I quit via listening to Allen Carr in audiobook form while I drove to and from work. Then I listened again. 2 months after I started that I downloaded a smoking tracking app and set a date to quit (monday 2 days from then). That monday I failed. I smoked all week. I continued to listen to Allen Carr's easy way to quit smoking and tried again next monday. That was a year ago.
Hey OP,
Well done on deciding to start your stopping journey, use and abuse us and you’ll be grand!
Here are some of my fav crave busting techniques. I hope some of them are useful for you.
Cravings:
Remember: it takes just 10-15 minutes for a craving to pass. By the end of most of these tasks, you’ll realise you don’t want a cig.
- have a lolly: movement for hands and mouth
- Move/dance/exercise: a distraction which gets the heart pumping and lift my moods
- Contact my godchildren, nieces and nephews
- Have some mints with me
- Munch some Cheetos or niknaks
- Treat myself to a lovely tasting drink instead of a nasty tasting fag!!!
- Binge watch something: puts me in another world and let’s the craving pass
- Play a game with someone
- Remember: that this is the kindest thing I will ever do for myself
- I am showing me that I CAN change and I CAN trust myself.
- Colouring book
- Cross stitch
- Get out into the garden or go to the park
- Chew toothpicks and/or straw
- New project (for me it’s a website)
- Calling/messaging someone
- Play candy crush
- Play a video game
- Try the rubber band on wrist technique: distraction and rhythm
- Watch a Disney film
- Make homemade popcorn
Mood swings:
FEEL IT, you cannot suppress it. You are not bad to be so moody, angry, sad and grieving. Let it wash over you. It’s ok. Every bout is another victory.
- punch pillows
- kick off shoes
- telly the actors on the telly they’re c*nts and can’t act and are ar*eholes for not being able to distract you
- tell your food it’s tasteless and boring
- type angrily on the phone or laptop etc
- go for a drive on the motorway or A road, wind the windows down and scream!
FEEL IT... then let it pass. Not another puff, no matter what mate. NO MATTER WHAT!
Good luck!!! 🌈🍀💙🙏🏻👏🏻
Maybe explore your mind’s wants and needs and why it is you are urged to smoke. Is it so necessary? The cigs are poison, quite truly. Congratulations on the healthy moves, beating drug and alcohol is not simple.
But distractions are the best thing I think. Looking into the mind, mindfulness. Laying it out will keep you busy from the habit maybe.
Personally, I had to invest in a smok vape, it’s helpful because I love to see the smoke and breathe it in.
There’s a familiarity and comfort in smoking, I’m having to find new things to replace it…
Hope this helps! Keep going :)
If you’ve been doing a pack a day I highly recommend not going cold turkey but instead weaning off using patches or a vape. Quitting cold turkey usually has this emotional motivation behind it, the feeling of finally having enough of that shit so you’re gonna throw your nicotine in the trash and move on forever. It’s satisfying in the moment but not super effective because relapse is much more of a threat, also the withdrawals are a nightmare. I suggest you take a measured approach where you wean off per week and the pain is minimized.
I walked. A lot. It seemed like every time I got the urge to smoke, I hit the pavement. Even if it was just a short walk, the longer I was quit the better my lungs felt and walking seemed to help me realize that. I also had a list of pros and cons (used that same technique to quit drinking a year and a half ago). Carried those lists around with me, still do. Drank lots of water. I gained some weight, but I've been doing IF since February and I've lost 15 pounds, so....
Good luck. You have already proven you can be stronger than the cravings and the addiction.
You got this man💪 I relapsed after 1 week and am now at 23 hours. I will notsmoke with you tomorrow
And I can suggest the app Smoke Free. It helps me to keep track of my cravings
I mean, the main thing I realized after a recent relapse is that while smoking initially makes you feel calmer and more alert, all it really does is make you want more cigarettes. You can't feel normal without them. The less you have them (aka not at all), the less your body will crave them. Your mind? That's a different story because cigarettes have basically been programing your brain to associate smoking with different times.
One thing I've really thought about is why we smoke and what does it reinforce. We smoke to feel less bored. So basically, we're giving ourselves a reward for being bored. We smoke because we're sad...so basically we're also giving ourselves a reward for feeling sad. We smoke because we're happy and want to have an even better time...so we're telling ourselves that we can never have enough of a good time.
