Originally Posted by
trekkie820
I was smoking a pack and a half a day for 5 years. I decided to quit when I was 20. What worked for me was psyching my self up for weeks by thinking about how I was going to deal with cravings, what I would do with the money I saved, and most importantly when and how I was going to quit. The hardest part is breaking the mental addiction.
I stopped on a friday night, had my last cigarette before bed, and woke up saturday and didn't smoke. You really need to buckle down and do it. After about a month, I was fine. I haven't smoked more than 5 cigarettes since then, which was 6 years ago. I am the type who was either smoking a pack and a half a day or not smoking at all. It was impossible for me to cut back slowly. Best way is cold turkey, hands down.
That certainly worked for me too. I don't know that it necessarily works for everyone though. I smoked 1.5-2 packs/day (Kools, Camels, Luckies- UGH!) for 13 years. I had tried cutting back gradually many, many times, all to no avail. One day, I just said now or never and just stopped. Period. My wife said I was hell to live with for about six weeks, and then it was over. That was in 1981. Haven't smoked since. For those who've never tried to stop cold turkey, I'd highly recommend it, but commit yourself to doing it. It doesn't take any tricks, really- just buck up and know that you're going to be miserable for a month or two. You'll get through it. BTW, cold turkey means just that- no fake cigs, no lozenges, no nico patches, no drugs. Just plain quit. And tell everyone you know that you've done it. Peer pressure is an enormously strong motivator for most people.