For those who are new on this journey, yes, it is hard. It is not a dirty habit.

IT IS AN ADDICTION

Don't beat yourself up. Industries are dependent on keeping you addicted. They modify the product to keep you addicted.

Here is how I did it:
1. I took Cytisine for 6 weeks. One week before my quit date and five weeks after.
2. I drank a hella lot of water. When I wanted a cig, I chugged water.
3. Breathing exercises. Namely, box breathing.
4. Mandarin Oranges. Get the big bag. It keeps hands busy and is low in calories. Plus, your hands smell awesome.
5. Keep coming here for help. Get an app and keep track. Set your Flair to show how many days you are Smoke Free.

I think the best reward for quitting smoking are hugs. When people hug me the first thing they say is how GOOD I SMELL. Instead of spending money on smokes, I spend it on Chanel, Paco Rabanne, Etc.

Keep it up! You GOT THIS!

With everything so shit right now and my mental health not too good this is one of those things that is proof that I preserved.

I wanted to break as recently as yesterday but I didn't!!

This is unbelievable for me who used to smoke a minimum of two packs a day for 6 years.

I still have bigger addictions to tackle but I am so glad I'm on the right track for smoking.

The amount of holier-than-thou assholes that spout anecdotal nonsense to anyone that dares to try quitting using NRT is just insane to me. Every. single. Thread. There has to be some guy being like ‘you’re gonna be addicted forever’, or you’re stupid for replacing nicotine with nicotine’ or some other variation of these sentiments.
The science supports Nrt. Your anecdotes are completely meaningless. And to come here and try and be a smartass to people just looking for emotional support is despicable. Cheers, see you never.

I quit smoking largely thanks to the nicotine lozenges that I took daily for 6 months whenever I had a craving.
I stopped taking them once I got down to 2 lozenges a day.

The strength was 1.5 mg.

I quit regular smoking about 3 years ago. After that I still smoked on trips overseas when I saw friends and family, and recently I cut that out too, mostly to see if I could. Honestly it hasn't gotten easier. It's a choice I have to make again every day.

Recently a friend stayed with me for a week. He went through close to a pack every other day (or vaping), and kept blowing it in my face. What stuck with me wasn't the smell. It was watching him: stressed, sweating, pacing, lighting one after another, tired the whole time.

Seeing it from the outside made it really clear how much it was taking from me, and how much of that energy I've clawed back.

Anyone else have a moment like this, where seeing someone else smoke reminded you why you stopped?

I found a primary obstacle to me successfully quitting was the constant desire to smoke. This might sound painfully obvious to some, but this strategy is unstated but core to some other strategies of quitting such as easy way.

Most people that struggle to quit are romanticizing smoking, making it out to be much more than it is. I did this before I was able to successfully quit. I wondered how I would get through the day without it, how I would deal with stress without it, how I could sleep properly or focus without it.

All of these thoughts are just distractions from the real problem. None of these things would be as hard to do if we never smoked. Smoking actually makes each of these worse for the smoker so that they struggle to do them on their own without smoking.

In this mindset, we are worse off for all of the things we think smoking helps us with because we smoked, not because we quit.

The craving process is controllable. I though of cravings like calls from a shitty ex after you dumped them. If you answer them and humor their demands, you just invite that toxic person right back into your life. You could just ignore them, but then they might just keep calling. It's better to block their number and forget about them entirely. The way you do that is by telling your cravings to go fuck themselves. I pictured a tiny little goblin in my head croaking for his precious nicotine. Or maybe a toddler screaming and crying because you won't let them stick a fork in a power outlet.

It is important to not compare how we feel while smoking to how we feel when we quit, since quitting didn't cause the brain issues that is causing our problems, smoking did. 100% of the time you will always feel better on the drug you are addicted to than when you are in withdrawal. The important thing is that after we get through the withdrawal, we feel better than we did as a smoker.

Does anyone have any mindset issues or questions about mindset in their quit?

Hi everyone 👋

German fella here in need of some advice.

