Tobackoff! 2A : Handling Withdrawal

One possible solution : pre-empt it !

Except for a brief period of two months in 2002 (which wouldn't even pass as a dress rehearsal), the truth is that I never really made a serious attempt to quit smoking. And the reason was simply this - that the putative withdrawal symptoms were so intimidating that I didn't think I'd be able to do it. So, when I finally decided that I WAS going to quit, no matter what, it was clear that I had to find a way around the problem.

A few weeks ago, I hinted at the solution, I'm not sure how many of you caught on to that ? Smoking was so difficult to shed because it was so comprehensively associative. So the ticket was to cut out all the associations. In other words, I decided that I needed to introduce the withdrawal symptoms BEFORE I actually gave up smoking !

After looking inwards for a couple of weeks, I developed a pain in the neck, and the following touchpoints :

Part 1 : The Classic Morning Cigarette (aka - Boss, if I don't do this, I Can't GO !)

Part 2 : The Social Cigarette (aka - Hey chief, join me for a smoke ?)

Part 3 : The Liquid Diet Cigarette, "puff when you quaff" (aka - I smoke only when I drink; but have I mentioned that I drink ALL the Time ?)

Part 4. : The Neuro Cigarette (aka - dude, I'm stressed, I NEED this !)

Part 5. : The Hot Beverage Cigi (aka - I don't know why, but a Cigarette tastes so much better with tea and coffee !

Over three months, I simply laid siege to all of the above. Made like there was no association. Refused to light up DURING, kept myself going with the knowledge that I could light up AFTER. And so I endured a week of constipation; several weeks when my rum n coke tasted like mud; left my tea and coffee half-finished; attacked my fingernails instead of my Classic Milds when I got stressed; and got ridiculed when I refused to join my friends.

But it was well worth it. It worked. You see, I had been through it all before - so when I actually stopped smoking, all the usual symptoms were already old hat. It really was as easy as that !

I'd be lying if I were to say that I felt nothing. My hands felt empty all the time, so I got myself a jar of Pond's cold cream and kept massaging 'em - I was the slipperiest-fingered guy on the planet in those days !!! I got mild headaches, nothing debilitating, just a general feeling of dullness - so I listened to music, trawled the Net, did stuff that didn't need concentration - I let my pleasure centres take over and tell my brain when all systems were go. I even pretended that the inhalers my doctor prescribed were my daily fixes of nicotine ! No smoker ever took a drag with th kind of pleasure that I inhaled from the business end of my Zerostat VT Spacer !

But as I said: it worked. So that made it all worthwhile. It also proved that all you need is determination - "willpower" is a word that has been given way too much importance in connection with this habit.

If you want to do it, you can. And you can believe me,because you know I've been there.