any piece of advice is welcome
P.S. Thanks to all the people that have taken their time to help me (and not just me, but others as well). It is much appreciated, and, from what I‘ve read, the „cold turkey“ method seems the most appealing to me. I‘ll quit smoking today, on the 7th of November 2024.
If you don't have the willpower or don't really want to, you will fail. It's nearly all willpower.
I quit by switching to vaping and then working the nicotine level down to nothing and then quitting that. Whatever you decide to do I wish you the best of luck (and stick with it!)
Here's my advice on how to really and actually quit: make the decision to quit, and keep making that decision. Every time you feel yourself thinking "just one more.." remake that decision to quit. This was the only way I was successful. Keep making that decision and keep reminding yourself about your decision. You can do it.
What worked for me was to stop seeing friends that smoked and to go for a run every time I felt like getting a cigarette, instead of getting the cigarette.
You have to want to stop. I smoked 13 years, stopped several times, but the final real stopping was not that hard.
What also worked quite well for me as a crutch were nicotine free cigarettes. I decided I'd smoke as many of those as I wanted. Started with 20 at the first day and it slowly reduced by itself over time, till at one point o completly stopped without even realizing it.
I switched to vaping, then gradually lowered the nicotine levels in my juice over time until I was vaping 0 nic for two months. Then I realized I no longer needed it, and stopped vaping altogether, quitting nicotine for good. This was back when you could get high quality juice sent to you in the mail, though, which is no longer possible, IIRC.
Obligatory TBD Liquids and Blue Dot Vapors, absolute GOAT.
If I can offer you one piece of advice on quitting tobacco it's this: Understand that it may be possible that you don't succeed at quitting on your first attempt. That is okay. Most people don't succeed quitting on their first attempt. What is important is that you keep trying to quit.
There are many different strategies for quitting. Mine involved switching to vaping and mixing my vape juice so that I gradually weened myself off of the Nicotine two years later. Prior to that I tried using Rx Chantix which worked until my prescription ran its course. I also tried the gum with very little success, but that's not to say it won't work for you, it might. Explore your options.
Other people have tried gum and not had it help them. I find it pretty helpful for me so far. I'm now two weeks in and I only chew 2 pieces a day now. Only have it when smelling others' cigarette smoke triggers my cravings. Overall, I'm gonna try to quit the gum by the end of next week.
I will note that I seem to have way easier of a time with nicotine withdrawal than other people I've talked to.
Read or listen to Allen Carr - how to stop smoking. There's an audiobook on torrents.
While I have no personal experience with tobacco addictions, there is an interesting literature review of CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) and MBI (Mindfulness Based Interventions).
I tried quitting a number of times. Not easy, and demoralizing when you fail. You may have to try several times too.
When I finally did quit I had decided to put off my first cigarette in the morning as long as possible, reasoning that sleep was the longest I'd go without nicotine. One day I went the whole day.
A friend quit at the same time as me, using the gum. Six months later she was still using it, and gave up and started smoking again.
Probably helps that I had quit drinking by then as well. Pretty hard to drink and not smoke, for me.
I think it depends what your goal is. If you want a less painful quit wheen yourself off it. If you want to be off them ASAP then cold turkey.
Nicotine patches. It gives your brain what it wants with little to no adverse effects
