I quit smoking about 4 months ago, but I’ll admit I’ve had 1 since while I was out at a bar with friends. I don’t think I’ll be having anymore though because I’ve grown quite sick of them after quitting. There are some times when you will feel the urge, but I’ve thought about this urge and its very similar to just stress or nervous tick.
Its great to hear you want to quit, I know its a challenging road and many turn back on it. From my personal experience, exercise of any kind generally helps erase that feeling. Next time you have the urge ( and its a place you think you can ), go for a quick sprint/run. My first two real weeks quitting I was just angry and annoyed and mad at something I couldn’t even put my finger on. Just in-general, ticked. On my lunch break which is when I’d go for my normal smoke after eating was when I felt it the most. The feeling got intense to the point where I just said, " I gotta try something. " so I just up and sprinted around the parking lot of the place I was at twice, worked up a little sweat and some heavier breathing. Afterwards? I craved the cig less. I still did mentally, but now physically my body said, " Hold on, let me recoup, you’re good for now, cig can wait. "
Its small little stavings off like this that really helped me over the icy peaks of the first 2-3 weeks. Trust me, I know they are hard.
Also try:
-Drinking more water
Try having water around with you at all times to sip on, it can help with the want to have a cig and drag on it, plus water is good for you.
-Putting yourself in situations where you cannot/ aren’t allowed to smoke.
-Only allow yourself X number of cigarettes for X number of days. ( this is more for when you have a little more willpower grip over the nicotine, just something I tried once where I would force myself to ration my cigarettes because I wasnt gonna allow myself to buy more before a certain time. This helped me taper down before just dropping it altogether. )
-Thinking Differently
This might be too abstract to be a helpful tip, but honestly after seeing a few things in a different light and rethinking them in my mind, I decided that I didn’t need to smoke at all. I had simply changed my mind.
One of these things was the economic aspect someone else mentioned. The amount you pay for cigarettes adds up, and very quickly. I remember cleaning up my car one day and finding piles of empty packs. Each one at least 5 dollars. And for what? They’re gone, I’d smoked them. Which was my second change in my mind. All of those cigarettes I’d smoked. All that negative smoke and chemicals. Uhg, it puts that disgusted face on me just thinking about it. I wanted to become stronger and healthier as a being, so what was this cigarette smoke doing me? It really has no positives and its something to become enslaved by. I found myself changing my schedules ever so slightly so I could find myself in a situation to kick a jack and get my fix. Not anymore, I shouldn’t have to, and neither should anyone. Which was the last change in my mind.
In a book called Watership Down ( amazing book, one of my favorites ), it follows the story of a group of rabbits as they make their way across the land and find a new home. Throughout the story Men are seen/referenced and almost everytime they are, the Men are smoking their " white sticks ". It was this phrasing of it, this light the author put it in that makes smoking seem so trivial and unnatural now to me. What are these white sticks? Why do men use them? ( these are things the rabbits asked, and now myself )
I hope any of my rantings here have helped out in the least! I tend to take more words than the average person to say what I want to. I’ll add anything else I think of later and will be here to support your journey.