Sharing Our Experiences

Keeping with this weeks theme “QUIT SMOKING”, I’m dedicating the rest of this week to providing information, tips and support on how to quit smoking cold turkey. Almost all of these details are from my own experiences but please feel free to provide me with your own personal tips or suggestions.

For those that aren’t familiar with the term cold turkey, that method of quitting is by just stopping, no longer smoking, going from your 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 – 50 cigarette habit a day to absolutely ZERO.

Ive tried many methods to quit smoking but all in all have found that the issue isnt the decision to stop or the act of stopping but the relapse. In other words being unable to stay quit. That seems to be the one obstacle if any, to stay a non smoker.

Fast Tube by Casper

Its been 2 years since I decided to quit and although I still think about smoking, or even miss smoking, its never been enough to return to the habit. MY life is so much more better without the cigarettes. I exercise more, I spend more time with my children, I spend more time with Ieremia and I spend more time doing the things I love to do like writing.

When I was a smoker I had almost lost the desire to write thinking that I needed to have that fag hanging out of the side of my mouth while I tapped away at the keys. I was so addicted that I couldn’t get passed the fact that I couldn’t smoke while writing so just decided not to write. I’m passionate about writing, I always have been but I let smoking get the better of me and stopped doing one of the things I love most. I robbed myself of the magic moments that my words create for me but luckily I have made 2 of the best decisions in my life, firstly to quit smoking and secondly to write again.

Life is good!!

I started smoking in my early teens and at first it was because I wanted to be part of a group and it seemed that the only way I would fit is if I would smoke. And so the addiction began. At first I would just puff but not inhale the cigarette but after my peers complained about me wasting their cigarettes I started to inhale. I was addicted; hook, line and sinker. Before long I started to use my pocket money to contribute towards packs of cigarettes with my friends and eventually started buying my own packs. All this before I even turned 15.

My parents are both non smokers and so it wasn’t like we had been bought up around cigarettes. However, we did have Aunties and Uncles that smoked and of course there was our Granddad, he was an absolute train .. smoked incredibly heavily and died of emphysema because of it.

I hid the fact I smoked for a long time from my parents and it wasn’t until I got caught smoking at school, that my parents had the opportunity to address my smoking.

They discouraged smoking vehemently, but regardless of what they said I wasn’t quitting, I didn’t want to quit, I was way too cool and grown up to give up something that was all about me.

I smoked heavily for 25 years.

Over that time I tried many times to quit, unsuccessfully. The one thing I have learnt from those experiences is that it boils down to a few things:

* making a solid decision to quit
* putting a plan into place to avoid relapse
* rewarding yourself for your daily achievements
* creating a support network to encourage your efforts
* getting on with your everyday life
* making a commitment to living a healthier lifestyle

As the week progresses I will go more in-depth into the above and provide more steps for your success as a non smoker.

I am so convinced that my life has become better as a non smoker that I have even setup a website to support those on their journey to becoming and staying a non smoker. Check our quit smoking website out here.