Quitting With Cryptogee - Become A Nonsmoker Part 1

It has been around ten days now since I stopped smoking and so thought I would report back to you on how it's going, and also give you a glimpse of the tricks I've been using to stay smoke free.

Hopefully this will help others in the same situation as me, and perhaps inspire one or two of you who want to give up to just go right ahead and do it.

Quick Background

For those of you who aren't aware I recently gave up smoking cannabis. I haven't really smoked 'straight' cigarettes for many years and so my addiction was mainly tied to hashish.

Regardless of that, I did put tobacco in my joints, so obviously I had a nicotine addiction sitting right alongside my cannabis one.

It takes 72 hours after giving up for the nicotine to completely clear the system. In that time you must be strong and not hang around with any smokers, otherwise the urge to smoke could overwhelm you.

Techniques For Staying Clean

Find A Reason
First and foremost you must have a really strong reason to want to give up, mine was that I am trying to learn lots of complex concepts around software development and hashish was acting like Kryptonite and stopping me learning.

Your reason may be health, it may be not wanting to set a bad example to your children, running a marathon or a myriad of other reasons. Whatever it is, hold onto it and project into the future, imagining what it will be like living smoke free.

Log Your Cravings
It sounds so simple and a bit silly, but it really works. When you get a craving look at the time and say to yourself that you're having a craving at whatever time it is.

The reason you do this is because nicotine cravings actually distort time! Without looking at a clock you are mired in your craving, it will seem like it is lasting ages and will become unbearable.

However when you log the time, you realise, actually it has only been one minute since the start of that craving. They usually last around 2-3 minutes and then they're gone.

I found that if I also made a mental note as to how far apart they were happening that it helped massively. The first two days I found I was getting them roughly half an hour apart, so two an hour.

When you think about having to deal with cravings for 6 minutes out of every 60, it's not that bad at all.

Pay Attention To Strength Of Cravings
Along with logging the time, it will be beneficial for you to pay attention to how strong the urge to smoke is. At first every single craving you get will be a strong one, especially if you've smoked for a number of years.

Imagine you have a vicious Alsatian dog whom you feed cocaine to every hour (it's a magic dog and can't die), then suddenly you stop giving him drugs.

That dog will react very violently towards you and will do anything it can to keep getting fed coke. This is how your brain is reacting, luckily for you your brain won't tear you limb from limb trying to get its fix.

note: Never feed drugs to dogs, it is cruel and unfair!

Anyway, by the third day you will see that the cravings have gotten weaker and weaker until you'll be saying things to yourself like; *"3:36 p.m. having mild craving."

Realise The Difference Between Physical & Psychological Cravings
This is very important and is something to pay attention to after your three days. That is not to say that you won't be getting psychological cravings in your first three days, but they will be harder to separate from your physical ones.

Psychological cravings are triggered when you are doing activities you used to do, or seeing people you used to see while smoking.

Remember the story of Pavlov's dog? That poor mutt had a bell ring every time he was fed by the Polish scientist. Then any time after that, all the dog had to hear was the bell and it would start salivating.

This Pavlovian response is present in humans as well, so if you always have a cigarette after food, or with a drink, or anytime you meet up with your friend for a coffee, then you will get a psychological craving when you attempt these activities.

The best way to deal with these is to realise beforehand you're going to get them. Tell yourself to expect it, but not to give in to it because it isn't physical and you don't want to go through another 72 hours of physical cravings.

HAVE YOU RECENTLY GIVEN UP SMOKING; OR ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT STOPPING? OR PERHAPS YOU'VE QUIT BEFORE AND STARTED AGAIN. AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!

Part 2

Title Image: by Bence ▲ Boros on Unsplash

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