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But about ten years ago, that is what I was trapped
into doing. My closest friend, a CNS working in a retired living center
described to me how as a smoker I was at risk for cancers, emphysema,
and strokes. She taunted that if I didn’t start looking into stop
smoking programs and stop, eventually, killing myself, I would, before I
died for real end up like the people she cared for in the retirement
living centers--gasping for breath, toting around oxygen tanks, needing
help doing the simplest of tasks because I would be “all stroked out.”
So I tried.
They (whoever they are) say that’s
the key to eventually being able to call yourself a non-smoker: you
quit, you try again, you quit again, until you are a successful quitter.
Of course, just tryin once as I did doesn’t really count (until I try
again and again, sometime), but the truly desirous can make the effort
by trying out stop smoking programs, one at a time, until he or she
finds one or a combination of stop smoking programs that work for him or her.
I had—back in the 90’s, made it as a non-smoker for one year
and one month. These are some of the stop smoking programs and tools I
worked with:
Since The American Cancer Society offers free, thoughtful info on giving up
the habit, I started there. The pamphlets are written in serious terms and
at the same time use gentle language. That offers the soft approach, so I
wouldn’t feel like a freak, or a “bad” person….
Next, I read one of the many fine books on quitting—one which was
informative, supportive, coaxing, humorous, brilliantly researched, and helpful.
My absolute favorite is still No-Nag, No-Guilt, Do-It-Your-Own-Way Guide to Quitting
Smoking, by Tom Ferguson.
It’s written by an MD offering info on how smokes
are a dual drug…unlike any other: they are, he says, upper/downers. When
you’re nervous or agitated, you take long…slow…drags and are
tranquilized; when you’re logy, sluggish, tired, you take
short.quick.puffpuffpuffs, and are instantly energized, hyped up.
Doc X exclaims, “No wonder it’s so hard to quit smoking!”
He also defines another characteristic that helps us appreciate why we’re
so hooked. He gives the times for onset, noting how there’s only one other drug, of
all drugs (OTC, street, prescribed that hits the brain faster, and
that’s crack cocaine. If I recall correctly, crack hits you in 3
seconds, heroin in 10, 7.
Cigarettes are harder to quit than heroin! That right there helped me realize
I also needed to be extra kind to myself.
I also interviewed successful quitters, some of
whom had become so by trying stop smoking programs like those involving
hypnosis, subliminal tapes, and nicotine gum. And because they offered
advice and tricks, I tried those tricks as well:
I drank water...a lot of water…as our bodies take at least 8 ten-ounce glasses
of water a day anyway, so whenever I felt the urge to puff, I would do
water instead.
The oral act is a big part of smoking for me and
likely for most everyone else who loves/needs to smoke. I would use a
pencil, an imaginary butt, or even—when I was especially brave—a real
unlit cig, and each time I had the crave to drag would inhale really
deeply and satisfyingly, instead.
I would also use the 12-step approaches to giving up my addiction, though I
never had the smarts to try the Quitters or Smokers’ Anonymous, and
would do as it was suggested by a friend. I would say, “If I still want
a cigarette in 20 minutes, I’ll have one.” I would not give in and
do so after twenty minutes, of course; instead, I would give myself permission
to smoke, wait the whole 20 minutes (for most cravings cycle through and pass away
in 20 minutes), then repeat the permit, so that if I again still wanted a
cigarette I could have one…after twenty minutes.
This my own version of a sort of combination of stop smoking programs and
techniques. And I have to admit, it was mush better for my skin, my
hair, and of course my lungs. In other words, it worked if I worked it.
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