Karen's 10 Quit Tips

I'd like to introduce you to Karen, a member of the About.com Smoking Cessation forum. When she reached a year smoke-free, Karen shared 10 tips that helped her adopt a winning mindset with the forum community. Her post inspired so many I thought I'd add it to our permanent collection of personal quit stories so that it might live on to help others.

Thanks, Karen!

From Karen:

In order to quit smoking for good, you have to change your attitude toward your quit. Believe me, I know how hard cold turkey is; it was my method of choice, and I smoked for over 33 years. I started when I was 12 and I'm going on 46 years old now.

More than anything else, what I most want you to know is that when you quit, you are not giving up smoking you are taking back your life.

The discomforts of nicotine withdrawal may seem like hell as you're going through it, but in reality it is a sign that your body is healing. That's right, healing. Look at recovery as a positive thing. It takes about 72 hour to process most of the nicotine in your body. You will release the rest within a few weeks.

Throughout the first three weeks of smoking cessation I slept a lot. I had mood swings, urges to smoke, brain fog with forgetfulness and other symptoms of withdrawal, but they all faded with time. The reason it's so uncomfortable is that your body is working to release not only nicotine, but all of the thousands of other chemicals in cigarettes it has become used to receiving multiple times a day.

Most people who quit successfully have learned that smoking cessation is 99 percent attitude. Stop thinking of quitting tobacco as a loss, or as something impossible, and start thinking of it as the beginning of freedom and a long healthy life.

And think about this: no one ever died from quitting smoking, just from not quitting smoking.

Here are my top 10 ways (in no particular order) to get started with adjusting your attitude for success:

1. Create a post at the smoking cessation support forum asking people to share the positive experiences they've had since quitting. Read it for inspiration.

2. Read through the forum messages from others. You will be surprised at the motivational power it will have for you. When you take a break from posting about yourself, you shift your focus and give yourself some space for clarity.

3. Celebrate the victories of fellow forum members. Go to Dot Milestones and celebrate someone's new dot. Go to the Star Milestones and celebrate a new star, especially a first or second star. You will find it uplifting and motivational. If you are new to quitting, the Dot and Star milestones, which celebrate weeks and months smoke-free respectively, will be close enough for you to feel you can reach those goals too. If you are able to feel that a year is not hopelessly out of reach, jump in to the One Year and Beyond Milestones and celebrate someone's one year anniversary. These folders are designed to help you focus on the positive aspects of quitting.

4. Keep a journal and write down positive things that you've noticed that day about quitting. This will help keep you focused on being successful. Even if you can only come up with one thing, that's okay. You will find more and more each day that you don't smoke. Entries can be something like "I am proud of myself for not smoking today" or "My clothes smell nice and fresh".

5. Get a copy of Allen Carr's "Easy Way To Stop Smoking".

6. Take control of your quit program, don't let your quit take control of you. Tell your inner junkie/nicodemon that you are stronger than that and he won't win. Sometimes having an inner dialogue with your junkie/demon is helpful. This is a fantasy conversation where you get to be Sheena Warrior Princess, Wonder woman, or whomever your superhero is. Living well is the best revenge...stick it to the junkie/nicodemon and enjoy your new smoke-free life.

7. Try to keep yourself busy, well-rested, well-fed and well-hydrated. Managing nicotine withdrawal is much harder when you are tired, hungry, dehydrated, bored, etc. Take care of yourself - just as much as you take care of your family, or others.

8. If all else fails, post an S.O.S. at the forum for help if you can't cope with an urge to smoke, or you're having a rough time. It really does work. Promise yourself you'll wait for three answers to your message before you run out to buy smokes. Read the inspiring things people say to you. Focus on the positive.

9. Take a break from the support forum if it's increasing rather than decreasing your urge to smoke. That can happen. It might be time to distract yourself with something different for the moment. When you are feeling stronger, come back and go to point #3 from above.

10. Laugh. Every day.

Thanks for sharing your insights, Karen. It is through a change of outlook that we are able to permanently break the mental chains that hold us tight to the habit of smoking.

If you're a smoker hoping to quit, or an ex-smoker looking to strengthen your motivation to stay smoke-free, please join us at the support forum here at About.com Smoking Cessation. The help and camaraderie available there is second to none.

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Karen's Quit Story

I am proud to say that I have enough experience with life to have learned how to cherish life's little miracles with the same enthusiasm as I do the large.

A miracle, defined in the dictionary as something that defies scientific laws, an event or act that challenges logic, is exactly what I am living.

Today I celebrate the miracle of being a healthy non-smoker. I have accomplished no other deed that compares to this. No other achievement in my life touches the hem of gaining and retaining my life back from the world of the "Smoking section".

There are many many roads to becoming an ex-smoker. Mine was not the straight and narrow nor was my trip the "shortest distance between two points". I took the long way around. Why?, blurred vision, inability to make a commitment?, or plain laziness?. All of the above, plus 3 or 4 less logical excuses assisted my reasoning, which allowed me to continue smoking when I knew that there was no good thing about it.

I won't dwell on my past smoking experiences. I've given enough of my life to a cause whose only return has robbed me of the quality and quantity of time that I may have to spend with my loved ones.

I will clarify, subjectively, the advantages of becoming and remaining a non-smoker.

Children
Anyone that has, loves or wants a child would do himself or herself a huge favor of not smoking. The impression that you make on children by what you do or, more important, don't do is more than you know.

Health
Your health will make or break you, literally. No matter how many old people you see smoking, you will never live to your expectant age if you continue to tell yourself that not every smoker dies early from cancer. The age that you do live to see will not be comfortable or enjoyable.

Time
I once read that smokers are better managers of time than non-smokers. So, I prided myself on being able to plan my next cigarette break before I even finished my current cigarette break, being able to remember to stop between destinations to restock. Progressive? Psychic? Neither, and anyone who still believes that they need a cigarette(a depressant), to figure out life's problems are not using the full capacity of their brain to start with.

Cost
A two-edged sword. I had convinced myself that $3.25 was not a lot to pay for my habit. I never asked anyone to purchase my cigarettes, and it was a small amount when you consider that other ILLEGAL drugs were much more. I work every day, and I am worth a mere $3.25, right? Right, but my life is worth more than that. Plus, I really do notice those extra bills in my pocket.

Smell
I can only laugh at my attempt to conceal the smell of smoke in my hair, clothes, skin, car, house, and mouth. I can now smell smoke from a block away. About the same distance that non-smokers smelt me from, no matter how sweet the perfume, gum or air freshener I used to carry with me at all times.

Making the decision to stop smoking has nothing to do with remaining a non-smoker. Ask any smoker about quitting. It's not the hard part. Remaining a quitter is more than a notion.

A small miracle or a large miracle? I cannot say. I do know that after exhausting all my natural powers, I kept praying for assistance to conquer a habit that half the world considers to be normal and the other half knows by it's true name: an addiction that causes cancer, emphysema, pain, and early death.

Contributed by: ~Karen~
Quit Date: December 15, 1999

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