Quit Smoking While Still Smoking
67Emotional Connection to Smoking Cigarettes
You know, smoking was something that I hated during my childhood and teenage years. It seemed everyone I knew smoked; my parents, relatives, friends, neighbors and I was the one telling everyone else, "Don't you know those things are bad for you?" Oh brother. Little did I know that one day I would understand where they were coming from when they would reply; "I wish I could quit smoking, but I just can't." That just made no sense to me at all. I realize now that it didn't make sense to them either. They were simply caught up in the addiction to the point that they actually learned to enjoy the whole smoking experience. If you fool around with cigarettes long enough that's exactly what happens. You develop a sort of "friendship" with the cigarettes until one day you realize you can't leave home without them. I became a chain-smoker and would actually panic if I didn't have at least two packs of cigarettes with me at all times. You see, the nicotine is only a very small part of the cigarette addiction. The emotional part is the one that keeps the smoker smoking long after they decide it's time to quit. After all, it's not easy saying goodbye to a "friend."
I ended up smoking for the next ten years, quitting several times in between, until one day I figured out a logical way of cutting down. I started noticing what I was doing every time I lit up a cigarette; drinking a cup of coffee, talking on the phone etc., and then I started writing these things down. Before I knew it I had come up with a quit smoking plan like nothing I had ever seen before. There's people out there that have gone cold turkey and managed to remain non-smokers. I'm not one of those people. My emotional connection to smoking cigarettes had become so strong that I couldn't even remember what it was like to be a non-smoker anymore. Well, with this plan it was very easy because I was able to say goodbye a little at a time. Then one day I realized it was just me, instead of of me and my cigarettes.
For the smokers that can relate to this, please know that you really can quit, even if you don't want to because you love smoking so much. I am living proof that it is possible to take complete control over your smoking habit painlessly using a simple common sense plan combined with a Special Calendar. Believe me, there is hope.
http://www.quitsmokingwhilestillsmoking.org/emotionalconnection.html
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2010 is my quit year. Thanks for this Hub.
Hi Pollyannalana. That was a hard one for me to spell. LOL. But very, very cute! You're right, there are chemicals added to cigarettes (over 4,000)that are also addictive in addition to nicotine. I'll be writing a hub about this soon.
I quit about eight years ago and thank goodness I let them burn away more than I smoked but still secondhand smoked it I guess, but I never liked to smell the secondhand smoke from anyones cigarette burning near me and insulted a few people asking them to move their ashtray away from me. My first thought though on waking was a cigarette and every trip-had to have plenty with me,after all meals, during work, it was more important than food. But wasn't there some info a few years ago things were being added to cigs to cause us more addition? I don't think I dreamed that. Rather than raising taxes for this and that on cigs too( to dissaude young smokers )???, I think they should put it into help people quit, actually its getting so bad all the places you can't smoke why not just outlaw it? No..that would be a big lose in dough for too many people. Well its no better than any addictive drug and I wish they had taken them off the market years ago and so does my husband that continues to smoke.
Good Hub. Thank God, I never was a smoker. Probably because I was to cheap to buy cigarettes when they were just a buck a pack. lol
My 25 year old son is trying to quit smoking now. Hopefully he will be successful.
Oh boy do I relate. It was trauma that got me started too. Cigarettes after a great meal was a must and I hated the cigarette smell after a while. I didn't notice the difference in how food tasted while I was quitting because I was still smoking. I was smoking less on a gradual basis and allowed myself to smoke whenever I wanted to except during the particular association I was in the middle of breaking. So the true taste of food came back on a gradual basis, instead of all at once which made it easier to control.
God Bless you too.
I was like you. I never smoked growing up but somehow started later in life. I stopped a few times. A few traumas in life got me started again and then I would quit. I finally ended them around ten years ago. I was not a chain smoker, but enjoyed a cigarette after a delicious meal. Then I began to hate the smell of the smoke on my clothes. I noticed every time I smoked I would have to go to the bathroom.I no longer have a desire to smoke but I had to carry a pack with me like a security blanket. Thats all in the past, but I gained weight. Food began to taste better. God Bless. Great article.
Break Associations One by One
mrxsmoker Hub Author 2 years ago
suziecat7 - thank you for reading my hub. Wow, you've chosen 2010 as your quit year, and here we are! It would certainly be my honor to help you thru the journey. If you'd like to receive some helpful quitting tips, even without using my plan, you can send me an email at support@quitsmokingwhilestillsmoking.org and simply "reply" with the words "join newsletter" in the subject line. Quitting smoking is your decision alone, which also gives you the right to change your mind. My aim is to help you not to change your mind by showing you it doesn't have to be difficult. In fact, it can be kind of like a game. A game that YOU end up winning!
Anyway, I don't mean to go on and on, it's just that I'm very happy about your decision to quit smoking. And if you feel that another type of plan or method will work better for you, then by all means, please go for it. The important thing is to not let enough time pass that you start to think, "well, maybe I'll just wait until next year." So easy to do. I know becuase I've done it many, many times until I found the right method.
Thanks again for reading my hub and may 2010 be YOUR year in every way possible!