The struggle is real: Quitting smoking

Courtesy Photo | Cigarette smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals that accounts for more than five million deaths worldwide per year. In the United States, tobacco use is responsible for more deaths than the human immunodeficiency virus, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle accidents and firearm-related incidents combined.  

IWAKUNI, YAMAGUCHI, JAPAN

04.06.2015

Story by Cpl. Alissa Schuning 

Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni

IWAKUNI, Japan- Cigarette smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals that accounts for more than five million deaths worldwide per year. Smoking causes multiple cancers, coronary heart disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm and many more serious illnesses. In the United States, tobacco use is responsible for more deaths than the human immunodeficiency virus, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle accidents and firearm-related incidents combined.

Despite all of that, an estimated 42.1 million adults in the U.S. smoke cigarettes and that includes me.

The cons of smoking definitely outweigh the pros and most smokers are aware of that, yet we continue to enjoy that deadly dose of nicotine multiple times throughout the day.
So why do we do it?

Everybody smokes for different reasons; some smoke to relax, some smoke to look cool and some even smoke just to get that coveted 10 minute break from work. No matter what the reason, once you start smoking, it can be very hard to stop.

I began smoking regularly more than two years ago and was one of those people who believed they could quit whenever they wanted, but I was naive.

About a month ago I sat myself down, lit a cigarette and realized I don’t want to do this anymore and I am still in the process of kicking the habit.

As a smoker, I had my fair share of good Samaritans who loved to inform me of the hazardous effects smoking has on my health and my wallet. I, as well as most smokers I believe, know better than anyone the negative effects of smoking. Knowing that, my decision to stop was not due to outside intervention but by my own accord and that is truly the only way to be successful.

Before I decided to quit, I smoked at least a pack a day. Now, the most I smoke in a day is three cigarettes and there are also days where I smoke none. I may not be tobacco free yet, but I’ve made a great deal of progress and this is what I have learned so far.

• Want to quit.

Like I said before, you have to want to quit in order to be successful. Peer pressure may work to get you smoking but it is much less effective when it comes to quitting. If you don’t want to quit, you won’t; it’s as simple as that.

• Determine your quitting method.

The main ways to quit are cold turkey, nicotine replacement products or a slow regression. Personally, I am slowly weaning myself off of cigarettes. If I try to quit cold turkey and then fall off the wagon, I am going to believe I failed, becoming defeated by my addiction, and continue to smoke regularly. Using nicotine replacements won’t kick my addiction to nicotine, so if I run out of my replacements (which happens often due to my overseas duty station), I will still need my nicotine fix, causing me to smoke.

That is only my experience, though. Each of these methods has proven effective for different people it is just a matter of finding which one works for you.

• Track your smoking.

I downloaded an application on my cellphone that tracks my smoking and gives me a “cigarette salary,” lowering the amount of cigarettes I can smoke each week. Every time I smoke, I go into the App and click the “I smoked” button and whenever I have an urge to light up, I click the “having a craving” button, which tracks my cravings.

This allows me to know how much I am smoking, how many cravings I have and if I am on track to quit when I want. With every day that I come in under budget, I get an achievement award and I can share my progress with friends or other quitters that use the application.

This proved more helpful to me than I anticipated. When I smoke and I have to go in and press the button of shame, it’s a huge deterrent. To be able to look at my application and see that I came in under budget or didn’t smoke at all gives me a great sense of satisfaction and the opposite is true for when I come in over budget, which is rare.

• Find your support system.

I understand that this one sounds the most cliché but it is important. Obviously, spending all of your time with smokers is going to make quitting extremely difficult. Surround yourself with people who support your decision to quit and want to help you succeed, not people who ask you to go smoke to see if you will cave.

I have someone who asks me if I smoked, or how many I smoked, every day and if they are not satisfied with my answer, do not let their disappointment go unnoticed. As a person who hates to disappoint people, that is a huge motivator to say no to nicotine.

• If at first you don’t succeed, try again.

No one is perfect so it is possible that you will fall back into your bad habit, but that doesn’t mean the journey to quit is over. You may have failed but look at the glass as half full; now you know what not to do next time.

Smoking is an addiction and quitting is a lifelong battle against cravings. There will be days where you would give anything to have a cigarette and times you will pass a smoker and get a nostalgic whiff of a crutch long gone; those are the times when you need to remember why you quit and hope it’s still a good enough reason.

I haven’t succeeded yet and I am no expert on how to quit smoking, but I am closer to quitting than I ever thought I would be and I hope what I learned along the way is useful.
This is one of the few times that quitting is an acceptable action, take advantage of it!

• Date Taken: 04.06.2015
• Date Posted: 04.07.2015 00:57
• Story ID: 159271
• Location: IWAKUNI, YAMAGUCHI, JP