If You've Givin'Up Given'Up Try This!!!
So many newcomers lately. Some read the posts and are excited by the mindset they are learning. They are off to a great start, and i am sure they will succeed. However, many put in an appearance and just leave quietly i think, disappointed and feeling dejected.
I do try to be optimistic in my posts to encourage, but obviously some just do not grasp the concepts, despite their trying. You are not alone. I see many come and go and some who have tried and tried with all kinds of methods. Perhaps a quit with less pressure while you learned would be beneficial. That is what Allan Carr does in his lectures while the client smokes. Why not do the same, while learning, and gradually changing the behaviours that are 90% of the addiction?Change our anxiety to positive acceptance of becoming non -smokers. Smoke, not feeling deprived, but with a different goal in mind. Not fearing the nicotine withdrawals , but understanding them
Sure, people can just quit smoking... but do they stay quti?. Despite the method, unless you understand the addiction, why you even go through the trouble of quitting , only to pick it up again?
Some fear the thought of never ever having a cigarette again. What if you told yourself that you would give this deal your best effort for 100 days? What if for 60 days you could smoke in a different way, or take just enough nicotine via any method as to not be in withdrawal and life seeming miserable. Can you live with the thought of not enjoying the cigarette? Can you live with a few fleeting urges from the nicotone monster for 72 hours?
Fear prevents us from taking action, but ignoring our health will end in catastrophe at some point. I would rather you take an extra 60 days to quit and remain quit, than to just let fear make you give up ever trying again.
If your doctor has advised you to quit smoking immediately, then champix is closest to this method but with a drug rather than natural. Champix takes 12 weeks, is expensive and maybe you don't have the coverage. (An inhaler might serve the purpose here as well rather than gum or lozenges. ) Then cut down on the intake later. You should not feel any withdrawal.
Lets call this the BACKWARDS SMART QUIT PLAN with no fear or discomfort for the feint at heart
You go at your own rate. You can smoke. You sign a contract with yourself. that you can smoke again in 100 days, but you must change your smoking habits and mindset to the very best of your ability. You can be nicotine free in 63 days or sooner.
The Rules
You must want to WANT to quit
Write a lists of reasons to quit and reasons to remain a smoker.
For two days. Write down when you smoke and why.(morning, coffee, car, phone, break, reward for finishing chore, after meals, on break.... etc
Write down what you could do to avoid having that cigarette. (clean, pamper yourself, deep breathing, phone call, light nutritious snack,meditate, kegal , google, play a game.)
Only have a cigarette without these triggers.(If on a work break, smoke 20 feet away from your smoking friends, and re join them when you are done)
Have you cigarettes in solitude, standing up, doing absolutely nothing else. Do absolutely nothing else except concentrate on that cigarette. Hopefully, you will cut down with this process. You will see how many cigarettes you smoked without even being aware of it. You will see how much it dictates your life.
Read every new post here, and try to read old ones to learn about the mindset and other journeys.
Once you stop seeing the cigarette as your friend, your crutch, the something you just have to have or you will die, you will start to see it for what it really is.
Once you have had enough of it, and taking the time out for it, decide that you actually do want to Quit Smoking.
You have been preparing for life without it, maybe it is time to just say enough. I don't need this crap. I want to be free of it!
Remember you can smoke again but only after you have put in your best effort.
Remember that you started this process wanting to learn to Want to quit.
You are Here. Do not be afraid. If you have done this until Day 60 and followed the rules you should be more than ready.
Plan A
Plan for three days of activities, (laundry piled up, cleaning the house, the garage, the car, yardwork, a hobby, an outing,
Stop smoking by smart turkey, using your 4'Ds, and other methods learned. You are now in the mindset and know you will be free in 72 hours of the nicotine.
When you wake it is 93% out of your system. You know what a craving is, you have had them every day of your life that you smoked. They are thoughts, nothing more.
Eating healthier and drinking lots of water and doing exercise do all help negate the urges. Also remember to cut back your caffeine intake by half because you will no longer have nicotine in your system to negate the jitters it can cause.
PlanB
Choose to go on Champix if you doctor agrees, and follow its instructions
Start this on day 50 if you wish to if you feel ready to go on as non-smoker at this point, but still remember the contract with yourself. You should be able to quit this in 3 weeks after your cigarette since the nicotine and its receptors are all shut down at this point.
Everyone can quit smoking and remain quit, that is your choice. You can also free yourself earlier if you choose and feel the mindset is there, at worst you resume the plan, but Day 60 is a QUiT.
Do you accept the terms? Will you let others know how you are making out and what progress you make from time to time? Will you try to help at least one other person to quit this terrible addiction?
It is better to try and try again , than to have never tried at all.
I had my last cigarette on Nov. 8 /18 which was exactly 63 days ago. How Ironic is that? It is so wonderful to be free of that cursed poison stick.
There is no excuse to remain its slave. You have nothing to fear, tools to use and knowledge to see this journey through.
No absolute attempt quit date before 60 days, no pressure. Only a commitment to yourself to try and make a decision within 100 days. Maybe you won't dread the 100 day date because you have to quit smoking but because you haven't! You will be free to remain on the path you choose!
Brilliant happiness...inspiring words and well said...4 and 1/2 mths down the track and I still like to get the help....
