[anilisanil]

This worked for me:

1) Don't go anywhere near smoking zones.

2) Procrastinate. Yes!! Just think that if you can't resist you will smoke tomorrow!! The first three days are critical though!!

3) Read about the ill effects of smoking after point 2 above, it helps a lot!!!

It was as simple as that for me. I did not smoke for quite sometime, I recently tried to smoke one, but I couldn't!! I threw the stick after a puff!!

[cranky]

I smoked for 12 years before quitting. I picked it up in 10th standard - traditional boarding school tomfoolery, and stayed with it till a year after I moved back home after college and six years of work in 2001. My parents put up with the habit quietly, as did everyone around me. Calcutta in those days didn't have the concept of not smoking - you just lit up anywhere.

What worked for me:

1. I really did want to quit. This wasn't one of the three or four half-hearted attempts I made earlier.
2. Lots of water. Lots of loo breaks. Think 6-7 liters a day. I used it as a substitute, training myself to drink a glass of water slowly every time I felt like smoking. I was smoking 30-35 sticks a day then. That equalled a lot of glasses.
3. Not thinking about it, or having a goal or being determined. I just made up my mind.
4. For a brief time, I started Zyban. I stopped needing it after six days. It took me all of four days to go from 35 to zero. My paanwalla was aghast. 'Products' may or may not work for you.

I do identify with lucid dreams of smoking. I had quite a few of them till about five years ago, and then they stopped. I guess it just left my system. Now, I can't stand smoke in any form.

The key thing is that your mind has to take control over your body. And the additional hunger, morning alertness and general feeling of well-being after quitting are totally worth it.

But first, it has to be something you really, really want. It'll happen, just like everything else in life

[maddy42]

Have tried quitting numerous times the last 1 year and can easily say this is the toughest thing to do. Worse is when u go to have some drinks!!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by anilisanil

3) Read about the ill effects of smoking after point 2 above, it helps a lot!!!

That never worked for me.

All those TV programs about the black stuff lining the lungs --- nothing was more sure to make me reach for a cigarette!

Real fear, though, that works. I was lucky: it was a false alarm! But how stupid would it have been to start smoking again? So I remained a non-smoker.

(I had a very real and unpleasant health problem, but it turned out it was nothing to do with smoking, and wouldn't have killed me. Still, the fear came in useful)

[e1t1bet]

3 Weeks without smokes

Blogged about it here.

[OHCVtec]

I had my last smoke on 23'rd Feb 2011 @ 10 AM. Its been 3 months now. I used to smoke around 10 cigarettes a day since the last 12 years. I had tried reducing smoking earlier however that never works. The only way to quit smoking is "cold turkey",turn off the smoke and turn on life. All the best guys.

[e1t1bet]

Originally Posted by OHCVtec

I had my last smoke on 23'rd Feb 2011 @ 10 AM. Its been 3 months now. I used to smoke around 10 cigarettes a day since the last 12 years. I had tried reducing smoking earlier however that never works. The only way to quit smoking is "cold turkey",turn off the smoke and turn on life. All the best guys.

Yep. The way nicotine works, that is the only way. Reducing can work - but would take way too long.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Congratulations to the guys joining the smoke-free camp

Remember: you have to keep up the struggle over the weeks and months, and even years ahead. Let Nicotine know you have it beaten, and it is going to stay beaten. It only takes one week moment.

[azeemhafiz]

Quit smoking on 26 April, 2010. Its been 13 months. Used to smoke about 40 cigarettes a day and quit after smoking for close to 8 years (8 year average should be 20 / day considering initially i smoked only 10 and then graduated higher).

Irrespective of the various reasons that one can think of, Quit smoking for the sake of quitting smoking. Find reasons that are not subject to be dealt with in the future. For eg: Do not have money as a reason on this list, eventually your mind will convince you to smoke. Motivation needs to be solid, firm belief in health / Doing it for your family (For Bachelors like me try and keep girlfriends out of the equation else you may light up after break up )

[goandude]

I picked up the habit in college and was a regular smoker till 2000 then stopped for 3 years and started again with months long breaks in between. Last stopped on 27 April. However, I found that it is the SINGLE ciggy which you puff after a break that gets you started again.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by azeemhafiz

Quit smoking on 26 April, 2010. Its been 13 months. Used to smoke about 40 cigarettes a day and quit after smoking for close to 8 years (8 year average should be 20 / day considering initially i smoked only 10 and then graduated higher).

