Quitting Smoking. Just Take It Three Minutes At A Time

I needed and wanted to quit. I felt imprisoned by my habit for years and had decided in 2003 when I found out I was carrying my second child that I would quit for good. I tried to slow down while getting ready to conceive but the only thing that helped was the plus sign on the pregnancy test. I decided that the only way to do it was just convince myself that my will was stronger than my addiction. Here are a few things that helped.

I had to trick myself into not realizing I wasn’t smoking. We smoked outside the house and my husband didn’t quit but every time I felt the urge to smoke, I would step outside with him and sit and talk to him as if I’d had my cigarette. By the time I came back inside it often felt no different than if I’d have had one myself.

I kept busy. Every time I wanted to smoke, I would do something physical like clean the house or take a walk.

I drank a lot of water and ate healthy food to cleanse my body.

I took it three minutes and three days at a time. I read that after three minutes, the worst of your cravings are gone. So every time I had a craving, I told myself that I only had to survive for three minutes and the craving would disappear so instead of feeling like I had months and months of cravings ahead of me, I believed that after three minutes I would stop wanting that cigarette. I read that after three days, the nicotine leaves your body and you begin to heal.

I moved desks at work and no longer sat near the smokers. This isn’t always possible for others but helped me. I no longer saw a group of people getting their coats on every few hours and that kept smoking off my mind.

I took up knitting and crocheting and crossword puzzles to keep my hands busy.

I had a hard time with thinking I could never have a cigarette again so what helped me the most was by carrying an emergency cigarette in my purse. I carried it for about a month or two. In Canada we have warnings on our cigarette packages with graphic photos of ill hearts and blackened lungs and people hooked up to machines in intensive care but the one I chose to carry around was of an eight month pregnant woman smoking a cigarette while holding her big, round belly. It said, “Smoking during pregnancy can harm your baby” in big bold letters. I carried that emergency smoke around knowing I’d have to look at that package before taking it if I decided to do it. This helped me tremendously because I found that I had a panic attack if I didn’t have access to a cigarette but if it was there, it was easier to choose not to light it. I quit and 4+ years later am still smoke free.

I knew I had the addiction bad and it was ruining my health. I was a young woman with a smoker’s cough and who coughed up phlegm every day. I am very pleased with my decision. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do but the things I’ve written here helped me. It also helped to read others’ success stories. Engulfing myself in my fight to overcome this addiction helped. I fell off the wagon twice in the first week but after that week I was done. I just kept telling myself in three days, the nicotine is out of my body and I begin to heal. After I fell off the wagon the first time I knew I had that three days to contend with all over again so three minutes at a time is the first battle and after three days, you’ve overcome a second battle. If you do want to quit, you will be able to.