any piece of advice is welcome
P.S. Thanks to all the people that have taken their time to help me (and not just me, but others as well). It is much appreciated, and, from what I‘ve read, the „cold turkey“ method seems the most appealing to me. I‘ll quit smoking today, on the 7th of November 2024.
I’m going to tell you what worked for me. There’s a very good chance you’ll hate it and I will get flak.
Cold Turkey.
You physically stop yourself from purchasing cigarettes and not ask for them in social situations. You make a line in the sand and never cross that point again.
Cold turkey worked for me. Took me 4 attempts. I wasn’t hard on myself for failure, I noted what happened (emotional trauma, stress, alcohol) and prepared myself for the next attempt.
I wanted to quit, so when I relapsed it’s not because I wanted to smoke but because those little cancer stick bastards were trying hardest to kill me. But if they were going to be tough, I could be tougher. I found it easier when I could see the cigs as my enemy.
I did the same and can confirm it worked. First two weeks will be the worst, then it’ll be easier. Just be stuborn and aware that your will is stronger then a habit and that it doesn’t have power over you. The urge to smoke will remain but at that point you need to be aware that even if you’re convinced you want a smoke, it will taste really terrible when you actually do it and you will regret you broke your streak of non-smoking days.
Cold Turkey. Yes. That’s exactly what I did, in 2014, after 20 years of smoking, and it works. You must decide, absolutely, NEVER AGAIN. Not even a brush close to smoking again. After a week, it was easier. After a month, it was a new way of life, and a much better one. You’ll see.
Same for me. I quit, but I didn’t change the things I did in order to quit. I still went to the same bar with the same friends and hung out with them outside while they smoked. It sucked, but kept getting easier.
The one thing I did do was buy an ozone generator and used it to get rid of the smoke smell in my cars and the house. Everything seemed cleaner.
3 years later, I still always want to smoke. I just don’t.
I quit by switching to vaping and then working the nicotine level down to nothing and then quitting that. Whatever you decide to do I wish you the best of luck (and stick with it!)
Same here. Fuck the naysayers who say cold turkey or nothing. Do what works for you.
For OP: One caveat to the vape plan is you’ll likely need to get a vape that’s refillable so you can customize the nicotine level. Juul/vuse/disposables typically only come in one, or at best, 2 nicotine levels, which prevents effective tapering.
Also, don’t fall into the trap of vaping places you wouldn’t have smoked (e.g. in your house/car). That can increase your nicotine dependency.
Good luck!
If you don’t have the willpower or don’t really want to, you will fail. It’s nearly all willpower.
I switched to a vape and progressively got lower nicotine amounts until I was at 0 and then stopping was easy.
Same. I just kept diluting the liquid with 0% nicotine until, months later, I realized I didn’t even want to vape any more.
Here’s my advice on how to really and actually quit: make the decision to quit, and keep making that decision. Every time you feel yourself thinking “just one more…” remake that decision to quit. This was the only way I was successful. Keep making that decision and keep reminding yourself about your decision. You can do it.
The way I implemented this strategy was to make sure I had a single cigarette and lighter on me at all times. I named the cigarette, which psychologically helped prevent me from smoking it. I stuck that out for a few months until a friend smoked it in desperation. At that point I felt confident I’d quit because I wanted to, not because of random circumstance.
