missing anything so long as you do not allow it to romance the idea of smoking.
The next suggestion that I have is very simple but very powerful. Most people do not like this suggestion at all and dismiss it out of hand, and that is quite understandable. The suggestion is that you must exercise vigorously every single day for the first year that you are off cigarettes. Now that is a tall order and I realize that it is a very demanding suggestion and it is no light task for a person. However, I really believe that the physical benefit and the rush of dopamine that you get from vigorous exercise every day is enough to replace much of the same rush that you got from smoking. There are many reasons that we smoked cigarettes but over time we trained out bodies to enjoy the rush of chemicals. You need a way to replace that if you want to stay off the smokes in the long run.
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
haha.. yep definitely , i have been trying to quit for a while i normally make it for several months ONLY if i am going to the gym almost daily…
Then inevitably i stop going to the gym, have one night out where i have been drinking and give in to the urge… its like a cycle i go into every couple of years…
This time .. i hope to stick with it ..not getting any younger. :)
GLTA
I’m hearing ya, i quit for 2 years and took it back up again once but i really hate smoking!! and repeating all the reasons i hate it really doesn’t help at all. trying not to think about it sounds like something to try though. Only been a day so wish me luck :)
this is my second day got no sleep last nite dont know if this is part of it or not but doing great food tastes so good and i feel so much better i know its only been a day so far but i have the will power and i can do this i know i can and i am going to put on weight hopefully
I’m a 21 year-old male, I started smoking when I was 16 or 17, so it’s not been that much time, but still, it’s not a healthy habit at all. I’ve been off cigarettes for something like 3 weeks and a half, now, and it wasn’t easy at first, but exercise helps a lot.
I had this “zero tolerance policy”, i.e. every time I wanted to smoke I said to myself how I’d be cheating if I smoked and how it would all start again, so I just said “I don’t smoke anymore” and refused to smoke, this gives you a confidence boost.
You can ask people to move away a little so their smoke won’t reach you, because the smell triggers the craving, and now I tend to feel sick when someone smokes heavily around me.
Don’t leave this task solely to willpower, there’s a lot more going on, it’s deeply rooted. Think why you DON’T NEED THIS anymore and assess how your life will improve if you quit, or at least reduce it.
Good luck to all non-smokers-in-the-process!
I started smoking when I was 17, I had trials for an Olympic sport, I had my first drink and woke up the next morning with a 20 pack of cigarettes, there were 15 in the box, I thought to myself why waste the money. It’s been 8 years, an immeasurable amount of shame and self hatred, countless cigarettes and countless half assed attempts to quit. As much as I want to blame everything else and make excuses, I am the one who lit that first cigarette and inhaled, it is my responsibility to quit. I took up a new martial art where I am doing very well competitively and found that my desire to quit has become stronger and stronger, to reach a new level of competition I have to become fitter, the main component being my ability to intake oxygen, hampered by the cigarette smoke that I crave. Over the last six months I have been automatically cut down my smoking habit, I quit a week ago, fully, no desperate, intentional second hand smoke inhalation, no excuse to smoke, I’ve just genuinely tried my best to dedicate my time to positively re-enforce the commitments that I have made instead of focusing on why I’m not smoking anymore. I’m doing well.
I guess it also helps to go on the the internet and randomly rant away and get some more stuff off my chest. Best of luck to anyone quitting, and F*** the tobacco companies! Haha
Hey everyone
Im a 20 year old student and ive been smoking for 8 years now.
I quit last saturday which would have been the 13 of august 2011.
So far im doing graet, food is lovely now and i hope to put on weight.
Dont let the fags win, they are not worth it
All d best
I’m never smoking again. Think about it. You can die by smoking. Nothing more to say!! Good luck everyone. Remember your mind is powerful use it to give up
Im off cigs now 3 weeks. Have to say its been hard. I’m not sleeping very well since, I really miss the one or two in the evening but have persevered so far. Im 43, have smoked for past 25 years and I know its a lethal habit so I am determined not to go back. It is a case of mind over matter and I dont want to smoke any more. Best of luck to all who are currently trying
Day 2! I’m determined this time. I only smoked 7 a day but even that was too much for me. I was constantly paranoid about smelling of cigs and bad breath. Always washing my hands and swilling my mouth out with really strong mouthwash. I thought why am I a slave to this? I want my freedom from Fags. I feel so much cleaner now and confident.
Funny though, I seem to catch eye on people smoking all the time now where I thought I was in the minority. Your mind surely plays tricks on you.!
It’s great that there are sites on the Internet like this where you can share your thoughts with others! Thanks
8 months off em now , will ( fingers crossed ) never go back on them . I started smoking 20 years ago . I feel much better in myself , no coughing fits in the morning , no smelly clothes , no standing in the rain , no tobacco stained teeth , extra cash in my pocket , its all pros pros pros YOU DONT NEED EM OR REALLY WANT THEM , they are a drug that will KILL you , live life smoke free
Hi, this is my first few hours off the cigs, and have caught my mind playing tricks on me about 6 times, where I go to reach for 1. I am in my final year of mental health nursing degree and feel very much of a hippocrite when I`m explaining the benefits of non smoking to my patients, knowng that I smoke myself. Who`s kidding who?? I WILL do this!! No point saying I HOPE I do this, need to remain focused and positive, It feels good, however, knowing that tomorrow when I wake up, I`ll have already started a healthy new life. Good luck to every1 and I WILL update yous as the days , weeks and months go by.
Day four for me and doing ok so far, been smoking for forty years and cant afford the price of my habit anymore . Never smoked at work so that part of the day is easy, but at home a glass of wine or two and I reach for the fags, so the answer is to kick the vino into touch for a while til the urge to smoke subsides a little so I can control it.Nightmare !! but be worth it long term, wish me luck.
day 6 off the smokes,just thinking all the time why its best to be off them.21 years of smoking 35 now started when i was 13