Quit Smoking ... By Smoking!

Smoke Your Way Out of a Nicotine Addiction!
Destroy your nicotine addiction and quit smoking with this simple, logical regimen. Use it to muster the willpower necessary to quit smoking without nicotine patches, chewing gums or any other replacements or substitutes.

On Again / Off Again Nicotine Addiction
My first dalliances with cigarettes began in the early 70's at the tender age of 11. Across the next 35 years I stopped smoking for extended periods of 4-5 years several times. I went "cold turkey" on each of those occasions, replacing cigarettes with a punishing daily training regime.

On all of those occasions I had a defined purpose and goal: preparing my body to play Australian Football to the best of my ability. At 46 years of age now and living in Vietnam, with limited opportunities for serious sporting endeavors, I can no longer use physical sporting fitness as my willpower motivator. Another method is needed. Here is what I'm doing this time.

Step 1: Understand You Are an Addict
Know in your own mind that Nicotine Is A Drug and along with the other chemical substances in cigarettes, they are addictive. They cause chemical reactions within your body which have real physical and emotional results. These results are initially pleasurable, they give you the buzz. Like all addictions, pretty soon you need to increase the drug to get the same effect. Soon it is 30+ cigarettes per day .... just to make you feel 'normal'! Accept that if you cannot feel 'normal' without cigarettes, then you are a Nicotine Addict. The idea behind this regimen is to change your 'normal'.

Step 2: Recognize Quitting Smoking is Difficult but Worth It
All you nicotine addicts know your addiction is harmful to your health. You also know how difficult it is to quit smoking. You have to mentally prepare yourself to "tough it out" over the first weeks until your 'normal' has been changed to exclude nicotine, in any form, altogether. Almost everybody has a suggestion for when is, or is not, a good time to start the quit smoking process. All I can say is that there will be a day when you are moved to action ... no longer just thinking about it. That's the time to strike!

Step 3: Have a Goal/Target
With no physical sporting "payoff" to resort to this time, I was forced to have a look around my life for a goal that would mean something to me and serve as a strong reminder of why I am willing myself to endure so many short term irritations, physical discomfort and disruptive moments. I settled on the health and impressions I would leave on my new baby due in Sept. 09.

My goal is that this unborn child will never witness a cigarette between his/her father's lips. I do not want this child to mimic my smoking behaviors like the other children have done. I do not want this child to think it is okay to smoke.

Step 4: Shout It from the Rooftops
Peer pressure is a very, very powerful thing. Tell all and sundry of your Quit Smoking Plan and enlist their help: family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, workmates and anybody else who can support, encourage, help or scold you down the stretch. Explain what you are doing and how, then ask for their support ... both emotional and physical.

Step 5: Control The Cigarettes, Not Them You (the Cheating part)
At the beginning, decide how many cigarettes YOU will allow yourself each day. This should be a drastic slashing in the number of cigarettes you smoke each day, not a small change. From 30+ per day, cut it to 3! The key to controlling the cigarettes is allocating a specific time for each cigarette you will have.

You should NEVER allow yourself a cigarette before midday at the very earliest! The reason is stupidly simple: Through the night, the levels of the lethal nicotine in your body has slowly been leeching out of our system. The longer you wait, the greater the likely distaste of the next cigarette ... including dizziness!

The purpose of this step is to shock your body into withdrawal symptoms which are then dealt with in the following steps.

Step 6: Cigarette Schedule
You know your life and your nicotine addiction better than anybody else. Draw up a weekly schedule which shows exactly what day and time you will allow yourself to have a cigarette. Ensure this schedule is circulated to all and sundry as per step 4. Paste it up around the house. If you have children, involve them in monitoring your progress.

Step 7: Do It In Halves
Instead of smoking each entire scheduled cigarette in one go, play a personal game with yourself. See how long you can make a single cigarette last. Take a puff or two, then stub it out & wait at least 1-2 more hours. See how long you can keep a single cigarette 'in the game'. But remember, NEVER start again until after midday the next day.

I am sure the Psych's can explain it, but I get some perverse pleasure from actually stubbing out a cigarette WHEN I WANT TO. It feels good to be in charge and stop that cigarette from tasting bad or giving you that disorienting feeling. Note that at this point I'm still keeping the half-smoked stubs 'in the game'.

Step 8: Trim the Schedule
After one week of controlling the cigarettes, re-draw your weekly schedule and either decrease the number of cigarettes you allow yourself each day or lengthen the period of time between them. This should not be as drastic as the first reduction, at Step 5, because the purpose is different. This step is designed to re-enforce the immediately intrusive and undesirable effects of the cigarettes.

Repeat this step for as long as it takes for Step 9 to become a more preferable option!

Step 9: Just Stop!
Sooner or later the hassle of watching the clock waiting for the next "fag fix", the stink of the smoke itself, the foul taste in your mouth, the silly dizziness and pangs of guilt will build up until eventually it is easier to just stop. This will happen early for some people, later for others.

After only three days my daily nicotine ration is beginning to taste rather awful. I can now detect the foul smelling odor that is left in my mouth. I've discovered again how seriously my olfactory senses have been duped, impaired, overpowered and destroyed by cigarettes. I am beginning to detest the taste of cigarettes already.

The Theory
It seems to me that having a structured way to re-align what is 'normal' for one's body, and decreasing the nicotine dependence in a controlled manner, is a better way to quit smoking than substituting one form of nicotine delivery (cigarettes) for another (patches, gum, etc). Right now I have gone from 40+ high-tar, high-nicotine cigarettes per day down to one cigarette per day only available after 4pm.

I have no idea why the psychology of this approach works for me, but the knowledge that a cigarette will be available from 4pm each day helps me mentally deal with the physical results of nicotine withdrawal: the slight headaches; irritability & short temper; shakes; twitchiness; inability to concentrate for long periods of time; etc. Knowing that a dose of nicotine will be available at 4pm every day somehow makes these withdrawal symptoms easier to endure.

Re-arranging the way you administer the deadly nicotine to your body without breaking the other routines of your life will work if you have the conviction to win small battles one minute, one hour, one day, one week at time.

Disclaimer
These are my own personal experiences and musings. There may or may not be any scientific research or evidence, medical advice or literature which either endorses or contradicts, in whole or in part, this personal quit smoking method of mine.

This method is no guarantee that you will not relapse into a continued nicotine addiction ... but at least it gives you an escape route!

I originally published this article at associatedcontent.com.