Thanks Sphinx. It is my pleasure if it helps anyone.
And Red, you and i both took the time to answer Hev in the past and he apparently dismissed our help. I was positive in my answer, as all quits are different and they also learn in different ways. I have made numerous posts on various subjects to the quit for all to at least learn the basics and have an understanding of all of our support comments and how to free themselves of not only nicotine, but the psychological hold which is broken via behavioural patterns and way of thinking. My replies , i am sure are quite long enough without repeating what i have posted verbatim.
I am sorry if some come believing the NRT is all it takes. I made a post to clarify that misconception. If i could do the quit for them i would, but i can't.
I am really upset at how the pharmaceutical companies cash in on other peoples misery, not just NRT,s but products to treat the symptoms and not the cause of lots of illnesses. How their product promote more ill health than what they initially cure. I am probably most upset because I haven't heard from PuffNoMore. He was doing so well.........
I knew nothing of the mindset when i quit cold turkey, a little bit smart, with a whole lot of Believing in myself and a Want to quit. I am positive. I am positive anyone can quit if they truly want to invest the time in themselves.
I am doing well Happ and I did reply recently.
I know your very passionate about this and Your Smart turkey method. Your truly inspiring , You probably help alot of quitters we have never heard from yet? Thank you, you have helped me!
You remind me of a lobbyist or politician. They put ideas forward for debate and sometimes the motion gets past into legislation and other ideas get dumped into the bin.
Stay Strong Happiness
Great to hear from you Buddy. Relieved your depression hasn't sabotaged your efforts again. I am glad i could help you through your journey. It took a lot of ideas to finally get through, but it did give me the idea to post this in hopes some will try again.
I am not a politician though, i don't get paid or have an agenda. I am honest and sincere in my beliefs!
Did i miss something? Oh, I see. This story may be a little complicating or confusing. Sorry, I probably didnt read this story , given how long it is. Whats this story about again. Um?
Just a thought Happiness. Are you striving for your smart turkey method to be as successful as Allen Carr?
Am I being an idiot by saying this? YES, because you are only trying to help others with your unique enthusiasm. Although, I'd love you to sell your brand (smart turkey) to the masses.
I dont think you should write that book, because you never smoked 100 cigs daily like Allen carr . lol
Seriously, START WRITING THAT BOOK. Lmfao
x
No, just supporting the Allan Carr method. Most of his clients were smokers, or some like you and i might read after the fact for re-Enforcement. It is his way of allaying the fears of quitting by logic. His way of making you understand how you became addicted, why we feel as we do, and why it took us so long to let go. I have simply tried to address these issues in all the posts that i have made.
My Backwards Plan i wrote above is actually a reverse of cold turkey. Fear paralysis people into inaction. Baby steps are not so overwhelming. If they take the first step i hope they will stick with it, and in a natural process, learn, see progress, change their relationship with the cigarette, have some confidence in themselves to continue, ..... different strokes for different folks.
The change in behavior as well as pyschological dependency is 90% of the quitting process. (And in staying quit) We will start with that and then let them choose how to proceed. At least they will have a SMART QUIT.
If after 60 days they have reconditioned their minds as well as behaviour, meaning they resent having to medicate with nicotine in seclusion and want to stop that need altogether AND have come to the realization that they do want to become a Non-Smoker which simply means they do not want to smoke ever again!
The next step is to just quit (smart turkey) and have a few urges that they will be able to deal with with no problem
or
Go on Champix which is not nicotine, but suppresses the cravings while you smoke and gradually cut down and quit because you lose the desire to smoke. In three weeks after your last cigarette, the nicotine receptors will be shut down, you have already done the 90% change required, and there is no nicotine in your system. You should be able to stop the Champix with no withdrawals at all.
That's my logical thinking.
So Champix is the winner here if an Aid is to be taken, but only AFTER the Backwards Smart Quit Method to end all fear and discomfort.
Can Anyone dispute this rationization? I would love to get some opinions here.
I haven't heard of Champix. There are a lot of TV commercials in the U.S. promoting quit smoking aids. Although I don't know how this product works from what I read from Happiness's post it sounds like a miracle!
It can be a miracle, as in no withdrawals from nicotine are felt, but there is still the psychological Missing the cigarette to overcome. With out a cigarette . Therefore unless they truly want to quit, they feel deprived without knowing why, unless they join these groups and understand. Some just don't do anything beyond take the product and quit for a period. Some may be lucky or do actually have the desire to quit. . A blessing and a curse. That is why i hope others will learn and implement first, Then proceed to quit nicotine, hence a backwards Smart Quit.
Although this is an old post. I do hope it helped someone and that even now I might get some feed back. I am not a non-smokier and really cannot go back to test it for myself at this point. My hubby also quit 2 weeks after me, and I am happy to say my daughter also quit cold turkey a week ago. I am so proud of her.
Anyone can quit smoking. Choose a way and stick with it!
I would be interested if anyone followed this or found this helpful?
I am delighted to say that I am now 200 days a happy non-smoker and my husband 2 weeks behind me also successful. Proud to say my daughter also remains smoke free. All three of us found it much easier than we anticipated. We also read Allan Carr.
Anyone can quit smoking if there is a desire to. Think positive and positive things do happen!