How I quit smoking — breaking a habit of 09 years
It was tough, but not impossible.
Let me tell you about myself. I am 28 years of old, completed my bachelor’s in Computer Science and having four years of career in user experience design in some software firms in Bangladesh.
I was never a chain smoker. On an average day, I smoked around 5 to 7 cigarettes. I continued this habit for nine years and in this period I smoked around 16,425 sticks (5 per day X 365 days in a year X 9 years) of cigarettes. Which is equivalent to 0.2 million Taka or 2400$.
I don’t smoke anymore. But it didn’t happen overnight. I failed numerous times, I failed hard but I kept trying. Now, I don’t have any urge to smoke another one. I am not a doctor nor a specialist. I will just share the experience during my journey.
Why do you want to give up smoking?
During my smoking career, I found some disturbances in my daily life. I suffered from acidity problems, along with pale skin, black spots on the edges of my teeth, regular coughing problems, and above of all I felt like losing memories over the period of time. Also, I live in a taboo society where smoking is prohibited. Whenever I entered home just after smoking a cigarette, I didn’t feel proud of me. I felt like a thief who didn’t want to be seen while going to his bedroom passing his family members. All these reasons were adequate for me in giving up smoking.
Admit it — Quitting smoking won’t happen overnight
When I first thought of giving up this habit overnight, it didn’t work. Actually, the result was worse than I thought. Just after one or two days, I got even more addicted to it. As I haven’t built the smoking habit overnight, it won’t go away in that way. I got my very first lesson that I need patience.
Deal with the anger issues
When I stopped myself to inhale another puff of the poisonous air of cigarettes in a very short period of time, I got some really bad anger issues. I was losing my temper now and then. Especially with my closest ones. But once I had a puff of a burning cigarette, I was completely a different person. I was cool and calm. And to my deepest fear, I realized that cigarette was taking control of my emotion. If my body failed to find a certain amount of nicotine in a certain timeframe, it started to lose control. I realized that I needed a proper plan to decrease the dependency on nicotine. So, I slowly started to increase the time gap between inhaling cigarettes.
Find some replacements
There were times when I didn’t smoke for two or three months straight and suddenly I went on a trip with some of my close friends and came back with the habit of smoking cigarettes. It happened a couple of times. After some failed iterations, I found ways to stay away from the bad habit. The first one is, I build the habit of drinking coffee. I enjoy the awake state that one cup of expresso offers just after drinking it. I keep some sugar-free gums (Trident is my favorite) with me. Whenever I feel the urge to smoking, I started chewing the gums. Also, I opened a monthly DPS in a private bank which is equivalent to the amount of money I wasted on smoking cigarettes each month. It helped me, seriously. When I pay the installments in the first week of every month, it reminds me of the wonderful decision I made to change my life.
Do some physical activity
The first three weeks after giving up smoking were really hard. I tried to keep myself engaged in various activities.
When a person decides to quit smoking, he has also taken one step towards the willingness of health. During my days of quitting, I walked extra miles whenever I got chances. I did some freehand exercises and still, I do that. There is nothing great about the feeling of inhaling fresh air with healthy lungs.
I almost forgot how I dealt with my anger issues, how I celebrated my happy moments, how I dealt with the saddest moments, how I made it through the tough times without puffing cigarettes. My emotions were so dependent on the mighty nicotine. The urge to reacquiring my emotions was the most motivating part of the quitting journey.
End of the day, it’s our life. We choose how we will be happy and get along with one’s life. I choose to quit smoking and it made me happy 😊
P.S: With healthy lungs, you can also trek very well. My next destination is Everest Base Camp, wanna join?