Irrespective of the various reasons that one can think of, Quit smoking for the sake of quitting smoking. Find reasons that are not subject to be dealt with in the future. For eg: Do not have money as a reason on this list, eventually your mind will convince you to smoke. Motivation needs to be solid, firm belief in health / Doing it for your family (For Bachelors like me try and keep girlfriends out of the equation else you may light up after break up )

Congrats azeemhafiz! An anniversary like this is worth celebrating

I agree with you 100%- reasons are irrelevant. My friend quit a 40 stick a day habit one fine day when his girlfriend told him to quit. She'd never said anything of that sort before- just came out of the blue and he took it to heart. They split up not long after, but he's been smoke free for almost 9 years now. Incredible!

My uncle was a chain smoker- I mean seriously, there used to be ashtrays all over their house and we kids were totally exposed to it without a thought. One day he had a medical check-up and his doctor told him he was in good health. But... the rest is history: he has not smoked a single one since then.

I read a lot of people here suggesting that one stay away from "danger zones", i.e. hang out less with other smokers, don't drink if that's what triggers it, don't go for walks outside afer meals etc. But the point is that all this will NOT help unless you choose not to smoke. That choice is what empowers you!

Believe me,once you CHOOSE to be a non-smoker, does't matter if all the stress in the world descends on you, everyone around you is smoking and offering you a puff, you will NOT smoke

I must say that while this sounds simple, it sure isn't EASY! So take some time out to think, REALLY truly think about how this habit is affecting you in various ways, then make a choice. And stick with it.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I must say that while this sounds simple, it sure isn't EASY!

Indeed it is not easy

I found that it is the SINGLE ciggy which you puff after a break that gets you started again

Exactly. A single puff in a week moment, or a time of stress, or bad news.

It is a serious addiction, like alcohol addiction, we ex-smokers, like ex-alcoholics, must make sure that we never touch a tobacco product ever again. It has been about 17 years for me, now, and I hate even being around smoke, but I strongly suspect that if I did smoke one, after the coughing an choking, I'd smoke 20 the next day, and the day after that. I don't doubt that I'd find paan, or any tobacco-containing product, just as bad.

[azeemhafiz]

Originally Posted by noopster

Congrats azeemhafiz! An anniversary like this is worth celebrating

I agree with you 100%- reasons are irrelevant. My friend quit a 40 stick a day habit one fine day when his girlfriend told him to quit. She'd never said anything of that sort before- just came out of the blue and he took it to heart. They split up not long after, but he's been smoke free for almost 9 years now. Incredible!

My uncle was a chain smoker- I mean seriously, there used to be ashtrays all over their house and we kids were totally exposed to it without a thought. One day he had a medical check-up and his doctor told him he was in good health. But... the rest is history: he has not smoked a single one since then.

I read a lot of people here suggesting that one stay away from "danger zones", i.e. hang out less with other smokers, don't drink if that's what triggers it, don't go for walks outside afer meals etc. But the point is that all this will NOT help unless you choose not to smoke. That choice is what empowers you!

Believe me,once you CHOOSE to be a non-smoker, does't matter if all the stress in the world descends on you, everyone around you is smoking and offering you a puff, you will NOT smoke

I must say that while this sounds simple, it sure isn't EASY! So take some time out to think, REALLY truly think about how this habit is affecting you in various ways, then make a choice. And stick with it.

Good point Noopster, agree with you 100%. It all comes down to choices at the end of the day

[Swanand Inamdar]

Here's one who has tried quitting a lot of times. Intervals lasting upto 6 months. In those 6 months, never ever felt the need to light one. Even nowadays, if i dont step out of the house (dont smoke in the house), i dont feel the need to light up.

Oh BTW, been doing it for the past 6 years now, never gone more than 8 a day. Want to reduce that too, a stick a day. Help please!

P.S: Those articles do not affect me a bit. All smokers know the ill effects. None of us are naive, but still...

[Thad E Ginathom]

Those articles do not affect me a bit.

All the TV programs about black tar inside the lungs used to get me reaching for a cigarette. A big scare about my own lungs, though, did the trick. Really, it is better not to wait until it gets to that stage.

Here's one who has tried quitting a lot of times

A favourite joke of mine:

Giving up smoking is easy! I've done it lots of times!