JESUS CHRIST!!! I bow to the (now) obvious fact that addiction is really more serious than I have ever experienced or can even imagine. I don’t have whatever genetic makeup allows addiction, so when I quit smoking, I just quit and within 48 hours I didn’t think any more about it. And I chewed snuff too for a few months out on a construction site to see what the thrill was, but when I went back to civilization I just stopped. My apologies to all to whom I may have used the best of intentions to give bad advice.
Maybe this is why I don’t drink or do drugs. I’m already brain-dead so they have no effect? But seriously, I CANNOT become addicted. I should give someone a blood sample for DNA analysis. Curing addiction would be a nice present for the next generation…er…can you be addicted to sex if you aren’t getting that much? I tried THAT a few times and I still get cravings!!
On Saturday it will be 6 years since I quit smoking. Yeah, it was hard. I kept a journal, which was really helpful–it gave me a place to obsess endlessly about how much I wanted a smoke (friends got real tired of listening to me). I sucked hard candy. I worked out, which was great because my body gave me feedback pretty quickly that quitting smoking was a great idea. It was amazing how much and how fast my endurance improved!
And, before six months had passed, I hated cigarettes. I’m more sensitive to the smell than my friends who never smoked; won’t check out library books that smell like smoke. I’ve talked to other former smokers who feel the same way.
I had been smoking for about 8 years before I quit. I did it by going out and bying myself a pipe. If you have never smoked a pipe, it is an ordeal. You need to pack and repack the tobacco, regulate the air flow, and continuously relight it. You really need both hands and cannot be doing anything else. Also, if you happen to be in your 20s and even a little self-aware, you will realize that you look ridiculous smoking a pipe.
So, when you really need a smoke, (regardless of whether it is for the oral stimulation or the nicotine) you will sit yourself down, pull out your pipe and satisfy your craving. Otherwise, you will be too busy or too embarrassed to indulge.
Eventually, I just stopped smoking all together because I was no longer addicted to nicotine, and I just couldn’t be bothered anymore. I don’t remember how long it took (probably about a year), but I found it an extremely easy and painless way to wean myself off tobacco.
