It's always a great time to quit smoking

Quitting smoking has been one of the best things I’ve done for myself. I quit on January 1st 2005, almost 2 years ago now, and haven’t had a puff since.

It wasn’t a New Year’s resolution, actually; it was an accident. I was planning on quitting, but I was planning on doing it late January, on the 27th if I’m not mistaken. But then I just didn’t feel like smoking on the 1st, didn’t smoke on the 2nd, either, and then I knew I was almost home free. 3-4 days without smoking is really all it takes to be free of the physical dependency. Then remains the social and psychological house-keeping.

Before that, I’d quit once before, for 4 months, but the ease of quitting led me to think I could take a whiff at a friend’s wedding. I could, but it started me down a slippery slope that within a few months had me smoking full-time again, and then I was a smoker for another 2 and a half years, till I finally quit again.

It’s been a strong reminder to me to not even try it this time. I don’t especially mind other people smoking, and I don’t especially mind being in smoky bars. That is to say, it’s awful and I’m looking forward to the April 1st ban on smoking in public places here in Denmark, but it doesn’t make it any harder for me to not smoke. Every time I see other people smoke, I smile inside from knowing that I don’t anymore.

The one thing that can truly upset me is when I see advertisements for quitting with nicotine gum or patch. It’s such a scam. It’s not about the physical dependency. It’s all about the emotional, psychological, social dependency.

It’s the trigger that you have to have a cigarette with coffee or alcohol or after a meal. It’s the belief that you need a fag when you’re stressed or down. It’s the story you tell yourself that the 5-minute break is good for you, or that you need it to look cool. There’s usually at least 15 different triggers of this sort, and they’re all there to lure you into lighting another one, so you can get back on the physical addiction track.

Limiting the nicotine intake is addressing the wrong problem, while raking in giant profits for the makers of these things, complete with the sanction of the established medical community who still don’t seem to have a clue, overall. The recommendation was more along the lines of will-power and “eat a carrot each time you want a cigarette”, rather than addressing the core issue.

What is the core issue? The core issue is the belief that a cigarette will give you something you want, when the truth, obvious to any child and sane person out there, is that it doesn’t. Simple as that. Cigarettes give you nothing you could possibly want, and plenty you don’t. Once that fact sinks in, quitting is easy as pie.

I used two books to help me through this, and I took quite some warm-up time before I managed. The first was You Can Stop Smoking by Jacquelyn Rogers, and while it had the right approach and did help me quit the first time, I liked The Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Alan Carr better, because of its clarity, even though, technically, it didn’t help me stop, as I didn’t read it until a few days after I’d already quit. It did help me stay quit, though, which is, as you could imagine, mighty important.

If you happen to get a copy of this book from me, it’s because I believe you want to quit, but you don’t know how. The fact is, it’s super-easy when you know how. So I hope you’ll set aside some time and do yourself this favor, and I know you’ll be grateful you did. Good luck, and Happy New Year!