ex smokers

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I've gone through long periods of not smoking but I enjoy it in certain circumstances, I lead a healthy lifestyle and don't see the problem with enjoying a cigarette or a cigar. Sure, I could do with that extra lung capacity when I'm running from the law but the mental sharpness I'm affored by the myriad chemicals in a cigarette more than compensates for that. It's a noble pastime that gets a very bad press. :)
 
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i started reading the book and everthing i read was 100% true...

then yesterday when i woke up I thought lets give it ago, im at home, something to do etc etc..

Okay where to start here. Oh yeah. Dont quit smoking whilst reading the book. This is not the Alan Carr way. You continue to smoke whilst you read. He insists you continue to smoke (unless already stopped). He removes all the illusion then and towards the end of the book Alan asks you to smoke your last cigarette.

In other words. Your doing it wrong :)
Start over. Read the book. Smoke as your normally would. You will then understand smoking and eventually after a few days reach the end of the book. then there it is. You smoke your last ciggy and it's all over .Quitting before you reached the end of the book is a bad mistake. How on earth are you to understand all the illusions about smoking if your not actually smoking.

This of course assuming your reading the same book.
Book title: Easyway To Stop Smoking
 
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Soldato
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I do want to quit before my health is so terrible that I have no choice...

Im not like one of these I must quit now or else people but sure I want to quit.

I realise and understand he tells you not to quit whilst reading the book but randomly without evening thinking about it I knew it was wrong of me to ever have started smoking and therefore felt the need to stop, so tried, however just lasted the day...

I am now thinking of attending his clinic but I am confused at this precise moment because I am not sure if I need to... I am really trying to think about what made me smoke this morning and all I can put it down to is having nothing else to do...but even then I think thats more of an excuse then anything...

So I will now think about finishing the rest of the book and seeing how I get on or alternatively re reading the entire book..

Unfortunately (again im not sure if this is an excuse) I have been off work for 3 weeks as Im ill with some horrid chest infection on top of which I start a new job come monday, so would you say thats the right time to quit? But then as alan says, there is never a right time, you just do it, because you free yourself from the trap...

so im going round in circles here allbeit I know I would like to stop smoking...
 
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I'd suggest you forget about trying to quit and read the book cover to cover. It's important you understand the book before quitting. Have no illusions that smokers smoke for one reason only and it's not boredom, stress or any other of the lame reasons people give. If you read the full book you will understand this.

The worst mistake you can make is to just read the end of the book. In otherwords the final instructions.

Good luck
 
Soldato
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I'd suggest you forget about trying to quit and read the book cover to cover. It's important you understand the book before quitting. Have no illusions that smokers smoke for one reason only and it's not boredom, stress or any other of the lame reasons people give. If you read the full book you will understand this.
Truth
 
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The first step is actually wanting to quit so at least you have that down, i think its probably trying to find whatever works for you, try patches/gum and see if they work for you- although don't forget you still need the determination to see it through
 
Soldato
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hmm not sure why i sparked up again, have to get my mind sorted...

i was playing with the cravings like telling myself is this it? surely the cravings can try harder etc this was all yesterday but today, BANG!! I just sparked up...so have decided to finish reading the book as technically I havent finished it yet and then try again, might even re read it again before attempting it again..

cheers guys
 
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The first step is actually wanting to quit so at least you have that down, i think its probably trying to find whatever works for you, try patches/gum and see if they work for you- although don't forget you still need the determination to see it through

As much as I once believed you have to want to quit for you to actually quit, honestly it's utter ******. All smokers secretively wish they never smoked. To prove this ask them if they think it's okay if there children smoked. Ask them if they wish they never smoked in the first place. I'm sure they will all agree on the same answers. The truth is you don't have to want to quit. You just have to understand the subtle but very powerfull trap in what an addiction to nictotine is.

The only time you are in control is the time before you become addicted.

All smokers. Every single one of them on planet earth smoke for one reason only and that is to feed that addiction to nicotine. Don't be fooled by any excuses to do with stress, relaxation or because they say they enjoy it. Its bullcrap. Don't be fooled by your own excuses such as boredom. Face upto the fact that you are addicted to nicotine and thats why you sparked up after 24 hours. There are no other excuses.
 
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I had a moment of clarity when after yet another cold had gone to my chest and I was hacking up pints of phlem at 3am in the morning, I just though, what the hell are you doing to yourself you bloody fool?

www.whyquit.com has lots of superb articles, its what helped me stop 3 years ago now.

I now realize I was a nicotine addict, I will always be a nicotine addict & im always just 1 cigarette away from being a full blown 30+ a day addict again.
 
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Soldato
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When I quit i used to have chronic indigestion, i was on industrial strength tablets to counter it, within 2 weeks of stopping it had cleared up.

I used to have terrible rashes on my back which cleared up within a week of stopping.

Theres more than just monetary and your lungs that these things affect.
 
Soldato
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As much as I once believed you have to want to quit for you to actually quit, honestly it's utter ******. All smokers secretively wish they never smoked. To prove this ask them if they think it's okay if there children smoked. Ask them if they wish they never smoked in the first place. I'm sure they will all agree on the same answers. The truth is you don't have to want to quit. You just have to understand the subtle but very powerfull trap in what an addiction to nictotine is.

The only time you are in control is the time before you become addicted.

