If you are reading this article, you, like me, had had enough of cigarettes. Do you want to end this addiction which ruins your life quickly? If the answer is yes then I have a method for you which will solve the problem of cigarette addiction in no time. I will tell you how to quit smoking quickly and easily, without harming your health and without buying all kinds of junk which makes it even worse. And not only stop, but correct the desired model and not break down in the future.
Smoking history
In general, I first learned about smoking around 7th grade - my brother and I climbed construction sites and learned to smoke "in puff". Naturally, our parents forbade us to smoke, so we constantly had to find ways to hide cigarettes and get rid of the lingering smell of smoke.
Then came the businesses where everyone smoked as well. There was kind of a fad, they say, if you don't smoke then not cool. Everything is different now, but before times were different. So, surrounded by smokers, this habit took root more and more in me. I smoked as much as I could, and the likelihood of being burnt by adults only made the process more dynamic.
But when I was 16, I had a click in my head and decided to quit smoking. Just like that, suddenly, by will. To be fair, there has been a positive moment, but not for long. After a few weeks I changed my mind, I said I could smoke when I drank. In other words, when I'm sober I don't smoke, but at parties I can smoke. And as you probably already assume, I didn't stop there. Although there is a positive effect - for 4 years I smoked a lot.
But there is also a huge downside to this method. Since there was a strong association between smoking and alcohol in my brain, I was drawn to drinking whenever I just wanted to smoke.
But I didn't stop there either. In my third year of study at university, I got a job in a taxi and there I have already lit a full cigarette. I smoked almost a pack a day, and when I drank more. And that continued until the fall of 2017. In other words, basically my experience as a smoker was about 10 years.
How I quit smoking on my own
My friends, in this chapter I will tell you how I went through the process to quit smoking, and then how I did it. Therefore, if you are too lazy to read, you can skip to reading the next chapter. It's just that a lot of people ask me how I handled it, but it's not practical to be smart because the method is quite simple.
So in October 2017 I woke up in the morning after a hectic party and felt bad. I did not get enough sleep, I had a severe headache from the alcohol I drank the day before, the vestibular apparatus was not working properly. I smoked a cigarette and got in the car. The car was stuffy and smelled unpleasantly of the scent of rafters. On top of that, I started to feel sick. In general, a full range of negative feelings.
At this point, I started to feel nauseous and the taste of a recently smoked cigarette was in my mouth. I looked out the window: it was beautiful autumn weather outside, the sun was shining brightly and the leaves were falling from the trees. And then I was inundated with very pleasant childhood memories associated with this particular time and similar landscape. In me there was a pleasant association of the situation outside the window with that of childhood when I was feeling good, and not like now in the car. What did I do next?
My 3 instant steps
- I just linked intense pain and negativity at this exact moment with a smoked cigarette. And I felt with all my body that it was her that I felt so bad about now. It was not difficult to do, as there was an unpleasant tobacco taste in the mouth. In addition, constant shortness of breath and cash costs were added.
- Then I looked out the window again and completely related the pleasant feeling of quitting smoking. Again, it was not difficult to do, because in this situation from my childhood, I did not smoke and felt good. In addition, I added the pleasant feeling that without cigarettes I can climb the stairs safely and not suffocate. I also added monetary benefits: if I don't buy cigarettes, I can buy myself something useful.
- At the height of my emotional state, I made a clear and conscious decision to quit smoking for good.
This all took me about 10 seconds. The emotional swing was so strong that I immediately threw the bag in the trash.
But these steps will not be enough in the long run so I had to apply a few more steps, which also worked successfully. You will read more about it below.
Now for the fun part. I managed to quit smoking quite by accident. I did not prepare for this decision, I did not go to the doctors, I did not buy chewing gum to smoke, plasters, sprays and other nonsense. A few months later, I started reading Tony Robbins' book on personal development and found these same methods that I was applying without knowing it!
6 steps to get rid of addiction
These principles are built on neuro-associative conditioning. Here they are:
- Make a clear and informed decision about why you want to quit smoking. You want it, not your loved ones.
- Use the leverage: Combine intense emotional pleasure in quitting now and intense pain if you don't now. Do something like what I did or think of another way to do it. Most importantly, you need to feel strong emotions and associate them with smoking.
- We need to break the old behavior. For example, I used to go to the smoking room at work and discuss business with colleagues while sipping smoke. After I quit smoking, I started communicating with them in “non-smoking” places.
- Create a new alternative. But this step, friends, is the most important if you are focusing on the long term. The point is, quitting smoking is not enough. You have to replace the pleasure that smoking has brought you with something else. Something that won't give you side effects. For example, instead of going for a smoke with friends, I watched an interesting TV series or drank tea. You must find a stimulating alternative to smoking by examining your reasons for smoking. Let's say you pulled out a cigarette when you started to worry. Exercising or achieving a short term goal contributes a lot to this feeling.
- You should install "forever" instead of "at least a week". And repeat the actions described above until it becomes a habit. It took me about 3 weeks to do this.
- Create a reward system. This is a very important step. Realize that if you don't smoke today, you can afford to buy yourself a nice little thing; if a week, then the thing is bigger; if a month, then vacation abroad. This is exactly what I did - I constantly encouraged myself until the habit was completely gone.
Conclusion
My friends, the problem with smoking is primarily a psychological rather than a physical addiction. There is a huge list of ways to quit smoking. Replace an ordinary cigarette with an electronic cigarette, stick a patch, chew gum. If you open a search engine and ask how you can quit smoking on your own, you'll see a bunch of silly drugs, services, and ways.
Name at least one person who put on the bandage and got rid of the addiction. For example, I don't know such people. The fact is that all of these drugs only partially relieve physical dependence. And she, believe me, isn't that strong already. But it's a profitable business because people buy. They buy and hope for a miracle method that will work for them. It will not happen.
This fairly simple way helped me quit smoking on my own. Therefore, I recommend it to you too.