marymoonshine it all comes down to this, I miss your morning kiss...
go you!
you’re awesome : )
How to quit Smoking
It made me
Feel Amazing! 
"I rocked it."
How I did it: I was listening to NPR one day and they had a segment about how quitting smoking can be contagious. I was curious so I listened. After going through all of the bad things smoking does (e.g., filtering one cup of tar through your lungs each year for one pack-a-day smokers), they talked about how it is much more likely to quit if others around you (s.o.'s, colleagues, siblings, etc) also quit. So all of my colleagues from grad school and I decided to quit together and we have been successful in not smoking for over a month now!
So here's a how to (from my point of view... but also influenced by a little statistical data)
1. Find a buddy. Better yet, find a significant other. Statistics show that when you quit with someone else, it increases your chances of being successful. You're 37% (roughly) more likely to quit when quitting with a significan other than when quitting by yourself.
2. Don't take a single drag after you say you're quitting. It is a very slippery slope, so don't risk taking that first step. Even if you are soooo pissed off at your boss, or no matter how much alcohol you've consumed, don't do it!
3. Go to all the places you usually smoke (your patio, your car, your friend's house, your bathtub.... uh, wherever it is), and don't smoke there. The more times you pair that place with not smoking, the less you will experience cravings in that location in the future.
That's what I did anyway, and so far, so good.
Lessons & tips: Fun facts from NPR: you know that cough you get in the morning as a smoker? And how it gets better after you smoke your first cigarette for the day? Well that's because smoking kills cilia (little hairs that line your lungs and filter out pollutants), but they start to heal overnight and essentially tickle your lungs in the morning. Smoking your first morning cigarette kills them off again so your cough goes away...
Another fun fact: cravings last approximately 7 minutes. If you can muster the will power to not smoke for 7 minutes, you can hold out forever. The cravings do subside. It's kind of the same procedure behavioral psychologists use to help people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. They expose the patient to something that makes them really anxious, and then encourage them not to engage in the behavior that decreases that anxiety. For OCD patients, this may include hand-washing after touching a door-handle. For smokers, this includes lighting up a cigarette after not having one for a while. The rationale is that anxiety will come on, peak, and then subside after a period of time. So each time you get a craving, remind yourself that it will end shortly, and carry on with your life as a successful non-smoker.
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