Keeping busy did me a lot of good when I gave up. I kept telling myself that each minute, hour and day was a distance from the last cigarette. I went cold turkey although at first I did use use nicotine gum, but I chewed so much I hurt my gums etc.
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As time went by the old habits died away and new habits replaced them. But I had to give up coffee and Coca Cola which I had a lot of back in those days because of the habit of having a smoke with the drinks. I had already given up alcohol at this stage.
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Avoiding the old crowd who smoke is a must, and the places one used to go for a ciggy with the mates is a good idea too. No parties, and probably no public events because people will be sitting around smoking. I used the money that I saved from tobacco to buy orange drink, good fruit and vegetables and ate more than usual. I got lollies too and chewing gum.
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I went for lots of long walks. My theory was that the further from home and money (don’t take money or anything that can be used to buy cigarettes of tobacco with you) I would have to use the same amount of time to get back home, so this meant long periods of time without a cigarette. I went for 11km walks in the country, my children often went with me. I would sometimes take a book to our local lake and spend an hour or so reading in a secluded spot (to avoid the old crowd).
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Your true friends will stand by you in this and avoid you to help you out if need be. If they tempt you to smoke then you know that they are not wanting your wishes met and they are not supporting you.
If you lose your temper and throw a fit, a caring loving family will support you all through that. They will not yell back, they will not lose their cool because they understand what you are going through, and they want to see you healthy and happy. they will also pay as much as needs paying to help you.
They will understand that you are going through withdrawal symptoms and that it is not your fault, but the addiction is to blame, and their love and compassion will shine through as they stand by you through all of this.
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One other thing that I did was Fast for long periods of time before giving up on smoking to prove to my mind that if I can give up solid food for weeks on end then I can surely give up smoking. And this did truly help me along. It gave me a lot of courage that i didn’t have back then, and boosted my efforts greatly. You may not want to do that though.
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All the best from
James M Sandbrook.
Friday, 19 February 2016, 8:19:51 PM.