So I been a light smoker <5/day of Marlboro Gold/Light for two years now. Occasional smoker <10/week 1-2 years before that (mostly when drinking, not too often).

Now, I hate to admit it (to myself) but I really gotta stop smoking before it's too late...really scared of lung cancer. Admittedly, I'm in healthcare studyin', and that just fuels it even more.

Never really had any habits (like mornin' cig to my coffee)...just smoked one when I wanted to - but never in the mornings to prevent routine. Few days ago, had the flu - didn't smoke for 6 days straight...no cravings, nothing. Day 7, cravings hit a bit and I smoked 1x - I was back in. Now just four days later, I'm on my 2nd smoke-free day again...

...but for some reason, my cravings won't stop. I keep reading it's just a 1-3 minute thing but for a good 10 hours now, it just won't stop. Every second thought is literally like the 'go buy a pack, light just one' trap.

Weirdly enough, I didn't have that when I got sick and simply didn't smoke. Only ever since I got my mindset on actually quitting it's been like that.

Any ideas/tips on how to stop the cravings? Tried everything so far from distraction to menthol stuff...nothing works. Appreciate it!

I am 22(M) and have been smoking since I was 12, atp I do not even remember my life before I touched a cigaratte. Currently working and I smoke around 10-12 per day, I am having a short break from work for one week starting this Saturday, y'all think its possible to leave this decade long habit.

What are the ways you guys suggest to leave ? (cause I do not think I can go cold turkey)

Sorry I just need to vent. Day 38 and it's been an entire shitshow. I guess I'm getting to a point where I would be actually quite content if I didn't need to do anything. Just taking little walks and naps. Might even be happy. But anything more demanding than that takes such a tremendous effort... it's exhausting! I'm getting exhausted. Thid is an exhausting way to live.

And the insomnia doesn't help at all. I've seriously cut down caffeine intake and see that I eat before bed something with protein, fats and good carbs, but I still wake up on most nights ~3 hours after falling asleep. Usually wide awake too and won't fall back asleep easily. Sometimes I'm lucky and it's more like slumbering lightly on an off after that point. Stilö not getting much proper sleep om those nights either.

Just needed to vent.

Hey guys/girls.

It's been 2 weeks since last smoke/snus. I used to smoke occasionaly but I was a heavy SNUS user. I used to take the 15mg per snus around 15x daily or more. It's been 2 weeks now and I still feel occadional dips into depression/anhedonia/anxiety. Is this normal? When will it go away? The insane hunger phase seems to have passed.

Thanks

So I haven’t had a cigarette for 60 days and counting. I don’t consider I was a heavy smoker, would usually smoke 2 to 3 cigs a day and nothing on weekends.

The thing is I have been ok up until maybe 4 to 5 days back the cravings have hit me hard. I wont fall back into that habit but any tips to help with the cravings or the anxiety would be much appreciated.

I’m still currently smoking but I think I’m not buying anymore cigarettes , that book works

Hello,

Just writing to share my story. I had successfully quit for 7 months and it was not a walk in the park but I was determined and happy, and after the first two months I was what could have been the happiest I have been in a long time. I respected myself, started working out regularly, ate better, was less stressed, enjoyed life more. I faced a couple of personal difficulties during those months but it did not bring me down, until a big big one came along 3 weeks ago that has shattered what I have been working on for the past 3 years nonstop, investing all my energy and time in it.

I was so distraught that I went out and smoked immediately. I have tried to quit since then but I don’t last a day. Every day I wake up sad because of what recently happened, and can’t get in the right mindset to quit.

And of course smoking hasnt helped me in my situation but quitting makes all the bad feelings much worse.

I am still hoping to wrap up this relapse soon. I am not able to not be very sad and down almost all the time though. Any comments or advice would be appreciated.

So a long, long time ago when I would go to the bar to karaoke Pink Floyd and other various things, I would sometimes bum a drag from someone's cigarette. On Feb 2, 2022 I would met this strange woman who identified as a sociopath who was a smoker. I would bum a drag from her noting, "I'm saving you life, a half a cigarette at a time." At the end of the night, she would invite me back to her place. She absolutely loved my hair, which is funny, as I was about to shave it all off and donate it.

