editor Every time you light up a cigarette, you choose to unleash over 7000 harmful chemicals on your body, 70 of which are known to cause cancer, and hundreds more that lead to serious illnesses. We all know it’s bad for us, so why do we choose to assault our own lungs, often multiple times every day?
Well, just ‘stopping’ isn’t exactly easy. I tried several times before I eventually managed to kick the habit for good. It isn’t just because nicotine is extremely addictive, although that was obviously a huge part of it. Though I’m almost ashamed to admit it, smoking was something I enjoyed. Still, to this day, I have fond memories of conversations in smoking areas outside bars.
But it wasn’t worth my health. I was sick more often, had a constant, relentless cough, and found myself out of breath during short walks. I remember being in the hospital for something unrelated and hearing from a nurse that smokers on average live 10 years shorter. That fact took root in my head and soon blossomed into action. So I decided to quit. Here are some of the things that helped me.
Nicotine Replacement Therapy
Nicotine replacement therapy is a proven method for lots of quitters out there. Cravings usually peak within the first few days of quitting, when withdrawals are at their most intense. But they can also be triggered by all manner of different things: boredom during downtime, driving to work, or when you’re feeling stressed and looking for a sense of relief.
Alternative nicotine sources can give quitters the nicotine that their brains crave, without also subjecting their bodies to the aforementioned 7000 harmful substances. The market is full of popular alternatives, like nicotine pouches, pads, and gum. Personally, pouches worked the best for me because they were so widely available, but it’s very subjective – you might not even need NRT to begin with.
Read: Nebulisers vs Inhalers: Which is Better for Respiratory Care?
Shake Up Your Routine
This might not be obvious, but if you’re a heavy smoker, then changing up your routine is likely a must if you’re serious about quitting. Those who are used to spreading out a pack of cigarettes throughout the day, with a coffee in the morning, during breaks at work, over lunch, and so on, might struggle early on in their quitting journey as they associate certain actions and times of day with smoking.
Everybody’s different, so there isn’t a simple ‘one size fits all’ solution to this obstacle – especially because it’s so abstract. But what’s clear to me is that changing up my own routine helped me to quit. I had become so used to smoking with a hot drink before breakfast every day, for example, not to mention the amount I’d smoke while meeting up with friends for drinks during the week, where inevitably we’d burn through a dozen cigarettes during our regular excursions to the smoking area.
I needed a change. My entire morning routine shifted to have a heavier emphasis on the food I was preparing, while my evenings spent at the pub with friends quickly became a thing of the past. I instead shifted my focus to a new project on weeknights: working out at the gym.
Support Network
Building a support network around yourself will not just help you hold yourself accountable, but it’ll also help your nearest and dearest help you. If they’re smokers, they’ll know not to light up when you’re around, making sure you don’t risk entering an environment filled with temptations.
Most importantly, having the support of your loved ones means that you don’t need to go through the journey alone. You’ll have people with whom you can externalise your motivations, confide in when you’re struggling, and who can celebrate your wins with you.
Write a Journal
It doesn’t need to be a literal journal – I took notes on my phone and found it to be really helpful. Not so much in a ‘dear diary’ sense, moreso to estimate the amount of money I’d saved at certain milestones, review different nicotine replacement therapies, and to plan out the regular gym sessions that I used to fill the cigarette-shaped hole in my life.
Quitting smoking can often feel like a very solitary journey, where even if you have a supportive family and friends, a lot of the time is spent with your own thoughts. I think that writing these thoughts down can often help make sense of them.
Progress, Not Perfection
Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Your goal is to quit smoking, but the reality is that relapses happen. The key is being prepared for that. I went 3 months before smoking a couple of cigarettes on a cold Saturday night, while out for drinks during a friend’s birthday party.
Was I disappointed that I gave in? Of course. But I didn’t want to fall into the trap of using one relapse to justify going to the shop, buying another pack, and picking up where I left off. I was still quitting; I‘d just made a mistake. I wasn’t perfect, but that didn’t change anything. I still identified as a nonsmoker.
Final Thoughts
Quitting smoking is a herculean task. For a lot of people, it isn’t something that can be done with willpower alone. I don’t know where I’d be without my support network, Killa Nicopods, and other new interests to throw myself into. But the reality is that the millions of people who have successfully quit all started from the same point as you. Now it’s your turn.
