QUIT SMOKING - HARD YES, IMPOSSIBLE NO

Quitting cigarettes is hard, trust me it is not easy feat.

And before we start with how I actually quit smoking, You should know how I got into this nasty habit and it is all the same as yours. I had started smoking in my early college days and the worst part, it was not the academic pressure that drove me towards the sticks, I was just trying to be cool. In earlier days it was just 1-2 sticks a day with buddies to share it with, and I was under the impression that I can call it off whenever I wanted and I was totally in control of my actions. As days went by I casually started smoking and it provide relief whenever I was stressed out. I would go to the tea vendor and asks for my favourite (I am trying to avoid naming the brand) 5cm long stick alongside cutting chai (small cup of tea). And before I knew, it became a habit that I enjoyed very much. You cannot imagine my joy whenever its drizzling around, you are in a tea stall under the shed with tea in one hand and a firm and tightly rolled out tobacco stick in between my fingers on the other. ‘Dude!!, that feeling is out of space’ . And then came the downfall, my academics took a dive and by the end of my college days I was puffing 7-8 sticks a day. It was to handle the pressure. College was over and I got a Job. The situation has changed and I was smoking even more, sometimes even upto 15. And it became a rigorous routine, if I miss my smoke due to meeting or a call, I would start getting uncomfortable. Once the meeting or call was over, I would go to the designated smoking zone and light up that stick and that first drag would feel so great. There was never a single party, where I was not holding a drink and without my favourites. And God forbids, if I ran out of smoke in middle of shift at night or party, I get restless. But in my mind
“I am in control of the situation, It’s nothing. I can quit whenever I want”.

And one day I tried to quit. Not because of some ugly anti-smoking campaign or because my brother has asked me to or because I was worried about my health or wealth. (You should know that by this time I was paying almost one sixth of my salary to the tea-stall vendor). I tried because I wanted to. And guys you all know very well how that went. Now for the first time in decade long sick habit of smoking which was masqueraded as just for fun or stress buster by me, I realised that I was in crisis. “OK. Nothing is wrong, I just has to control the quantity, that I have been smoking”, were my exact thoughts. So I tried bringing down the count from 15 to 10. You all know “The Calculation” right. 10 cigarettes over a span of 16 waking hours which meant, I can go and enjoy the sticks after every 1hr 36 mins. And I failed again. What was I doing wrong? The calculations were correct then how come I ended up having 12 or 13 on the 16 hrs window. Now something was definitely wrong. Every time I watched a movie scene where the character was smoking the stick, I wanted one for myself as if I would not be able to understand the next dialogue or expression. What the hell was wrong with me, Why would I crave for a cigarette if someone else is smoking? And that’s when I realised that “I no longer had control over the situation”.

From that day onwards, the stop smoking project has started. I read about the ways to quit smoking from the Almighty Internet had to offer like Quit Smoking in 10 easy steps; quit smoking in 15 days; chew this; swallow that and other ways to escape from the stick. Finally after working on this, I read somewhere the Band-Aid technique which suggests that you would stop the smoking immediately. Something about it was easy to rip off the Band-Aid in one go and get over the pain, than torturing yourself bit by bit. (Ladies you may think of the waxing if it helps).

This is how it went.
Day 1 – Cranky behaviour;
Day 2 – Gloomy;
Day 3 – Coughing;
Day 4 – More Coughing (I thought I was going to die);
Day 5 – Called in sick because I was coughing my lungs out;
Day 6 – I became Sam Elliot (Nobody could understand me without subtitles);
Day 7 – Back to normal.

I am a non-smoker for 2 months now.

Here is the reason. It is your mind that is the culprit. It is all in your mind. From the very first drag of the cigarette it is in all your mind. You will never lost control, You thought that you no longer have control.

Cigarette is a dose of Nicotine about 2mg which is a stimulant or relaxant. When you smoke it goes into your bloodstream and then to brain and release dopamine, adrenaline, serotonin. In simple words these are characters inside your brain like they showed in the “Inside Out” movie. These chemicals gives you the feeling of calmness, alertness, relaxed etc. So basically, a cigarette is a drug and highly addictive one too. And over the time, our body develops a habit of having these released chemicals considering them as part and parcel of it. When their level drops, our neurons longs for another boost. And cycles goes on and on, and you are addicted to the stick. You no longer will feel the “AW” factor of the enjoyment that you had with your first stick once it has become part of your life. I wish I could insert the title credit from the movie “THANK YOU FOR SMOKING”. Really it fits in here. No really, every time you tell yourself that it is just one cigarette, you are subconsciously reinforcing the notion that cigarettes are ok and it does not causes any harm. Now you know, what you are suffering from? Nicotine Addiction. Give yourself the right treatment. Rehab you may call, where in you do not give them the substance anymore and let them go through the withdrawal cycle till they are through. Same is here. When you allow yourself to have a certain amount of cigarette you are not quitting, you are taking the drug in the system. Resulting in conflict between the body and mind, leaving you under constant anxiety for longer period. Since cigarettes are available everywhere, the chances are that you are not doing well. Now you may think that how do I go through the withdrawal effect. The thing is nicotine’s withdrawal is easy to handle it varies from cranky behaviour to a degree of nausea or headache which most of you can handle. While it is the lungs that causes pain, The lungs is a self-cleaning organ and it tries to repair all that damage that you have may done to it for past couple of years. You will feel irritation in lungs and you start coughing which is normal and good. Now you remember the irreparable damage done to your lungs but at least you will be able to climb 3 flight of stairs without wheezing or maybe run a few more meters without collapsing.

Now if you excuse me. I will try to control my drinking habits.
Just kidding “It’s nothing. I can quit whenever I want”.

Image Source - Google.

Hi All,
Above mentioned story is my real life experience. And how i struggled with the smoking. Hopefully this method will help you too to quit smoking. Please let me know how it goes.