r/quittingsmoking

After 7 years of smoking, nearly two packs a day, another two failed attempts + active alcoholism I finally managed to stay sober for the longest I've ever had.

This time around I approached the situation completely differently than the last two times.

I encourage all of you to go study the psychology behind addictions and how our brains trick us. STAY WITH ME. It sounds boring to some, but once you learn it everything might change.

What did it for me:

- learning how to stop merging my identity with the addictions (I'm a smoker/ I'm an alcoholic)

- learning how to recognise patterns of self sabotaging thoughts. (Why would I stop? Everyone does it anyway/ X person smoked and still lived till 83/ how else am I supposed to relax?)

- accepting that I have a problem and sitting with those uncomfortable thoughts, it really helps a lot.

- acknowledging what's lost, taking a deep breath and looking forward. Don't beat yourself over how long or how much you smoked, shaming yourself into quitting will work till next time your brain tells you that's your identity anyway :) this one applies even more for alcoholics

- begining to look at other people with addictions and observe how they behave in regards to their addictions, you'll see that all addicts seem like they have the same brain, same excuses, same thoughts, same denial. That's a crucial moment that made me understand my own behaviour so much better

There's probably more, but that's all I want to see for now. When you have time, Google it, discuss with someone, talk to an AI, whatever's accessible for you. Unlike my first tries my cravings are almost zero now, I haven't dreamt about smoking since week one and my mind has never felt clearer. It's still early for me, but I hope this new mentality i built will help me to continue as efficiently as I have so far. 💪🏻

Woke up with a pack next to me, got disgusted and threw it and then had a real hard day and was sad so I cried and smoked. I went back to quitting and 2 weeks later I had one from a taxi driver, and today I had one again as everyone had a cigarette break outside. I’m not ok. I feel the urge is coming back strong. The triggers are #1 sadness and I guess something to do with self destruction and #2 weight. I have been much hungrier since I quit and hence eating more which makes me want to go back.

I’m miserable and feel close to relapsing

One of the reasons I haven’t quit yet is because everytime I try, I fail because I’m stressed. My marriage is falling apart, my schedule is chaotic and the “only think I have,” is cigarettes. While I know that last bit is my addiction speaking, I know you can all relate.

I have quit for 15 years after smoking for two, using the patch only for 3 days. Then my mother died two years ago and my sister offered me one at her memorial. The rest is history. Part of me is oftentimes so disconnected from my body, but at times I feel like complete crap because I know I’m neglecting myself as if I have no value. I know that once I quit, my confidence will slowly return and I’ll feel healthier and be less hard on myself, yet, I’m hanging on to cigs for dear life and they’re hurting me so much. I’m hurting myself. It’s like I associate self-harm with safety or something.

Any advice is appreciated.

Should i do i transfer to vape first all quit smoking all in one time

Hi friends!! I need some advice.

Im 25 and I've been smoking nic since I was 14. I want to quit SO bad, it is holding me back from my health and my career (I work with horses). I don't have the self control to ween myself off and I get IRRITABLE so every time I've tried to quit cold turkey, my partner buys me nicotine. I have begged her not to, and to let me quit cold turkey, but she doesn't want to deal with my irritability. What can I do to not be so irritable? I know she shouldn't have to deal with it, but it's not like there's nicotine rehab, and everybody smokes in regular rehab.

What should I do?? Please help.

Just felt like sharing. My son was born 2 years ago, and I knew dealing with a newborn and nicotine withdrawal at the same time was gonna be impossible, so I told myself, “When he turns 1, I’ll quit.” I did, and he just turned 2, which means I am 1 year smoke free! I wouldn’t have quit if not for wanting to be around longer for my family. It was extremely hard at first, but got much easier after the first 3 months.

What helped me stay off cigarettes:

1. Don’t go to bars. That one was easy for me, because going out while I had a newborn was very rare anyway. But when I’m at a bar I feel like I NEED a cigarette, and after I’ve had a couple drinks, I can’t stop myself from asking someone for a smoke. So not going at all helped a lot.

2. Practice breathing exercises. I was surprised by how helpful this was for me. Especially when I was feeling a craving, just doing slow intentional breathing helped a lot.

3. Don’t keep them in the house. If I have cigarettes I will 1000% smoke them.

I wish you all luck in quitting too, it will be a genuine improvement in your life when you do

Ok. I need help. Almost 50 days in and I’m really close to giving up. Have not been at this point before since I quit. Crazy and surreal, spiralling real fast. I’m desperate to keep the quit. I hate being addicted but I also hate what quitting does to me mentally at this point. I know it can take up to three or even more months for everything to be recalibrated again. That seems such an undoable amount of time and as much as I tell myself that this is healing, it sure as hell don’t feel like it.

Whenever i stay inside like my friend's room or university campus consistently without going out for a cig, i feel normal. I feel like this is how normal people feel and go on about their day. This dependency is so weird.

I both smoke and vape and to be honest I really enjoy both of them.

I recently had a CT scan that detected minimal emphysema and mild bronchitis. I currently don't have COPD.

Logically I know I NEED to quit to ensure to best possible outcomes given my diagnosis. I know that not quitting will lead me to an early death. But the addict side of me just can't stop.

I started taking chantix 2 days ago so I'm really hoping against hope that it will take the pleasure out of smoking and vaping.

How do you guys motivate yourself to quit? I am REALLY struggling here.

I'll also add that it makes it harder because I have no symptoms. I never would have known if it weren't for the CT scan.

I smoked for 7 years, now Im 5 months sober. I don’t really miss cigarettes or heated tobaccos, they taste disgusting and make me smell awful, but something about a crisp mint vape would hit the spot for me. I might just get some gum and try to calm the urge down. Ive been wanting one for 2 days now, whoever said cravings go down after 3 months lied, they get more intense now. Maybe its because of how long Ive been a smoker

Been a smoker/vaper/pouch user for just over 2 years and i finally decided to put my foot down and quit. Not try to quit, just do it. Issue is im so fucking irritable and grouchy most of the time. Then comes the part where it takes like 3 months for your dopamine to rebalance and come back to normal levels. I got these like subconscious thoughts that “you’re not gonna last 3 months” and “might as well have one, not like you can do this 90 days”.
I just kinda need some encouragement that things will get better in the coming weeks and to push through.