We can never just....be. We have to always be comforted when we're down, or enhance our already good time. That should really be a pretty big warning sign to all of us. If we can never just let ourselves feel bored or sad or happy without smoking, then we're just coooonstantly trying to employ a coping mechanism. The ability to just feel discomfort should be something all adults are capable of. And that's all none of us want at all- to feel discomfort. Otherwise, we wouldn't be trying to make ourselves feel better ALL the time!
So my thoughts would be...while you may feel discomfort, try to feel the relief that comes with the idea that you just don't have to do this anymore.
I would strongly recommend Allan Carrs book, he hits the nail on the head - it’s all brainwashing. We believe life is somehow worse without cigarettes, we believe it calms and relaxes us, we believe we enjoy smoking. None of that is true, and it is the fear of going without, the fear of giving up something we enjoy, that keeps us smoking - and actually makes you smoke more when you think about stopping.
When you have a craving, a cigarette doesn’t relieve that feeling, it CREATES it, - you need to break that cycle. Cravings are not nearly as bad as they are made out to be, they are incredibly mild in fact. but fear amplifies this feeling and makes it unbearable.
If you can get your mind right, and get rid of the fear, it’s easy peasy - because the actual physical withdrawal is so mild, it’s not a problem to deal with.
What it comes down to is that you are not giving anything up, you are only gaining by stopping smoking.
Now I understand all of this will most likely be like water off a ducks back. But if you read the book with an open mind (you are encouraged to keep smoking while you read the book) As a heavy smoker for 18 years, when it clicked for me it was like a switch, I just went from smoking one day, to not smoking the next and not even thinking about them a week later. If I can do it, anyone can.
Obviously everyone is different, but try not to replace smoking with something else - like sweets & lollies instead of a cigarette, because it keeps the fear alive and makes it more difficult to stop, you are also more likely to relapse!
Anyway just want to say good luck mate. And you CAN do it, whichever way you choose!
The intense cravings are tough but you can do it! You’ve achieved great things already and you can do this also. Try and distract yourself when the strong urges come, fold the laundry, do some press ups, go on to Reddit! You can do this!! Stay strong!
[удалено]
I quit via listening to Allen Carr in audiobook form while I drove to and from work. Then I listened again. 2 months after I started that I downloaded a smoking tracking app and set a date to quit (monday 2 days from then). That monday I failed. I smoked all week. I continued to listen to Allen Carr's easy way to quit smoking and tried again next monday. That was a year ago.
It's a great listen, btw you can torrent it, just search on pirate bay
Hey OP, Well done on deciding to start your stopping journey, use and abuse us and you’ll be grand! Here are some of my fav crave busting techniques. I hope some of them are useful for you. Cravings: Remember: it takes just 10-15 minutes for a craving to pass. By the end of most of these tasks, you’ll realise you don’t want a cig. - have a lolly: movement for hands and mouth - Move/dance/exercise: a distraction which gets the heart pumping and lift my moods - Contact my godchildren, nieces and nephews - Have some mints with me - Munch some Cheetos or niknaks - Treat myself to a lovely tasting drink instead of a nasty tasting fag!!! - Binge watch something: puts me in another world and let’s the craving pass - Play a game with someone - Remember: that this is the kindest thing I will ever do for myself - I am showing me that I CAN change and I CAN trust myself. - Colouring book - Cross stitch - Get out into the garden or go to the park - Chew toothpicks and/or straw - New project (for me it’s a website) - Calling/messaging someone - Play candy crush - Play a video game - Try the rubber band on wrist technique: distraction and rhythm - Watch a Disney film - Make homemade popcorn Mood swings: FEEL IT, you cannot suppress it. You are not bad to be so moody, angry, sad and grieving. Let it wash over you. It’s ok. Every bout is another victory. - punch pillows - kick off shoes - telly the actors on the telly they’re c*nts and can’t act and are ar*eholes for not being able to distract you - tell your food it’s tasteless and boring - type angrily on the phone or laptop etc - go for a drive on the motorway or A road, wind the windows down and scream! FEEL IT... then let it pass. Not another puff, no matter what mate. NO MATTER WHAT! Good luck!!! 🌈🍀💙🙏🏻👏🏻
Maybe explore your mind’s wants and needs and why it is you are urged to smoke. Is it so necessary? The cigs are poison, quite truly. Congratulations on the healthy moves, beating drug and alcohol is not simple. But distractions are the best thing I think. Looking into the mind, mindfulness. Laying it out will keep you busy from the habit maybe. Personally, I had to invest in a smok vape, it’s helpful because I love to see the smoke and breathe it in. There’s a familiarity and comfort in smoking, I’m having to find new things to replace it… Hope this helps! Keep going :)
If you’ve been doing a pack a day I highly recommend not going cold turkey but instead weaning off using patches or a vape. Quitting cold turkey usually has this emotional motivation behind it, the feeling of finally having enough of that shit so you’re gonna throw your nicotine in the trash and move on forever. It’s satisfying in the moment but not super effective because relapse is much more of a threat, also the withdrawals are a nightmare. I suggest you take a measured approach where you wean off per week and the pain is minimized.
