madison zuverink is gearing up for spring.
So around March 7th 2009, I decided that enough was enough and I would finally stop smoking—-FOR GOOD! I had been smoking for over seven years and although I have had numerous quit attempts with accupressure, illnesses, and chantix medication, I could never stop completely. I came to the realization that I would always justify it: whether that I had cut down from the original pack a day amount or that I should wait because “I’m stressed” or “It’s still summer…” or “After New Year’s…”.
Let me tell you, I’ve had cancer in the family, half my friends smoke, some of my family smoke, and it’s always around the house to taunt me. But the change happened in ME this time. I had always quit because of external reasons such as people wanting me to quit, price of cigarettes, the smell, the wheezing and the rest of my health, or worrying about insurance. But I knew these failed in the past so this time, being the science nerd I am, I sat down and really thought about my addiction.
What I recognized then at that moment was-- I had an addiction --and I know it sounds silly—- what I mean by this is not the obvious addictive qualities of cigarettes, but how my body and mind was completely consumed with the idea that I felt that I could be capable of quitting at any time. (of course I felt this way while I was still smoking) but I never addressed the “junky” way of thinking that would follow after I put out the last cigarette. So instead of replacing my addiction with something else like food, I made the decision to absolutely not accept ANY rationale behind ‘just having one’ or ‘just a puff’ or ‘just with drinking.’
So in my mind—it just takes one to be a failure. Therefore, I’ve taken it day by day and attempted to put energy into things like eating better, drinking more water, bicycling even more as transportation, and really exercising self-discipline over my initial cravings. Now, I don’t even miss it and the cravings were completely under control 97% of the time. In order to adjust more quickly to things I enjoyed such as morning coffee and a glass of wine/beer, I did not stop or hold off on them to ‘adjust’ rather I let my habits be reformulated until it felt completely natural to enjoy these things without a cigarette.
It worked!! And it also helped to tell people that I had quit forever. In this way, my shakey self-discipline was strengthened and though I have still an immense amount of stress between work, school, and well—life, I have never looked back and I do believe that you’ll know when you are ready to quit and you should not assume it will be anything like the other times you quit for reasons beyond your own desire. Push yourself to the limit and see what you are really capable of doing when you put your mind to it. And saving $10 a day isn’t too bad either!