Skip to March 7th and we are officially dating. At this point, I am having my own cigarettes. Skip to a month or so ahead, and I am buying my own cigarettes. Skip to Friday Oct 13, 2023 and I am married. Skip to sometime this year and my wife has stopped smoking, except to take drags from my cigarettes.

Some point before getting married I was going to have a tooth pulled. It was decaying and part of it missing (well before meeting my sociopathic friend). I went to have it pulled and my blood pressure was way too high. So I went to the doctor to be put on meds for it (and adjusted multiple times).

Smoking had turned into a part of my life routine. I wake up at 6:30, I get ready, I have a smoke, I take my blood pressure meds, I take my vitamins, I have my coffee, I go outside to take a smoke, I brush my teeth, I go to work, I get my coffee, I take my break around 10:30 because I like to prepare for the days the cafeteria has tossed chicken wings, go have a smoke, then go to the cafeteria probably disappointed that it's not wing day (since it only happens once a month).

I was to a point where I was smoking about 6 cigarettes a day? In many cases having it as part of my routine helped keep this at a rather constant. Very rarely did I "need" a cigarette, however I did "need" to keep my routine going. So one day (2026) I am eating a salad, and my back wisdom tooth literally shatters. Well this absolutely sucks. I go to the dentist and find I have two infected teeeth. The one that had been broke for years and the one that just shattered. A date of sometime in April(?) is made to have them pulled.

So one of the things I know is that drinking and smoking is very bad for recently pulled teeth. I make plans to actually stop smoking after my two teeth are pulled. So April comes and it is the day of having my teeth pulled. I have my "final" smoke, go in and have my teeth pulled (it sucked... bad), and then afterwards I enjoy a smoke free life.

Until one day I am at the bar, drinking, and then bum a cigarette from my sister (she is not my real sister she is my sister from another mister). I do this a bit more until THAT turns into a routine. I then feel bad because I don't like bumming from people, so I end up getting my own packs. When NOT drinking, I would ask myself, "This is gross why am I doing this again?" Then I realized what I had to do. The best way to replace a routine/habit is to give some sort of meaning to something. I mean, for years now each month I tally my karma count here on Reddit. Every Friday for 16 years since Oct 7th, 2016, I make a Floyd post where I share the joy of Pink Floyd to the world (at least in my Tommy Westphall induced universe). How can I use my own brain against me? Simple, pick some form of important time and note that time to memory.

So it is a few weeks ago and my three year anniversary is coming up. I decide to ensure I have enough smokes to last me up until Oct 12th. I have my two bottles of Chilly Mallard on Oct 12th with two smokes left. I have the one, play some games, then go out for my last smoke. When I take my last drag, I note the time.

So at this point it turns into a challenge. I had told my wife what I was planning, as well as my dad (who was very not a fan of knowing I smoked, especially after losing grandma who had been smoking unfiltered Paul Malls for 50 years until she died from lung complications in 2006).

I know I have no quit as long as a lot of you legends have. I also have not been a heavy smoker like a lot of you who have decades on me. I share my story in hopes to be able to return in a month, a year, a decade (and I will prob be dead after that, so...) and state that I have stood with many of you in being smoke free for X time. I also share my story to remind some of you that you're not addicted to the smoke, you are addicted to the routine. My OCD hates breaking routine, however, I have done it, and so can you! If you want to quit but feel you can't, make a target date, turn it into a challenge, and find someone to help support you. I'm chronically on Reddit, so if you don't have someone to support ya, well, you do now.

My friend told me that after quitting smoking, he felt healthy, cheerful, energetic, and happy again, just like he was as a child. Is that really true?

It’s officially been 7 days after my last cigarette and I’m gonna be honest it’s been the hardest day too for me, I’m not sure if it’s from outside stresses or normal but the cravings got really bad today.
Does anyone maybe have tips on how to deal with stress better after quitting smoking?

