There has been a little debate as of late as to whether quitting cold turkey really works and from experience I can only say … YES.
However there are factors that need to be taken into account when thinking about quitting.
I’ll say it time and time again. The struggle isn’t to put out that last smoke, the struggle is to never light up another one. Its the relapse that more often then not causes problems.
Each and every time I have given up it has been cold turkey or a form of cold turkey. Maybe I read a book and then just stopped, cold turkey, maybe I listened to a CD and quit cold turkey.
There are aids that will compliment your journey to quit but for some it seems unnatural to replace the nicotine with another form of nicotine, regardless of the small amounts that are contained.
However, as ive stated many times, the goal here is to quit and never smoke again so if Nicotine Replacement Therapy works for you and helps take the edge off quitting or helps stave off a relapse, then by all means my friend, keep on keeping on!!
For me personally, im a strong believer that replacing the addiction with another form of nicotine can only cause more problems. Hence the reason I have never used patches or gum to become a non smoker.
So if the gum and patches arent available then what should you use?
Support – support from your friends, family, colleagues, church members, whereever you can find them.
Thats a huge part of how I have been able to stay smoke free.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8515917403878809809Infact support yourself!
Take out that video camera, dust it off and film yourself.
Have your own video diary where you are able to follow your own progress, voice your frustrations and triumphs.
We are part of the digital age and if placing a video of yourself on youtube helps you to stay smoke-free, then do it, by all means, do it!
The set of advertisements that Ieremia and I made have been a great reminder of the life I dont want to return to.
Watching myself smoke makes me cringe and reflecting on those advertisements helps to re-enforce my decision to be smokefree, to be free of the nicotine addiction.
Its been over 2 years, almost to the day since I stopped smoking.
I still marvel at my achievement but I dont forget what it was like before I became smokefree.
My health, life and path were all so distorted but now I have clarity, the smoke has cleared and so has my mind.
I strongly feel that quitting helped cleanse alot of things in my life that were being masked by the cigarettes. I used to use them for self-confidence, to socialise, as an excuse to not fit-in, to be anti-social, and so many other things. I now have to deal with those feelings myself and im so much more better at it now then when I was a smoker and id have to attribute that to quitting.
I wanted to write these words of encouragement for those of us that choose to quit cold turkey. Theres nothing wrong with that method. What is wrong is quitting cold turkey without a plan and without support. That in itself may cause a relapse.
So prepare for the worst (that you’ll go back to smoking) and hope for the best (that you’ll quit smoking) in any attempts that you have to quit smoking.
It doesnt always come down to the method but most certainly comes down to how you prepare for and manage a possible relapse.
Write me, Im always open to your opinions, comments and feedback.
