How I Finally Quit Smoking For Good

I remember my first cigarette. I was in the woods of the local golf course with three or four other 15-year-olds. The first drag made me feel sick and giddy. But, like an idiot, I stuck with it and pretty soon I was indeed stuck with it - a 25-a-day habit that would, over the following 23 years, cost me thousands of pounds, make me smell revolting, and give me a wheeze that sounded like the massed pipes of the Royal Navy.

The first time I tried to quit smoking was on National No-Smoking Day. By 11 o'clock I was a wreck. By ten past I was smoking. So I trotted out the usual smokers' excuses: it's the pressure of my work ...I don't really smoke that many... it's just something to do with my hands... I couldn't have a drink or a meal without a cigarette.

At first I was wary of any "cold turkey" how to quit smoking programs. I figured that it was just a mind game, a trick. But reluctantly I started to focus on the choice that comes with every cigarette, eliminating the automatic flipping open of my pack of Rothmans. Did I really want to go on smoking? Wouldn't I prefer to give up coughing and wheezing? I started to deal with my habit one moment at a time. Logic entered into a subject that had always been dealt with on an emotive basis. I started to feel in control. The first few weeks were tough, but recognizing that feeling uncomfortable was a critical and positive part of the quitting process made all the difference.

I had previously tried to quit smoking for good by cutting down gradually over a period of time. I realise now that I was trying to get rid of the desire - and why I was so unsuccessful! I thought at first that any stopping smoking techniques would also help me get rid of the desire and that because I was still having these feelings I couldn't be using the program properly.

I'm one of those people whose pain threshold is very low and I'll do anything to avoid it and protest loudly if I can't. Among other things, what any good quit smoking program requires is that you accept the pain! This idea had never occurred to me before. For me, it made all the difference when I acknowledged the desire instead of being frightened that I would immediately have a cigarette. In other words, I had a choice.

What helped the most was when I treated the desire - the voice nagging at me to have a cigarette - like a little child who needs attention. All the child needed was not to be ignored but to be given sympathy, love and attention.

Now. some three and a half years later, the choice of whether to smoke or not arises far less frequently, and has become much easier to deal with. I don't feel smug - just pleased. I'm in control of my life and I'm not smoking - not at the moment.

It took me a while but I finally learnt how to quit smoking. After several failed attempts I now choose to no longer smoke cigarettes. I managed to quit smoking for good by following a few simple tips on how you think and feel about cigarettes and the choices you make about smoking. Want to know how I did it?