any piece of advice is welcome, thank you :-3
While I have no personal experience with tobacco addictions, there is an interesting literature review of CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) and MBI (Mindfulness Based Interventions).
Nicotine pouches
Get yourself a good nicotine vape rig. The kind that has a big tank so it’ll last all day and you can use whichever flavoured vape liquid you like best. Switch to that 100% of the time, right away, no exceptions. Don’t worry about how to quit vaping until you’ve gone without smoking for at least a few months.
It’ll be hard, but not nearly as bad as it is if you try to quit both smoking and nicotine at the same time.
I used chantix back in the day, but it also required me basically not leaving the house for a month to really get there. When and where I quit for the first time (I would later start dating a smoker and relapse, then quit again), smoking was still allowed indoors and I had a huge association with drinking and smoking. Same for certain other places and situations. I basically had to do everything I could to avoid those. It got easier with time.
Find other ways to cope when you get the urge, ie vape etc
Or big balls daddy cold turkey it
Just stop doing it. You won’t quit until you really want to stop, and then it’s actually kind of easy. You hear this from a lot of people who quit, that all the circumstances and programs and nicotine substitutes are kind of secondary to the mental aspect of it.
I switched to a vape and progressively got lower nicotine amounts until I was at 0 and then stopping was easy.
I stopped a pack and a half a day habit of ~10 years cold turkey. It was either food or smokes.
As others have said, there is no effective short cut. Ultimately, it is all will power. At least it is easier now. When I quit, EVERYONE smoked.
there is no effective short cut
As someone who quit by switching to vape pens, I strongly disagree. There are multiple studies that show a success rate of greater than 60% when using vaping as a smoking cessation device. The next closest method is 3%. 3 fucking percent! Guess who owns those methods? It’s the tobacco companies.
I used nicotine pouches for a year then cold turkeyed at day 365
I quit by switching to vaping and then working the nicotine level down to nothing and then quitting that. Whatever you decide to do I wish you the best of luck (and stick with it!)
Same here. Fuck the naysayers who say cold turkey or nothing. Do what works for you.
For OP: One caveat to the vape plan is you’ll likely need to get a vape that’s refillable so you can customize the nicotine level. Juul/vuse/disposables typically only come in one, or at best, 2 nicotine levels, which prevents effective tapering.
Also, don’t fall into the trap of vaping places you wouldn’t have smoked (e.g. in your house/car). That can increase your nicotine dependency.
Good luck!
I quit smoking successfully a few years ago, after at least a dozen unsuccessful attempts.
Here’s what was different the time I succeeded:I changed my mindset. Basically, I told myself that I won’t ever smoke a single cigarette again in my life, no matter how shitty that makes me feel.
The trigger for that mindset was a common cold that left me breathless for 4 weeks.
And the key to success was the realization that:1.) I’m not addicted to cigarettes, I’m addicted to nicotine
2.) Nicotine by itself isn’t all that harmful
3.) Whenever I have a craving, I can just chew a nicotine chewing gum
4.) Nicotine by itself isn’t even that addictiveSo I bought a whole lot of nicotine gum, and whenever I felt the slightest craving I popped one in.
After about 2 weeks the cravings subsided (cause nicotine isn’t actually what makes you addicted).I’m neither an expert nor do I smoke. But from what I heard, quitting smoking has two major points- one being the nicotine addiction your body has built up. The second one being your ‘emotional addiction’, I.e being used to smoking as a tool to decompress, socialize, take a break, fight boredom etc. which is embedded in your routines - this one might be harder to fight. Maybe try to identify those things and find alternatives, start installing different ways to cope and simultaneously take care of your bodily addiction via gums, patches, whatever is the right way for you.
Both my parents were longtime smokers, my dad quit cold Turkey after 25 years. My mum quit cold turkey after about 45. They both seemed fine with it, maybe some nicorette gum at first but they dropped that quickly. With my dad having 20 years smoke free ahead of my mom, his health is way better. He is active. My mom needed some heartwork done.
Not a smoker myself, but I can tell you what worked for my brother when he quit in college.
AC went out in his dorm during an August heat wave, and it took forever for them to fix it. He decided that it would be a perfect time to go cold turkey, since he’d be so miserable from the heat that the few days of nicotine withdraw wouldn’t really be comparably bad. And he said it was right, he didn’t think about it during the worst part, and by the time they fixed the AC, he was 90% of the way through the process.
So if you live in one of the parts of the world moving to summer right now, it might be worth a shot.
Educate yourself about what smoking does to your body. Imagine it on every inhale. Make yourself really hate it. Set a specific end date in the near future (but keep it to yourself, you don’t need outside pressure). In the meantime continue thinking about how much you hate smoking. Then stop cold turkey.
If you miss smoke breaks with others at work or whatever, just keep hanging out with them but don’t smoke. If they ask about it, don’t say you are trying to stop, say you did stop.