All smokers. Every single one of them on planet earth smoke for one reason only and that is to feed that addiction to nicotine. Don't be fooled by any excuses to do with stress, relaxation or because they say they enjoy it. Its bullcrap. Don't be fooled by your own excuses such as boredom. Face upto the fact that you are addicted to nicotine and thats why you sparked up after 24 hours. There are no other excuses.

there are bits of this post that seem contrived and some that are common knowledge, but the part in which you state that you don't need to want to give up to actually give up is probably the most crap i have heard all week, and i browse this forum everyday, i have heard a lot of crap, and i chew gum.

if someone doesn't want to give up then they wont , lesson over.
 
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The first step is actually wanting to quit so at least you have that down, i think its probably trying to find whatever works for you, try patches/gum and see if they work for you- although don't forget you still need the determination to see it through
I think the first step is getting the right approach - it is not quitting. It is not giving up.

"Quitting", "giving up" and all similar words and phrases are about failing. When someone looks at it in that way, they are making smoking their goal, not stopping smoking. They are saying "I am going to try to achieve smoking. If I don't smoke, I am failing." It is not just a wrong frame of mind, it's completely opposite to the right frame of mind.

Smoking is a particularly stupid way to take a really quite pointless drug:

You don't get much of a good effect from the drug.
It's highly addictive.
The drug delivery method does you a great deal of harm and lowers the quality of your life.
The drug delivery system poisons anyone within about 20 feet of you, inflicting harm on them and possibly killing them in a particularly nasty way.
It makes you smell foul.
It's very expensive, though admittedly cheaper than many drug habits.

So you're paying a lot of money to be a smelly drug addict who harms other people and blights their own body.

This is a goal to aim for? Not doing this is failure? Really?
 
Soldato
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full strength patches then nicotine gum and then i developed ocd but atleast i've reduced lung cancer, cancer cancer cancer cancer 1234.
 
Soldato
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As much as I once believed you have to want to quit for you to actually quit, honestly it's utter ******

this is the brainwashing I take it as I have heard many smokers including myself say "to quit you have to want to quit"...

I agree with your statement that if you really could understand deeply the concept of smoking then this alone would even make the "oh i enjoy it" smokers quit instantly...

So are you saying the reason I sparked up was due to the nicotine cravings? and not the brainwashing?

Having read everyones comments here I envy the fact ppl say after they finished "the easy way" they just stopped and it was like there was nothing to ever give up in the first place...I had the night off yesterday and admittedly did not have the courage to finish the book off, I will though tonight as the way I am seeing it was Alan always encourages you to smoke whilst reading the book as by the time you finish the book the nightmare ends...

Fingers crossed...
 
Soldato
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I did patches for 5 months because they got out me out of the habit. TBH i think people should try cold turkey first time, its an eye opener to how your brain and body work.

Stress situations are interesting, they are a lot more stressful without fags but you feel so much better after they pass for coping without ciggies.

Boredom is easy to overcome, just go for a walk/run, play sport so you are so tired you cant even use a mouse, just find little things to do. If you were like me you probably lived on frozen pizza etc so now i spend an hour or so cooking a good dinner at nights.

The bottom line is get out of the chair and do something thats not involved in sitting around (says me who is sat in a chair, waiting for the england game though).
 
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Having read everyones comments here I envy the fact ppl say after they finished "the easy way" they just stopped and it was like there was nothing to ever give up in the first place...I had the night off yesterday and admittedly did not have the courage to finish the book off, I will though tonight as the way I am seeing it was Alan always encourages you to smoke whilst reading the book as by the time you finish
I smoked my last cigarette 3/4 of the way through the book.
 
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this is the brainwashing I take it as I have heard many smokers including myself say "to quit you have to want to quit"...

My comments are a bit hit and miss. I probably should have explained better and not contradicted myself as I did. Wanting to quit is not the answer to permanently quitting. Millions of smokers want to quit. Millions wish they never started. They do quit the moment they stub the last one out, yet they still get those urges to light another one up and so on. It's removing the desire to smoke that is the key to becoming a non smoker. This is what separates smokers and non smokers.

Good luck.
 
Soldato
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I understand what you're saying about smokers being addicted to nicotine not smoking, but I find it hard to understand why you cannot accept that all people and all situations are not the same. I began smoking in my early twenties after a series of panic attacks. Whenever I started to feel nervous I had a cigarette. At a good time, I could go weeks, months without one, then end up smoking 10/20 a day when I was stressed. How is that a nicotine addiction? Answer: It's not - it's a habit.

What I had to do was learn to deal with the panic in a more positive way, and not rely on an emotional crutch to get over it. when I did that, i stopped reaching for the cigarettes and it became easy. Not wishing to offend you, because I can see the sense in a lot of what you say - but it really is being completely narrow minded to say that all smokers are addicted to nicotine, not smoking. I accept that this is most often the case, but it's not always - there are many more deep rooted reasons as to why some people smoke, and so wanting to give up is a fundamental part of beginning the process.
 
Soldato
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I smoke, not addicted though. I sometimes go without a cig for months then just spark up the odd one. For me it's a socialable thing and I've been at it for over 3years now. I just find it when I'm bored or just want a little think time.

Will power helps a lot, just try wake up in the morning and say to yourself, the next time I smoke, I'm going to die just a little bit younger. :(
 
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