How I Quit Smoking for Good: Living Proof that It's Possible

I've often joked that it took me three weeks to get hooked on smoking and the next nine years to quit. But as toxic as cigarettes are to the body and to those around me, perhaps it's less a joke and more a sad testament to how strong the addiction to cigarettes can be. During those nine years I went through endless cycles of quitting and starting, each time insisting that this was the final quit, but it wasn't until several years ago that I finally gave up smoking for good.

Different methods work for different people, and I've tried them all: The patch, the gum, cutting down on the number of cigarettes over time. All of the methods had varying success in the short term, but the only method that worked to help me quit smoking in the long term was abstinence--that is, "cold turkey." I'm the living proof that you can quit smoking for good. All it takes is the kind of dedication that says "no" no matter what excuse or deal your head conjures up to justify a short-term reward.

How I Quit Smoking: Cold Turkey
People who don't understand how hard it can be for habitual smokers to quit laugh when I tell them that cold turkey for me was not unlike the infamous withdrawal scene from the movie Trainspotting when one of the characters locks himself in a room to overcome his heroin addiction. While I'm trying to make a little light of the situation (I didn't actually lock myself in a room for several days), I did experience sweats, tearful depression and was irritable when quitting smoking.

Three or four days in I experienced a pleasant but frustrating observation: My body felt physically healthier, but my mind was still feeling the angst of withdrawal. This split sensation only increased in the coming weeks, and by about the one-month mark I made a startling realization: Most cigarette addiction affects the mind, more specifically, the neurotransmitters in the mind, and that's why it's harder to quit the longer you've been smoking. Patterns in the mind are hard to break. Having smoked off and on for nine years was making it harder on me.