Start talking to me about a how to quit smoking program and I would usually go off on a tangent. Me quit smoking! There’s no way I’m going to give up the one luxurious vice I look forward to. I couldn’t even think about such a distorted thing as a how to stop smoking program.

About 10 years ago though I got bamboozled into doing it. One of my closest fiends used to describe to me how as a smoker I was at risk for cancers, emphysema, and strokes. She works in a nursing home and sees the ravages of smoking all day long. She taunted that if I didn’t start looking into a how to quit quit smoking program and stop, eventually before I died for real, I would end up like the people she cared for in the retirement living centers–gasping for breath, toting around oxygen tanks, needing help doing the simplest of tasks. So I finally listened to her and gave it a shot.

They say that’s the key to eventually being able to call yourself a non-smoker: you quit, you try again, and you quit again, until you are a successful quitter.  Of course, just trying once as I did doesn’t really count (until I try again and again, sometime), but the truly desirous can make the effort by trying out ways to quit smoking programs, one at a time, until he or she finds one or a combination of smoking cessation programs that work for him or her.

I had back in the 90’s, made it as a non-smoker for one year and one month.  These are some of the quit smoking programs and tools I worked with:

Since The American Cancer Society offers free, thoughtful info on quitting smoking, I started there. The information is written in serious terms and at the same time uses gentle language. That offers the soft approach, so I wouldn’t feel like a freak, or a “bad” person.

Next, I read one of the many fine books on quitting. One was informative, supportive, coaxing, humorous, brilliantly researched, and helpful.  My absolute favorite is still No-Nag, No-Guilt, Do-It-Your-Own-Way Guide to Quitting Smoking, by Tom Ferguson.

An MD offering info on how cigarettes are a dual drug unlike any other writes it: they are, he says, upper/downers.  When you’re nervous or agitated, you can take long slow drags and are tranquilized; when you’re sluggish and tired, you can take short quick puffs, and are instantly energized.

The Doc exclaims, “No wonder it’s so hard to quit smoking!”  He also defines another characteristic that helps us appreciate why we’re so hooked.  He gives the times for onset, noting there’s only one other drug, of all drugs (OTC, street, prescribed) that hits the brain faster, and that’s crack cocaine.  If I recall correctly, crack hits you in 3 seconds, heroin in 10.
 
Cigarettes are harder to quit than heroin!  That right there helped me realize I also needed to be extra kind to myself. 

I also talked with successful quitters, some of whom had become so by trying stop smoking programs like those involving hypnosis, subliminal tapes, and nicotine gum.  And because they offered their advice and tips, I tried them as well.

I drank water, a lot of water, as our bodies take at least 8 ten-ounce glasses of water a day anyway, so whenever I felt the urge to have a smoke, I would drink water instead.

The oral act is a big part of smoking for me and likely for most everyone else whom loves/needs to smoke.  I would use a pencil, an imaginary butt, or even—when I was especially brave—a real unlit cigarette, and each time I had the crave to drag would inhale really deeply and satisfyingly, instead. 

I also used the 12-step approach to try and give up my addiction. I was never with-it to try the Quitters or Smokers’ Anonymous, and would do as a friend suggested it.  I would say, “If I still want a cigarette in 20 minutes, I’ll have one.”  I would not give in and do so after twenty minutes, of course; instead, I would give myself permission to smoke, wait the whole 20 minutes (for most cravings cycle through and pass away in 20 minutes), and then repeat the permit, so that if I again still wanted a cigarette I could have one…after twenty minutes.

This is how I quit smoking. It wasn’t pretty with all of the different times I tried and all of the different techniques and programs I used. It was the toughest thing I’ve ever done but I can look back now and say it was definitely worth it. I feel and look better than I have for a long time. I highly recommend you keep trying until you find the right quit smoking help.

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