If you are reading this article, then you too, like me, are fed up with cigarettes. Do you want to quickly end this addiction that is ruining your life? If the answer is yes, then I have a method for you that 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 that make the situation worse. And not only stop, but fix the desired model and not fail in the future.
Story of a smoker
In general, I got to know cigarettes around the 7th grade: my brother and I went up to the construction sites and learned to smoke "puffing". Of course, 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 companies where everyone smoked too. There was some kind of fashion, they say, if you don't smoke, then it's not cool. Everything is different now, but times were different before. So, surrounded by smokers, the habit took root in me more and more. I smoked whenever possible and the likelihood of being burned as an adult only gave the process more impetus.
But at the age of 16, I had a click in my head and I decided to quit smoking. That's right, suddenly, by willpower. To be honest, there was a positive moment from this, although not for long. After a couple of weeks, I changed my mind and said I can smoke when I drink. I mean, 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 have been smoking quite a bit.
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 university studies, I got a job in a taxi and already lit a full cigarette there. I smoked almost a pack a day and when I drank more. And this continued until the fall of 2017. That is, roughly speaking, my experience as a smoker was about 10 years.
How do I quit smoking on my own
Friends, in this chapter I will tell you how I quit smoking and then how to do it. Therefore, if you are too lazy to read, you can move on to reading the next chapter. It's just that many people ask me how I handled it, but it's inconvenient 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 didn't get enough sleep, I had a severe headache from the alcohol I drank the day before, the vestibular system was not working properly. I smoked a cigarette and got in the car. The car was stuffy and had an unpleasant smell of herringbone fragrance. Also, I started to feel bad. In general, a full range of negative feelings.
At that moment I started feeling sick and my mouth tasted like a recently smoked cigarette. I looked out the window: it was a beautiful autumn weather outside, the sun was shining bright and the leaves were falling from the trees. And then very pleasant memories of my childhood, linked to this time and to a similar landscape, invaded me. In me there was a pleasant association of the situation outside the window with that of childhood, when I felt good, and not like now in the car. What did I do next?
My 3 instant passes
- I just connected intense suffering and negativity at this very moment with a smoked cigarette. And I felt with my whole body that it was from her that I felt so bad now. It was not difficult to do this, as there was an unpleasant tobacco taste in the mouth. Also added constant shortness of breath and cash costs.
- Next, I looked out the window again and completely connected the pleasant feeling with quitting smoking. Again, it wasn't hard to do, because in that childhood situation I didn't smoke and I felt great. In addition, I added the pleasant feeling that without cigarettes I can safely climb the stairs and not suffocate. I also added monetary advantages: 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.
All of this took me about 10 seconds. The emotional swing was so strong that I immediately threw the package in the trash.
But these steps won't be enough in the long run, so I had to apply a few more steps, which worked successfully. You will read about them a bit below.
Now for the fun part. I was able to quit smoking almost by accident. I did not prepare for this decision, I did not go to the doctors, I did not buy smoking gums, plasters, sprays and other nonsense. A few months later, I started reading Tony Robbins' book on self-improvement and I discovered just these methods that I applied unknowingly!
6 steps to get rid of the addiction
These principles are based on neuro-associative conditioning. Here they are:
- Make a clear and informed decision as to why you want to quit smoking. It is you who want this, not your loved ones.
- Use leverage: Connect intense emotional pleasure with quitting smoking right now and intense pain if you don't do it right away. Do something similar to what I did, or think of a different way to do it. Most importantly, you need to experience strong emotions and associate them with smoking.
- We have to break the old behavior. For example, I would 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 focused on the long term. The fact is, quitting smoking is not enough. You have to replace the pleasure that cigarettes have brought you with something else. Something that won't give you side effects. For example, instead of going to smoke with friends, I watched an interesting TV series or drank tea. You need to find a stimulating alternative to smoking for yourself by looking at the reasons why you smoked. Let's say you put out a cigarette when you started worrying. Exercise or achieving a short-term goal helps a lot from this feeling.
- You need to make the installation "forever" instead of "at least a week". And repeat the above steps until it becomes a habit. It took me about 3 weeks to do it.
- Create a reward system. This is a very important step. You should know that if you don't smoke today, you can afford to buy yourself something nice; if a week, then the thing is bigger; if a month, then a vacation abroad. I did just that - I constantly encouraged myself until the habit completely disappeared.
Conclusion
Friends, the problem of smoking is primarily a psychological rather than a physical addiction. There is a huge list of ways to quit smoking. Replace your regular cigarette with an electronic one, apply a patch, chew gum. If you open a search engine and ask how you can quit smoking on your own, you will see a lot of ridiculous drugs, services and ways.
Name at least one person who has put on the cast and got rid of the addiction. For example, I don't know these people. The fact is that all these drugs only partially relieve physical addiction. And she, believe me, is not that strong already. But this is a profitable business, because people buy. They buy and hope for a miracle method that works for them. This will not happen.
This rather simple way helped me quit smoking on my own. Therefore, I recommend it to you too.