How I Managed to Stop Smoking, Cold Turkey! Updated May, 2012!

The title sounds too good to be true, but it is true. I quite smoking, cold turkey, relatively easily. I did not use any prescriptions or herbal pills, no gum or patch or inhaler, nothing. I smoked heavily for almost 15 years, I quit while I lost a job and we were having a baby, stress was very high, I still did it!

This lens is about "Mind Over Matter". The true reason it is hard to quite is not physical addiction, it is habitual, it is physiological and if you can "change your mind" you can do it too!

Important things to realize: When you stop smoking, you do not get the shakes, or break into strong physical withdrawal pains like you would if you were addicted to a hard drug like Cocaine or heroin.....Withdrawal from smoking feels like a minor hunger pain, this symptom only lasts a few minutes and can surface off and on for a few days after you quit, that is it, just a few days, the rest is ALL in the Mind. There is absolutely NO REASON anyone can't quit too, IF, IF they put their mind to it.

That is the secret, there is no other secret, you must decide, make up your mind, do you want to smoke all your life or not? If not, when will you quit? If you want to quit, why put it off another day? Once the decision has been made, stick to it. Don't "Try to quit", QUIT.

My wife was expecting our new child any time and I decided that I wanted to quit before the baby was born. I put it off till a few days before the due date of course. Then, I did it, I just quit, cold turkey! Believe it or not, cold turkey is the easiest way to stop smoking. Not to say the whole thing was easy, not at all. I had some really tuff moments. The challenge for me was, there were certain cigarettes I felt I enjoyed. The concept of quitting was a good one to me, it was just those 'important' cigarettes I wanted. I was having a hard time mentally giving the 'good' ones up, you know the ones, the morning coffee, the drive, after work, after dinner, with a drink...... these ones crept up in my mind a lot the first week and off and on for the first few weeks.

These were, and still are, the hardest cravings to beat. The "Just One" cigarette, that every smoker knows is never just one. Like a drug addict or an alcoholic, an ex-smoker can never have "just one". you have to say good bye for good to your 'friend', no exceptions, no cheating, or you WILL just end up smoking again and have to quit again.

For me, and probably many other ex-smokers too, this was the biggest challenge. Fighting the little voice in my head that would try and justify why 'just one' was ok, this time. The worst of this was just in the first few days, then sporadically it would resurface from time to time within the first 2 weeks and to a much lesser extent, into the 3rd. Into the fourth week, very little thought went to smoking and when it did, it was easy to push aside.That was it, pretty much 2 weeks of fairly frequent self talk to convince myself to stay quit and then a week or so of minor cravings and done, a bonified exsmoker.

Everyone will experience "The End" in their own way, but this was how it went for me.

It took me years to 'start' to stop smoking, once I finally did, it wasn't 'a cake walk', but it wasn't that hard. An important thing to realize and remember is the physical addictive power of nicotine is not very strong, it is not heroin, no shakes or sweats, the actual physical cravings are pretty minor. What this ultimately means is that a craving, even a 'strong' one, is almost entirely in the smokers head, 99% physiological, I would guess. Stopping Smoking truly is "Mind Over Matter".

"Mind over Matter" is the secret to quit, it really is. This time I quit for good and it was easier than all the many times I 'tried' before. The 'trick' is to get in the "zone", get into the right Mind Set and then stay there through the worst of the cravings.

I think, just like programming a computer, a smoker just needs to reprogram the brain (technical term) to become a ex-smoker for good. The most effective way to reprogram the brain is probably a good counselor, which obviously not everyone can afford. If you can, you will want a counselor with experience in stop smoking therapy. You will need time with the counselor before you quit and for the first couple weeks of the quit. It is becoming pretty common knowledge that smoking is habitual, so many counselors do have experience with Quitting Smoking, ask for references. Ultimately the goal is to reprogram your thoughts to see smoking for what it really is.

An alternative to a counselor (or as well as) is hypnotherapy. This has become increasingly popular, and the success rate is fairly high when compared to mainstream methods of quitting. Some people, especially those that are easily hypnotized, can 'reprogram' with an at home style video/audio hypnosis program. There are only a handful of really good audio hypnosis programs for smoking, such as this one, Stop Smoking Hypnotherapy.

Most cities in North America have a hypnotherapy clinic that has a program for smoking, "Positive Changes" is the name of the center in my city. The programs are typically spread out over around 4 weeks and cost approximately $3-600. When a person participates in one of these programs, they will typically get a recording of their sessions to listen to again at home. With Hypnotherapy, repetition is important for success and many of these programs do have a high success rate, for those that complete the entire program.

The Patch, Gum, Inhalers and other nicotine replacements do not work, in my opinion. These things just perpetuate the addiction, the physical part (which is minor remember). Prolong the physical addiction and you just perpetuate the mental addiction, which is ultimately the hardest part to beat.

It is unfortunate that the governments push a tool that is proven to be so ineffective. Many people just trust that they are being lead down the best path, which is not really the case. If the government really wanted to help the general public stop smoking, they should provide free counseling and hypnotherapy!

Aside from counseling and hypnosis, some people, myself included, can influence their mind, reprogram, with a book.

The context of the book I read is really about getting into the mindset of smoking and of quitting. It was a pretty easy read, and was written by Allen Carr. Through a thorough understand of the mind, it empowered me to think about the whole thing differently, smoking and how to stop smoking. And as it turns out, it is actually not so hard after all. The book was recommended to me by a friend and I was skeptical for sure......but it did work. Allen Carr, Easy Way to Stop Smoking. The book has been around for awhile and has amassed a huge network of 'quitters', clinics and seminars. It is an easy read, but I did go back to the start of the book half way through and started it over again, then I took my time finishing it, but when I did, I smoked my last smoke and quit, just like that.

The book was helpful to use as a tool to reprogram my mind. As I mentioned above this can be done through counseling, hypnotherapy and for some, through reading (there are loads of books out there that help with this). The process of reprogramming the mind is applicable to all sorts of goals, smoking is just one.

As we all know, the mind is a powerful thing, we can accomplish many things, if we set our mind to it, including Stopping Smoking.

Remind yourself, YOU are a non-smoker, 'just one' doesn't exist, the 'itch' is 'in your head'. Knowing that helps to beat the urges, which will subside considerably, for many, within the first week.

The moment you decide to stop smoking, keep reminding yourself often, you quit smoking, you ARE a non-smoker. Don't 'try' to stop smoking, you are not 'quitting', you HAVE quit, you do not smoke, period. Pat yourself on the back and relish in the joy of finally getting free of Smoking!