Ever Try to Quit Smoking Tobacco | Nicotine Controls Your Behavior | Why I Kicked the Habit

As a teen, I smoked socially. I didn't smoke at home or at work, only when socializing. As I got older, I smoked at work at my desk along with just about everyone else that I worked alongside. It was acceptable back in the day and in a government building no doubt. My how things have changed in the workplace. If the smoking ban existed back then, who knows, maybe I wouldn't have started smoking. Nicotine has alluring qualities, the more you do it, the more you want to do it.

To quit or not to quit, that is the question? QUIT...Just do it. You say....I love smoking. I know the feeling. All smokers love to smoke, that is why we do it.

REVELATION: The day your emotional desire to quit smoking is stronger than your addiction and desire to keep smoking....you can and will quit permanently. Until then you quit more than once.

Quitting smoking can be a challenge because of the physical and psychological effects of Nicotine addiction; especially when smoking is coupled with many other behaviors. Smoking while drinking coffee, smoking while driving, smoking while consuming alcohol, smoking first thing in the morning, smoking after XXX, smoking while on the phone, smoking after dinner, to name a few past favorites of mine. If you have smoked, you know what I mean. If not, just take my word on it.

Being physically addicted to Nicotine can be overcome within a couple days as the drug works out of the system....but the psychological effects go way beyond the physical deep into the habits and patterns of daily living. How we walk through our days and couple our daily activities is the real problem.

As New Years Day approaches and along with millions of other smokers, you vow to quit smoking. Kick the habit without thinking about what you will do to replace the activity when you wake up in the morning and pour that first cup of fresh brew. Ohhhh the urge is stronger than cup of joe. Then there is the sensation after the first meal.... and when the phone rings and you go to pick your smokes to light up for a quick chat. Yikes. "What do I do with my hands now? ", was the question I asked myself.

When I quit the first time, I was shocked at how much time I spent lighting up around the other events of the day. This is why most people start smoking once again....the craving for nicotine ha passed but the habits of daily living have not been changed to a non-smokers lifestyle.

Incentive, that is what you need to quit for the last time. A deciding factor or defining moment.

My defining moments: My daughter used to hide my packs of cigarettes and begged me to quit. One day I walked over to the neighbors house with my daughter close behind. Of course I was toking on a smoke. As the neighbor swung open her door, I turned to the left to avoid being hit by the door and that adoring cigarette that was lit, the one in my left hand, accidentally pressed on the cheek of my daughter who was standing right behind me just missing her eye. Of course it was an accident and accidents do happen. However, that day this particular accident could have been avoided if I was not lit up. My daughter had a little burn on her cheek for a week to remind me of my stupidity. I hated that cigarette and the habit of smoking that very moment and in that moment started an emotional quest to beat the habit.

Later that week the family piled in the car for a trip to the ocean. The ride was long. The urge came and it was time for a smoke. With four kids in the car, my smallest child sat up front beside me where she had fallen asleep on my lap. I cracked the window, lit up, took a long puff, blew it out the little crack in the window while holding my head far to the right. It was at that moment....the light bulb went off in my head....what was I doing? Did I need a cigarette that bad that I would go to this extreme contortion. My behavior was being dictated by this little rolled up piece of tobacco. I put it out immediately and within three days, I had convinced myself that I was no longer a smoker. I put the pack down cold turkey and never looked back. I was not going to be controlled by smoking any longer.

The first week was the toughest. I was actually a little dizzy for a couple days. I had shakiness too. The desire to smoke because of the nicotine dependency is strong. Drinking lots of water will help to remove the nicotine from your system faster. Drink lots of juices too. Chew gum. Suck on Lollipops, Eat Popsicle's. Do anything to get your mind off smoking. Some people work out a lot. If you are not that type, consider walking a lot. It is helpful to make a point not to follow the same daily routine, break it up. Instead of a morning coffee, have a juice and walk. Instead of lighting up when the phone rings, put a pen in your hand and draw little flowers. Substitute activities when you find yourself reaching for the lighter. YOU CAN DO IT.

The second week, free at last from nicotine, now it is mind over matter.

Moral to the story: YOUR DESIRE NOT TO SMOKE HAS TO BE STRONGER THAN YOUR DESIRE TO SMOKE.

Make a list of why you want to be a non-smoker and dwell of the positives of being smoke free.

Why did we ever think that blowing smoke rings was so cool? Smokers appeared to be cool back in the day on TV when the coolest people on the screen smoked. Jimmy Dean with that cigarette hanging from his lip remains a trademark of cool. Filterless no less....I feel a cough coming on.

Remember that song....well there was certainly enough of that going on in the school yards too. I remember going into a steam room once where there was someone smoking in there. Now with all the bans on smokeless restaurants, government buildings and such, people are seen standing in the rain and the bitter cold of winter getting frostbite for that nicotine fix.

• The charming smell of smoke on the clothing that remains in your closet
• Or maybe the charming smoker's breath as a welcoming 'hello' is breathed in the smallest of spaces
• How about the nicotine stained fingers of long term smokers
• Premature wrinkles from the affects on the skin from oxygen deprivation
• How about the exorbitant costs of smoking. Today smokers are spending their future retirement funds to have a couple puffs a day as cartons approach $80. good gracious. Smoking was once a rich persons addiction, I say with prices today, it is once again.
• How about that little hacking cough, especially in the cubicle beside yours
• Walking through cigarette butts as you exit a building where smokers do their flicking
• Not becoming a Cancer statistic from toxins from smoking.