Addiction(s) stories
Stop smoking now!
My day 1, 2, 3 and counting / how it has been so far…
Intro
I am the very last person to give any advice on how to quit addictions. I am the mother, father, and son of addictive behavior. Anything dopamine stimulant and repeatedly engaging drive me to the same path of being addicted to it.
So just to avoid any real and correct criticism on this one, please take note that this is NOT an ADVICE. This is my experience in a subjective, personal manner on quitting smoking. (I don’t remember which attempt is this one, but yeah, I have some experience in quitting smoking :D)
At the beginning of the year, I decided one last time that I will quit smoking forever. (hopefully, this will be the case) 31 December 2022 — 23:58 I finished my last cigarette.
Day 1–1st of January
Counting hours :D
I woke up at 8:00 — already 8 hours of not smoking. Now, how can I drink coffee without lighting a cigarette? I will make my cup, and then I will go outside the kitchen, say good morning and hug my little one.
When he asked: “Do you wanna play daddy?” at 8:15, I was relieved. So I tried my best to avoid the places and the contexts that would trigger me.
At about 12 hours, I started drinking water. Imagine 3l of water in 30 minutes. Moodiness like Thanos to snap over everything and anything!
At some point, I began to feel dizzy and tired, so I went to sleep in the middle of the day. Three hours gained. I actually crawled and snacked until the end of the first 24 hours mark.
Day 2–2nd of January
Positive enforcement :)
Same technique as yesterday, I was very conscious about the time, and the time passing. I started looking at the plethora of videos on YouTube related to the positive effects of quitting smoking.
Positive timelines, good encouragements, you are strong, you are powerful, willpower. WHAAAAA!!!
In the meanwhile, while listening to everything that my brain and ears wanted to hear, my hands were making a cigarette (I used to roll my cigarettes, and besides actual smoking, making the cigar itself was part of the relaxing ritual). I stopped in time when I realized that I was preparing to light it up :(
Day 3–3rd of January
I will be very, very, very fat after this
The average weight gain if you are sticking to a healthy diet while quitting smoking is about 2.5 kg. I am not eating healthily, and this will be my next project after I will hit the 7 days mark without smoking.
Today was about snacking and stuffing things in my mouth, from burgers, pizza, chocolate, and other bonbons.
To be honest a little better than the other 2, but the cravings went wild and far. I am only thinking to self-regulate more, but after I am mentally and physically more stable without smoking.
In short, what I did, so far:
This is a summary of what worked for me until now:
- Planned a STOP date
- I distracted myself with anything from sports, dance, movies, eating, etc.
- Avoided my common cigar relations and spots (coffee breaks, kitchen, car, etc.)
- When anxious and nervous (my top triggers for smoking), I drank a lot of water and snaked (like an idiot) unhealthy foods — please be smarter and prepare some healthy foods for this period.
- Tried more breathing exercises to calm the urge to smoke (in essence, smoking does something to your breathing, so I tried to trick it by just breathing deeply)
- Cough a LOT (I will not disgust you here with details, but it’s bad, really bad, and good at the same time because you are throwing out everything that you smoked all those years)
I will come back with a story/status after some more time passes. Until then, wish me luck, and if you are fighting the same addiction, please let me know, and we can comment without smoking on each other :D
If you stopped smoking, give a good thought to how you did it, and I will add it to my mantra(s). Cheers, and be safe!
