Don't Quit Smoking! Immediately Part III

The Ultimate Stage – Staying off

Hey, are you still with me?? Good. You have made it.

The changes you feel:

You will find a lot of changes in you. Improvements mostly. You feel more …umm.. let’s say Able. You have more stamina, you can walk faster, you cough less, perhaps your palpitations have stopped, you feel better with yourself….

Medically, there are a thousand ways in which you have helped yourself and others.

One laughable change that I noticed was change in my body odor . Funny, try sniffing your armpits and notice the difference.

Now What??

Now you have to protect yourself against a relapse. There is nothing much new to this. The keystones are the same as those for Strengthening Your Resolve.

There are likely to be some psychological effects e.g. depression, anxiety, mood disorder, increased appetite, maybe weight gain etc. but if you have prepared your grounds well, you will be able to overcome these.

If you have consulted a counselor/ friend/ medical worker, continue reporting your progress to them. You will find them co-operative, understanding and encouraging. If you are using any medicines / substitutes, do so under medical supervision and your doctor will wean you off them slowly.

What you really need at this tentative stage is the environment. You need to be around people who don’t smoke, who don’ tolerate smoke, who don’t even tolerate the smell of smoke. You need to be in no-smoking zones.

Also, this is a very good time to begin some aerobic exercises or better still Yoga. Sounds funny, huh? But the truth is, the worst times to control are the ones when you are by yourself. When you are with others, you can stay off. There are enough excuses as well as your pride to keep you off. But alone is the testing time.

This is when you need to occupy yourself with Physical Exercises.  The reason – you can reach out to smoke when you are reading or watching TV, but you won’t if you are working out.

I never said that quitting is easy. Its hard, very hard. But since you know that by now, you are prepared for it.

Also, now you begin to notice the smell of smoke. You will find yourself getting intolerant of cigarette smoke.

You will notice how, if someone smokes in your apartment or office, the smell can linger on for DAYS.  It is also the time to turn into an evangelist and induce others to stop smoking.

Don't Quit Smoking! Immediately

“How to stop smoking? Hey, it’s the easiest thing in the world, I have done it a hundred times”….. So goes the hoary old joke. It brings a smile from some, a frown from the others and hacking cough from the smokers.

It is no joke for the smokers, however they may smile at it. At heart every smoker wants to stop. Many of them are knowledgeable enough to know how, but can’t quit the fags because the habit is too deeply ingrained.

A) What won’t work?

Gradually decreasing it.
Buddy, the nicotine won’t let you quit. It is too powerful an adversary and too cunning for you. You will find the gradual decrement plan going fine, until the day you have an excuse to forget it (tension, overwork, circumstances, party etc.).

Depending on medicines.
Medicines only help to reduce the craving. But seriously, do you smoke only when the urge hits you? Isn’t it true that most of the time you smoke casually, whether there is a physical urge or not?

Talking continuously about it.
While you may think that it will help to keep the issue the uppermost in your mind, it will most probably lead to you being ridiculed in case you fail to quit. Also, words being cheap, it will begin to sound like empty boast.

Nicotine substitutes.
These are substitutes. They aren’t really the solution. Sooner or later you will revert to the real nicotine.

B) So, What will work?

Well, that’s what this article is about

1) Strengthen your resolve
First of all, I thank and congratulate you on having come so far with me. It shows that there is hope for you yet .  You have already proved that you can take tough talk and are determined to go through with it. That’s the first step.

Next, Analyze your smoking pattern, How many in a day? How often? When do you really have the urge (usually on waking up, after meals or generally after consuming anything orally)? When do you smoke maximum (with friends, alone, with drinks, under stress etc)

Number three, list down your reasons for a) smoking, and b) wanting to quit. I am a big advocate of putting things down on paper. It shows a commitment.

Number four, take someone into confidence. A friend, a family member, a medical worker or, best of all, a sympathetic ex-smoker.

These steps are keystones (preparations) for the big event. The only thing is that the “big event” is not a one off. It is a continuous obsession.

2) Back to basics
Now let’s revert to the point A) above. I was less than generous when I said definitely that these things won’t work. These things do help, specially reducing consumption. Every cigarette less means approximately 5 minutes more to live. Also, it helps to strengthen your resolve, which is the first step.

You see, archaic though it sounds, Will is a sure shot solution. So, unless you strengthen it, you will most likely fail. Why? - Remember that I said ‘Will’ and NOT ‘Will Power’ – They are different, 'Will Power' implies a struggle, where as using your ‘Will’, implies that it’s going to be easy.
Let me explain:

Do you need will power to smoke? NO
Do you need will power to eat your favorite Ice-cream? NO
Now to do one of the two above activities, is easy because it is your ‘Will’ and NOT ‘Will Power’.


The steps in the “won’t work” topic are generally the excuses that frequent relapsers offer.  But they are helpful in their own way.

What is important is not only the steps leading up to it, but maintaining the tempo once you have reached the crucial stage of ZERO cigarettes a day.

3) Penultimate stage – Quitting it
By the time you have worked on stages 1 and 2 above, you would be feeling strong enough to risk quitting it. As the experts suggest, you should decide on a date. NOT like a ‘new year’s resolution’ - More like a new Quit Smoking Revolution! You’re the leader of the campaign and then just go for it!