Quit Smoking; Mental, Physical, and Other Factors for Recovery

To start off, I want to say I was a chain smoker for three years before I quit, and that was between the age of 15 to 18. When I first picked up smoking, I was underage, but I looked older than I was, so I could buy cigarettes.

At first I figured they where nice and it was relaxing to smoke so I continued. I also thought I wouldn't get addicted and that I could continue smoking but cut it off whenever I wanted to, but like anything addictive thats just not true. Soon I was hooked and whenever I couldn't light
up, I would get nervous, fidgety, sick, and sad, so many emotions I didn't know what to do, I was addicted

Now I never was afraid of getting lung cancer and that wasn't the reason I tried to quit, the thing that pushed me over the edge and made me want to quit was a girl. You know the type, beautiful, smart, sexy, energetic, and a whole lot of fun, but the one problem was she couldn't stand smoking, she hated the smell, the taste, everything about it and she would never kiss me when I smoked, she didn't even want to be with me, so I had to make a decision her or smoking. At first I thought hey this will be easy I'll just stop smoking for awhile, and pick it up later. So I stopped for a day, and by the end I was dying for a smoke, it was then that I realized this would take a lot of hard work.

So day by day slowly by slowly I began to cut loose from smoking and by 5 months I could say I was over it. but I just made it sound so simple, well let me tell you it wasn't, and here's some different steps I took to get over the addiction.

To begin I'll give you some general knowledge. You should know that there are two different addictions with smoking one is the physical aspect, where your body craves the nicotine and you can actually get sick without it, and two the mental aspect, where your mind needs a cigarette, just the fact of having one and smoking it is good enough for your mind. It needs something to be doing, something to fidget with and thats where cigarettes are so big, they relive stress. Have you ever been talking to a hot girl or in a press conference, and been nervous or stressed, and lit up a cigarette. I know how good the feeling is, its relaxing and calming, it stops you from shaking or stuttering ext... But that doesn't mean its good for you, in actuality it's bad it makes you rely on something and if you don't have it your screwed.

Well now I'm going to be starting with the physical aspect.

1. Stopping your bodies need for nicotine. There are many different way and things to use, I suggest cigarette replacements aka other ways of getting nicotine into your body without the use of smokes. You could use nicotine patches or nicotine gum, there are also some different medicines to choose from. For more information there are different web site's available for your browsing, such as "http://www.lungusa.org" and "http://www.smokefree.gov" and many others.

Now for the mental aspect.

1. Anticipation. Before you start the process of quiting you should anticipate your bodies reactions and know that once you start you'll be dieing to smoke just one fag. Also you should throw out all cigarettes and tobacco products.

2. Tell friends and family. One of the best things for you to do is tell your family and friends, their morale support will help and encourage you to see the process through and win. When I quit it took a lot of support from my family and my friends, but probably the most supportive was my girlfriend the fact that she was with me helping and guiding the whole time and if it wasn't for her I doubt I would have made it.

3. Set a date. Pick a date of when to quit so you know exactly when it is and have enough time to prepare for it.
4. Remember that its not an overnight change. You cant expect to stop for a day and then have no desire to smoke. I've been off for a year but still have the occasional desire to smoke. So don't expect it to be an easy transition between smoker to non-smoker, cause its not.

5. For those of you who like me feel an urge to smoke when your nervous or stressed, I have one solution for you "Chewing Gum". It worked for me, whenever I felt nervous and wanted to be doing something to calm me, I would just pop a piece of gum into my mouth and Voila. Also having snacks to chew or even fiddling with something like turning a coin over and over in your hand.

Now finally I have one last word of advice to give, and that is that where you are and what you do matter's a lot. On the 7th day that I was trying to quit smoking I went out with some friends for a drink and after 4 beers the craving for smoking was so strong I couldn't
control it so I gave in and was back at square one. Now maybe when you drink you don't feel like smoking, but I'm sure something you do gives you that feeling. So I would suggest that until you've lost the addiction or at least till its considerably smaller, then don't do those things that make you want to smoke.

Well now that I've shared some of my advice with you, I can only wish you the best on your quest to leave the world of smoking far behind.

And by the way I'm still with the girl.