Conor once bubbled...
...
Having said all that preceded, I am considering quitting myself...
<snip>
Any opinions or reccomendations from the recent smokers on the list ?
Yes!
Preparation: Talk to your significant other and the other people that you care about. Explain to them that you're going to be a jerk for a few days. Tell them to expect that you're going to be irritable, paranoid, and overall not a nice guy for about a week. Tell them that if you are to do this successfully, you're going to need their support. They're going to need to overlook behavior that's not normally acceptable. Paranoia and irritibility is normal when breaking an addiction... And people know this... But I can't begin to express what a stumbling block this is for most people! It's consistently taken too lightly, and screws up about half of the people trying to quit. A situation gets heated quickly, paranoia sets in, relationships suffer, and it gets really easy to question "why you're doing this to yourself," and next thing you know, the solution... A nice, tasty smoke... Is sitting there ready to answer the call. For me, more than half of my battle was psychological, and the additional stress on the relationships with the people around me was much of the hurdle of quitting smoking. My suggestion is to develop a "safe word" with the people who love you, and the ones that, in a real serious situation, you might listen to first. Make it "Belize" or "decompress" or something similarly related to the sport that you love. Tell them to say the word to you when a situation is out of control and you stop making sense. They are, under no circumstances, allowed to say anything about smoking "i.e.: Dad, are you acting this way because you quit smoking?" That's serious fuel to the paranoid addict! Instead, have them say to you, "Dad... Belize..." As silly as it sounds, it will get you to realize that you're brain is fogged and muddled with chemicals and that you need to sit it out for a while and reconsider your anger and paranoia. It can be seriously hard to do when your brain is thinking that everyone's "so stupid."
Leaving for a week while you quit is a good idea... It helps to prevent relationship problems, but it does not solve the problem... No doubt you will still write emails or place phone calls to your loved ones, and the addict's mind still causes problems at that point. Additionally, there is a sort of "cloud" that hangs over the addict's mind that "I was bad, and I need to be separated..." There's also fear that sets in that says, "In a week I have to go home... I'm having a tough time quitting here, how am I going to handle this at home?"
That said, there is some value to making a temporary, radical change in your environment, which helps to change the stimuli that triggers the urge to smoke. For example, many smokers enjoy a regular smoke on the way to work... And if you are away on a business trip or whatever, the "drive to work" isn't the same... And thus there is no "trigger mechnaism." However, there is a new problem in that you tend to believe, "Hey, if I'm having such a tough time NOW, what's it going to be like when I get home in a week and have to face that stimulus??"
My point is that it can be a double-edged sword, and it has both it's positive aspects and negative. My suggestion? Quit smoking. The positives and negatives of quitting while away from home are, to me, a wash. I don't see a reason to believe that you'd be any more successful one way or another.
The Process: Imagine that these chemicals in your body are like oil spilled on the ground... You need to clean it up, but it simply doesn't come up that easily. You can scrub all you want, but there still seems to be a stain there. The only thing I really know of that's going to get it off completely is time. However... And if you don't take anything else I've said seriously, take this to heart... Hydrate! You need to consume between 3 and 5 liters of water every day. Rather than make it out to be a goal, simply have a 1 liter bottled water in your hand every second of every day. Let me tell you why:
The direct impact that water will have on your craves is three-fold... Firstly, I stand as a direct testament to the fact that if you stay over-hydrated, your craves are weakened considerably. Chemically speaking, you are diluting the chemicals that your body produces that trigger the urge to smoke... And with those diluted, the "crave" seems much less powerful. Second, the radical and powerful action of hydrating the body gives it the fluid that it needs to flush the nicotine more quickly. You should find yourself urinating several times a day, and the urine should be a very light color; almost water. This will help flush the chemicals directly responsible for your craves out as quickly as possible, reducing the amount of time that you will experience withdrawl symptoms. Within reason, the more you hydrate, the quicker you will get through detox. Lastly, having water on-hand all the time and sipping constantly gives your body an awesome substitute for the action of smoking. You are now doing something with your hands, and it's orally fixated. If you crave, you can drink, and your body does experience a good bit of the same satisfying actions which reduce the crave. Remember, your craves pass in a matter of minutes no matter what you do... But with the water, your mind begins to associate the water with the satisfaction of the crave rather than a smoke... And the detox becomes easier to handle. Again: 3-5 liters of water a day (or even more if you live in an arid area) have a tremendous impact on the actions of detox.*
Expectation: Here's what you can expect, if you follow my advice above...
1. Expect a fight with the people that you most care about. Apologize in advance, and remember that their "safe word" means to "chill out." They are not abusing it.
2. The physical detox symptoms last anywhere from three days to a week... Shorter if you super-hydrate, and longer if you don't.
3. If you are thinking that this is "all B.S." and right in the middle of quitting you think you can
just have one and nobody will ever know, remember that that is not the voice of reason. You're doing this for
you, not anyone else... And certainly, you will know that you snuck a smoke.
4. Expect a catastrophe. In order to express itself, your mind will look and maybe even cause a catastrophe. You will have the tendency to blow everything out of proportion. Remember that it's advisable that before you freak, you should sit for five minutes and drink your water and think about it before reacting.
5. Think long-term. What do you want to be like in a month?
6. Do not believe that the craves do not go away. They most certainly do go away. The physical craves go away in three days to a week, depending on how well you hydrated yourself. The psychological thought process of, "Man, I could really use a smoke... Why did I ever give those things up? I miss them..." goes away in 30 to 90 days, depending on whether you believe the studies done at Harvard or Yale.
7. If you get into a situation where you are seriously thinking of smoking, call me first. PM me if you need the number.
8. If you get into a situation where you smoked, call me. I will not abuse you. I completely understand. But I will help you to "get back on the train" and pick up where you left off so that the time spent detoxing will not have been wasted.
9. Reward yourself. What cool new piece of dive gear have you recently thought you could use? Set a goal... I suggest the two-week mark, since by that time, the physical crave is long gone, and indeed, nearly forgotten... But the "slow burn" psychological addiction is still dangerous. No doubt, at two weeks you will feel triumphant yet exhausted and will need a little "pick-me-up." Reward yourself with a much-deserved vacation or that new piece of dive gear. The price doesn't matter... If the thing is $5, then the money that you've saved by not smoking will pay for that new piece of gear in one day. If the thing is $10,000, then the money that you've saved by not smoking will pay for that thing in five years. It doesn't matter what you spend; buy it for yourself. Make it significant, whatever it is. Wow yourself. You want to get home with it or get home after it and think, "Holy smokes... Lookie what I did..." You need to see just how serious the ramifications of quitting smoking are!
10. You can do it. There are times when you will be filled with self-doubt and shame. I promise you that some of the very least capable people in the world have quit smoking successfully. You really can do it, even if you don't think that you can. You can do it.
Do you remember my analogy of "spilled oil?" Super-hydrating is helpful, and in all honesty, I think my personal "big ticket" for why I was able to quit so painlessly. However, if you'd like to add a little soap to the "shower from within," then email me at
SeaJay@LCscuba.com and I can put you in touch with the right people who can help you through diet to achieve a good, solid "cleansing" of the body.
Congratulations on the decision to quit smoking.
* On a side note, I once had someone tell me that super-hydrating wasn't healthy... They told me that "the kidneys can only handle so much." While that's obviously true, 3-5 liters is very much within limits. Do not believe that you're doing anything unhealthy by super-hydrating... It's quite the opposite.