I'm so stressed I have had so many serious thoughts about just buying a pack.

Y'all.. it's been NINE years since I quit.

After a 16 year, multi pack a day habit.

That's how stressed I am.

That's how bad I could use the random internet support.

Please.

I can't afford it financially, physically, or otherwise.

Remind me it's not worth it.

🙏😭

i knew that smoking is bad. I knew it ruins my lungs lowers my gym gains. I knew its expensive, smells like shit, i knew it ruins my skin. I knew all of that but i never wanted to stop. Recently i fell out with two very close friends. I used to smoke with them all the time. Before work, after work on the weekends. We always said we need to stop smoking.
Since our argument and our fallout i pulled through, just to prove that its not that hard and that im better. Currently on week 3, with lots more money, lots more time and lots more energy proving absolutely nothing to noone. Im still glad i did it

Hi all, i am going to write as it comes to me so apologies if this is a drag to read. Although I don't blame movies-shows or any other media form for why I started smoking but as a fairly young individual (M23) who started at 18 I have realised that smoking for me in college was such a big part of my personality and honestly in hindsight I realise also the role of it making me feel as if I have a certain persona attached to it played ( as cringe as that is, this subconscious reason is something I only realised recently).

Just to illustrate, being sad and grieving with a smoke alone always felt better than being without one always. ( This is still something I consider a trigger point and do need advice on)

Aside from this, peers-studies-parties etc have their own role to play.

Now post graduation although as a lawyer so much of my circle continues to smoke and I am noone to say anything about that, but my own health is a reason why I wish to quit and unlike many who have a lot of willpower, I am susceptible to making compromise in order to feel the gratification.

I only wanted to write about a certain thing but I realise this has sort of become a whole story. My main point ig would be that how do you deal with all the influences around you related to smoking? I see the media with a character smoking and I switch to an instant gratification perspective, my colleague casually asks me one is fine, I am not able to put my point forth and rather succumb to its only one.

Tldr + main question -

1) Essentially as someone exposed to a lot of smoking influences around him how do I become strong headed enough to not fall for it.

2) Is there a significant issue with smoking only when drinking approaches ( i have very strong association to having fun with both involved especially on weekends etc, something of a pattern i have created through my college years)

3) in case you have reached till this point one last thing, with all the pessimism around how the world is rn and my own nihilistic tendencies, how to convince yourselves in weak moments that smoking is not it. ( Essentially a big problem for me as I don't have an external reason to quite but rather a desire to do so).

It's only been 1 week since I quit but this is the nth attempt I am making and I want to take this one seriously so any help would be great! Apologies if my articulation was weak or if I have dragged this for longer than needed. Thanks!!

So today I went to the doc here in London told him I want to quit smoking and he didn't give me any options just prescriptions for funk knows what to stick on myself, inhale and chew. Yes, NRT. Why the big push for NRT does it actually work or when you're off them or do you go back to smoking? Is it like a band aid?

I want to stop smoking but I don't want to fill myself up with more sh!t than I already have for twenty years. Doc said this is clean nicotine but isn't nicotine a poison and I've already been poisoning myself ? Had a mate on patches who had a relapse, smoked for three days drunk and forgot he was still putting patches on and had a massive heartattack so that alone scares me about patches in case it happens to me. I don't drink but still.

I read a lot about this Allen Carr book and am curious but before I order it and reading from people on reddit has anyone who has read it failed? Like people who didn't understand the book or what was it that didn't work it' s an old book is it still relevent today? Some famous people quit using it I read the reviews any substance to this book?

Help me out here the tabacco industry is huge business but so is the quit industry.

I smoke since I am 14 I am now 54
Any advice ? I smoke 1 pack a day
Thank You

So I’m bout to start my day with a study session and job applications at the library but they are not open yet so I rolled a blizzy I want to not do this all the time I know I should just stop but it’s not that easy I can just be making excuses but somebody tell me something