Smoke demons

[Talkingfox]

I know this isn't exactly diet related, but IS health related.

I'm curious as to methods that those who have quit smoking have used and which worked for them and why. I'm finally, after many years, ready to tackle my last drug addiction. I guess I'm tired of being a slave...

Any input would be most appreciated.

EDIT: I should clarify in that I mean tobacco

[Radiant Star]

Tough call.

I tried very hard twelve times to give up and it never lasted more than a few days, usually a week and occsionally, a little longer.

Once you have been without for a few days you become very aware of the awful stench of peoples clothes and places where smokers have been.

The only way I could do it was by only smoking outside. I washed all the curtains and chair covers, bed linen etc. I wiped off all of the brown stuff that had collected on the sides of furniture - you wouldn't believe how much and how dark the colour of my cloths were. God, it was disgusting.

After cleaning my house from top to bottom, I then only smoked outside, it was great going out for a cigarette in the sunshine and sitting watching birds in the garden, chatting the neighbour, playing with the cat and so on.

Then came the colder days of winter and the rainy days. I was out for less and less time and less often and eventually, I was down to a few puffs each day and one day after several weeks, I began to find the smell of the smoke on my coat and my breath unbearable and just couldn't smoke any more.

I have occasionally smoked at parties and enjoyed the smell of my tutor's cigar in the pub last night but when I got home, I could smell it all in my clothes and felt repulsed by it.

So basically, deep clean your home and make it difficult for yourself to smoke, so that its not a sudden cut off, but a gradual weaning and I think it might work :D

[Talkingfox]

Thanks Ricci. I already smoke outside and have for several years. It's taken me from my original 2 packs a day to about 3/4 of a pack.
It's that last vestige of the addiction that's giving me the issue.

[Radiant Star]

Yes, that last little bit was my hardest too, took quite a while to get over the few puffs a day, you may have to settle for that for a while and then go onto timed smoking, ie: two puffs an hour or half a cigarette every four hours or something and gradually limit puffs or lengthen time in between.

Believe you me, I tried everything before I managed it and I also started to tell myself that I was a non-smoker towards the end too.

[feranaja]

I was 28 when I quit. I used to smoke 2 packs of Cameo per day, but I was saved by vanity. Approaching 30 i was in a bit of a panic about what smoking was likely to do to my very delicate skin, in terms of lines and wrinkles. To hell with lung cancer, I was worried about how I'd afford Botox, lol. So I took advantage of a bad bout of bronchitis - one where I really couldn't smoke - and just bit the bullet, never started up again after I recovered.

Vanity and illness, my recommended methodology.

I really loathe tobacco smoke now and I'm so glad I quit, and much more concerned with health these days than a few lines (funny how much less scary age is when you're older?) Im sure with your discipline and determination you can conquer this TF. But seriously, if I hadn't been down with flu for about 2 weeks I don't know that I'd have been able to initiate the final quitting. That was a bad two weeks but it helped me make an important decision.

I'm thinking now of that... Nicorette? commercial where the airline hostess goes berserk...cracks me up every time.

fera

[MythMath]

Have you tried magic...?
_________________

What about the idea of replacing that time segment that was formerly
used to smoke a butt, with something that you love and nourishes you...?

Start a series of sketches in a medium that you've always
wanted to try out, but never got around to yet...

Keep each sketch small and quick, so it takes about 15 minutes to complete...

Assess progress after 200 sketches (one carton's worth)... ;)

Wow, give that a try... :yes:
______________________

I stopped smoking by focusing
on not lighting the cigarette...

It was 'easy to control', and thus avoid,
the act of striking the match or sparking the lighter...

[Zaii]

I quit last year. I smoked cloves predominantly, and a cigar every now and then.

The easiest thing to do is associate smoking mentally with everything in your life you want to be rid of and negative feelings, and then when you think of smoking, let that wash over you, and then have ready thoughts of all the positive things in your life and what you want to be doing instead of smoking, and then switch over to that train of thought.

Also stay away from smoker friends for a bit if they can't be convinced not to smoke around you, and yeah, as said, you will realize the crazy stench of your clothes and hands if you haven't already.

Don't have "one last pack" or "one last puff". That's the same way I kept drinking six months past when I wanted to quit. It was always "the last one".

[Talkingfox]

Thank you for all your suggestions and the sharing of your personal experiences! I'll no doubt be using ALL of them (well maybe not the getting sick approach;))

I'm beginning to realize that I smoke for a number of different reasons and no one approach hits all of them.

Oh, and yes MM, magick is one of them. In my personal stuff there is little or no separation of magickal/mundane, it's just a matter of amassing the appropriate 'tools ' for the job. :)