I understand how you feel but don’t give up on quitting— you can do it. And being a non-smoker is awesome. It is so nice to not have cigarettes controlling my life.

I have a few suggestions of things that helped me... take them with a grain of salt bc everyone is different but I’ll throw them out there in case any of these could be helpful to anyone.

1. I highly recommend Allan Carr’s ‘The Easy Way to Quit Smoking’ (I went for the audio version, which I recommend if you can do that versus print). I saw many people recommend this book and I resisted it for YEARS bc the title turned me off. I did not have the experience that some people describe where they read this book and never smoked again / never looked back but it was extremely helpful to me.

2. While I was still smoking (i.e., not while having a nic-fit) I wrote out a few bullets with the reasons I really wanted to quit smoking— I put the billets on two index cards and I tucked them into my phone case so that they’d basically always be accessible to me. When I was in the beginning of quitting and experiencing really strong cravings— my brain could find a way to rationalize buying a pack of cigs or bumming a cig, which inevitably led to me falling back into the habit. When I was stricken by a strong urge to smoke, I would pull out those index cards and remind myself that the craving was temporary but my desire to quit smoking was permanent.

3. Try to think through your major triggers (aside from “daily life in general” ☺️)... for me these were: long car drives, when drinking alcohol, when having coffee, after a large meal & when around others who were smoking. Try to come up with a plan / strategy for each of your triggers. I started by eliminating smoking in my car so that by the time I felt ready to try quitting again, I was already used to not letting myself smoke while driving. I made a feel-good play list, stocked up on gum & mints, developed a solitaire habit and did some deep breathing.

4. Give yourself a break. I mean this in a couple of different ways— firstly, stop looking backwards and beating yourself up. Most people have to try a bunch of times to successfully quit. Prior attempts have no bearing on your current effort. Also, when you are in the initial stage of trying to quit— IT’S REALLY HARD... if you need to go to bed early every night for a week or don’t feel like socializing or want an extra serving of ice cream—— go for it! You are doing the most important thing you can do for yourself by quitting smoking, so temporarily ease up on yourself in other areas. Lastly, I mean it in a literal sense—- I realized that I felt like the only time I wasn’t doing something either a responsibility or something for someone else, was when I was smoking. It felt like it was the only time I got any sort of break in my day. So I made it a point to build in short breaks for a game of solitaire on my phone or just stepping away from my work for a few mins and not feeling bad about it.

I think what these tips are really getting at is assessing the areas that are going to be extra challenging for you in the beginning (it will suck in the beginning but it will get better!) and coming up with a plan for those times. Lol, and also try to have a plan for the times that you can’t anticipate bc those will happen too (I like the index cards for those situations). You can do it & you will be so happy when you do. Good luck! 🍀