Smoking Addiction – Why You Should Quit Cigarettes And How To Do It

by Inspiration4Living.com

There is hope, though, if you have a smoking addiction. If you decide to quit smoking today, in three years’ time, the risk of you dying of a heart attack is more or less the same as a non-smoker.

You have to make the decision to quit your smoking addiction yourself. Nobody else can do it for you, no matter how much they pressure you to do it. I realized that I was not a ‘behavioral smoker’, i.e. someone who enjoyed the act of opening the pack and lighting up the cigarette. I was chemically dependent on nicotine, so I decided to use a nicotine substitute to help me get through the withdrawal symptoms.

On ‘quit day’ I used no cigarettes, just my nicotine gum. I was cranky, I couldn’t concentrate for the whole day, and I could have eaten a horse. But I got through that first day, and the second, and the third. Then I told myself I was a non-smoker. And I was – and still am.

The best way to quit, though, is the same way you would quit cocaine or heroin – cold turkey! The nicotine substitutes will work if you’re determined to quit, but that doesn’t address the problem of your nicotine addiction. You could be chewing nicotine gum for years – and wasting as much money on that as you did on cigarettes! So try going cold turkey.

If you really, really want to quit the habit, seek support from friends, family and co-workers. My co-workers were fantastic! They kept out of my way as much as possible but were very supportive during the first two or three days. That’s really all the time it took to get over the craving. After all those years having a smoking addiction, I was finally free.

I used to think I could have a cigarette occasionally – after all, I’d conquered my smoking addiction. I took one puff and was appalled at the taste! How could I have done that for twenty years? It was absolutely vile. I had no wish to become a ‘social smoker’ after that. It was a stupid thing to do and could have sent me straight back to the cigarettes. That is what happens to a lot of people, and in their case they have to act like a reformed alcoholic and never, ever taste the forbidden fruit again. Ever.

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