Looking to kick your nicotine habit? Try these techniques.
Smoking a cigarette
Photo by Luka Malic on Unsplash
My story with Nicotine
Believe it or not, I used to be a half-a-pack-a-day cigarette smoker. My habits started when I was 16 and lingered on until I was 24. I used nicotine as a coping mechanism - both for anxiety release and society chameleon powers. It became a ritual that felt so interwoven into my daily life. Cigarettes in the morning on the way to work. Cigarettes at lunch. Cigarettes when I was stressed. Cigarettes when I was drinking alcohol. Cigarettes when I was celebrating… you get the idea. So I lived deeply attached to this nicotine smoking identity.
When it was finally time to quit, I gave myself a timeline. I said, “By the time I turn 25 I will quit smoking cigarettes.” I set this goal at age 23 and passively kept it in the back of my mind, but I clung on longer and longer to my packs of cigarettes. As the consumption fueled on, I started feeling sicker and sicker: directly after smoking and in my day to day life. I was having issues with my thyroid and general energy management. I struggled with insomnia and other mental health conditions. With my first attempt at reducing my nicotine consumption I first started by switching to smoking JUULs. This unfortunately caused me to consume WAY more nicotine than when I was just smoking cigarettes, and instead of going outside to smoke, using my vape allowed me to smoke anytime and anywhere - which actually fueled my addiction more. Instead of facing the problem directly I was finding ways to evade it.
Enough was finally enough.
Finally I reached my breaking point. My body was too inflamed to go on any longer. I knew if I didn’t change something I would be setting myself up for disaster health in the long run. I picked a particularly unremarkable Tuesday in late 2019 and committed to my goal of quitting smoking - and it happened to be before my 25th birthday! That day became a remarkable testament of the health journey I was ready to embark on.
Since quitting smoking it’s been an incredible part of my work as a life coach and hypnotherapist to help others achieve more balance and health in their life. Although it was challenging for me to quit smoking, I knew I had no other choice, and it happened to be one of the best choices I ever made in my life. And I know you’re ready to take that leap in your life too.
Smoking Cessation Strategies
Below is a list of strategies to help you quit smoking. They are all viable options, but take different levels of consistency and involvement. At the end of the day, it has to be YOUR choice and YOUR choice alone when deciding to quit smoking cigarettes. I would recommend working with your healthcare provider, a mental health therapist, and/or a hypnotherapist when creating a plan to eliminate nicotine.
Wean yourself off.
Weaning yourself off is the most straightforward and one of the safer ways to remove nicotine from your daily habits. For example, if you smoke a half a pack (10 cigarettes) a day you could wean yourself off slowly over the course of a few weeks. It could look something like this:
Day 1: 10 cigarettes
Day 2: 9 Cigarettes
Day 4: 8 CIgarettes
Day 6: 6 Cigarettes
Day 7: 3 Cigarettes
Day 9: 1 cigarette
Day 10: 0 cigarettes
I’d say the greatest challenge with this method is the possibility of slipping back into the habit of smoking your original number of cigarettes. It can also be scary committing to only one or two cigarettes a day while weaning off. But if you have the discipline and conviction this can be a safe and consistent way to break the habit.
Join a support group.
Whether you are comfortable going in person or attending virtually, a quick Google search will provide you a list of support groups to aid your smoking cessation journey. It could be very beneficial to speak with a group of individuals who also understand the struggle of maintaining a troubling habit like smoking cigarettes. You can also attend a support group after you’ve actually quit as a way to maintain a sense of community and accountability. You sharing your quitting story could even become inspiring to someone else on a similar journey!
Quit cold turkey.
This is the method I personally chose to finally quit smoking. I decided one day I would quit and then I did. I recognize there are pros and cons to each method listed here. The greatest con with cold turkey is the general difficulty to rely on willpower and discipline alone, especially if you have had issues quitting in the past. But if you feel confident in your abilities to abstain from smoking, this method will be the quickest way to detox the nicotine out of your system. When I quit smoking cold turkey I made sure I had friends to keep me accountable and new ways to fill the time when I would normally be smoking. For example: I would drink water, chew bubble gum, go for a walk, or do deep breaths when I felt a craving come on.
Work with a hypnotherapist.
Hypnotherapy is a fantastic tool to help you on your smoking cessation journey. In fact, one of the highest referrals hypnotherapists receive from other health care providers is to help with smoking cessation. We are highly trained in a variety of methods that can help the client reach their nicotine-free goals with less stress and more support. By utilizing hypnosis you are able to access the parts of your subconscious mind where the nicotine habits and beliefs around smoking are stored. Once these parts of you are addressed we use these methods in a customized approach to produce rapid results.
If you are interested in using hypnotherapy as a tool for smoking cessation you can book a session here, or you can email me at jenna.borrelli.life@gmail.com to learn more information.
If you want to quit, the choice has to come from you.
Regardless of the methods you choose to support your smoking cessation journey, the desire to quit has to come from inside you. If you are trying to quit because someone else told you, you aren’t going to make it very far. There is plenty of research and evidence behind reducing or completely quitting nicotine consumption. If you are ready to take the plunge but need extra support, I would be happy to assist you in this journey!