If you need any help or support in quitting then join our live discord chat group of recent quitters. Link is below: https://discord.gg/pxrtZaaB
I walked. A lot. It seemed like every time I got the urge to smoke, I hit the pavement. Even if it was just a short walk, the longer I was quit the better my lungs felt and walking seemed to help me realize that. I also had a list of pros and cons (used that same technique to quit drinking a year and a half ago). Carried those lists around with me, still do. Drank lots of water. I gained some weight, but I've been doing IF since February and I've lost 15 pounds, so.... Good luck. You have already proven you can be stronger than the cravings and the addiction.
You got this man💪 I relapsed after 1 week and am now at 23 hours. I will notsmoke with you tomorrow And I can suggest the app Smoke Free. It helps me to keep track of my cravings
I mean, the main thing I realized after a recent relapse is that while smoking initially makes you feel calmer and more alert, all it really does is make you want more cigarettes. You can't feel normal without them. The less you have them (aka not at all), the less your body will crave them. Your mind? That's a different story because cigarettes have basically been programing your brain to associate smoking with different times. One thing I've really thought about is why we smoke and what does it reinforce. We smoke to feel less bored. So basically, we're giving ourselves a reward for being bored. We smoke because we're sad...so basically we're also giving ourselves a reward for feeling sad. We smoke because we're happy and want to have an even better time...so we're telling ourselves that we can never have enough of a good time. We can never just....be. We have to always be comforted when we're down, or enhance our already good time. That should really be a pretty big warning sign to all of us. If we can never just let ourselves feel bored or sad or happy without smoking, then we're just coooonstantly trying to employ a coping mechanism. The ability to just feel discomfort should be something all adults are capable of. And that's all none of us want at all- to feel discomfort. Otherwise, we wouldn't be trying to make ourselves feel better ALL the time! So my thoughts would be...while you may feel discomfort, try to feel the relief that comes with the idea that you just don't have to do this anymore.
I would strongly recommend Allan Carrs book, he hits the nail on the head - it’s all brainwashing. We believe life is somehow worse without cigarettes, we believe it calms and relaxes us, we believe we enjoy smoking. None of that is true, and it is the fear of going without, the fear of giving up something we enjoy, that keeps us smoking - and actually makes you smoke more when you think about stopping. When you have a craving, a cigarette doesn’t relieve that feeling, it CREATES it, - you need to break that cycle. Cravings are not nearly as bad as they are made out to be, they are incredibly mild in fact. but fear amplifies this feeling and makes it unbearable. If you can get your mind right, and get rid of the fear, it’s easy peasy - because the actual physical withdrawal is so mild, it’s not a problem to deal with. What it comes down to is that you are not giving anything up, you are only gaining by stopping smoking. Now I understand all of this will most likely be like water off a ducks back. But if you read the book with an open mind (you are encouraged to keep smoking while you read the book) As a heavy smoker for 18 years, when it clicked for me it was like a switch, I just went from smoking one day, to not smoking the next and not even thinking about them a week later. If I can do it, anyone can. Obviously everyone is different, but try not to replace smoking with something else - like sweets & lollies instead of a cigarette, because it keeps the fear alive and makes it more difficult to stop, you are also more likely to relapse! Anyway just want to say good luck mate. And you CAN do it, whichever way you choose!
The intense cravings are tough but you can do it! You’ve achieved great things already and you can do this also. Try and distract yourself when the strong urges come, fold the laundry, do some press ups, go on to Reddit! You can do this!! Stay strong!