ladyofdragons said:
2) try stepping down by scheduling your cigarrettes. That's what my husband did, and it worked very well for him. He went from x cigarrettes per day to 5, then a month later down to 4, then a month later down to 3, etc. until it was one every other day, then he just quit. It's the whole "I can wait 2 more hours for a cigarrette" versus the "I'll never ever be able to have another one" that makes it more bearable.
Good advice. This is pretty much what worked for me 3 years ago, though a serious bout of the flu helped me cut down a lot quicker
Another strategy, similar to this, is to eliminate your "habit" cigarettes - those cigarettes you have just out of habit, not because you're craving one. For instance, I used to smoke up to three cigarettes on the way to work - one while I was waiting for the tram, one after I got off the tram and was waiting for the train and one after I got off the train and was walking to the office. First I stopped having waiting-for-the-tram cigarette, then I stopped the waiting-for-the-train cigarette, then the walking-to-work-cigarette. Depending on how heavy a smoker you are (were), you will find that you have several cigarettes throughout the day that you don't really need.
One thing that people never tell you is that giving up cigarettes is not giving up a single habit. It's many habits - there's the cigarette you have while waiting for a train; the one you have over a coffee; the one you have with your beer; the one you have while chatting with a mate; the one you have while you're just staring into space thinkin' about stuff. All of these will hit you at different times and in different ways ... and then there's the nicotine cravings, though that usually stops in a matter of days.
And after 3 years, I still feel like having a cigarette from time to time. However, these cravings only last a second or so and they get easier to ignore with time. The best strategy I find is to simply mentally acknowledge the feeling and move on. Trying to "counter" or block a craving only feeds it, in my experience.
Another thing that isn't often said out loud is that you won't suddenly wake up one day and feel like running a marathon. Yes, your body
will recover and you will
eventually feel physically much better, but it is a gradual process and the improvement is only apparent if you think back to how you used to feel 6, 12, 24 months ago.
