Three Steps to Quit Smoking During Recovery
There is no two ways about it, quitting smoking is very hard to do. Quitting smoking while in the first few months of recovery can be even tougher. When you first go into alcohol recovery the general rule is to not even attempt to quit smoking until after your first year of sobriety. There is just too much going on in your first year of sobriety and you need to focus on your recovery. I’m a firm believer in this. One task at a time until you master the task.
However, here comes the do as I say not as I do part, smoking was driving me nuts. I really hate the smell of cigarettes and I was sure that I would never meet the women of my dreams if I was stinking like cigarettes. So against others advice I embarked on the quit smoking path. I have quit smoking twice before. Once for 13 years and another time for six months. My recollection of both occasions was that it wasn’t that bad, not fun, but not that bad.
Boy, was I wrong! It was tough, really tough. I had about six false starts before it kicked in. It wasn’t until I actually went to my doctor about this, something I normally never do. He gave me the usual talk we all hear over and over about quitting smoking but it was his last comment to me that hit home. He said, “Your just not ready to quit right now, when you’re ready, you’ll quit” That statement made perfect sense. This is so Step 3. It fit into everything I was learning from AA about turning everything over to my Higher Power. When my Higher Power feels I’m ready, I’ll quit. So I just let it go, and stopped fussing about quitting. A few weeks later, completely out of the blue, I woke up on a weekend morning and said to myself, today is the day I quit. As of today I have not had a cigarette for 160 days!!!
Turning the problem over to my Higher Power was a winner for starting and was definitely Step One. But dealing with the day to day nicotine withdraw was still going to be tough. Here is what I did to get here where I am at today…..
Step One – That Sunday morning, I cruised over to Costco and picked up a box of Nicoderm Cq Step 3 patches. (this was like the 5th time because of my false starts). Costco has the best over the counter price but you can find good deals at Amazon if Costco doesn’t work for you. I started the patches that day. and ran the whole course
Step Two – Meditation. I really believe that meditation is the key to my success so far. The NicoDerm helps take the edge off but meditation really brings it home when it comes to changing my thought process. Now your probably going to laugh but I found this great meditation article on eHow. It is definitely worth a read, it helped me greatly. ( Link to eHow Meditation Technique ) If this technique doesn’t work for you then find another. There are lots of resources out on the Internet for meditation techniques. What ever technique you choose, be sure to practice it at least once a day if not more. The benefits that you receive will astound you.
Everyone is different, that is why we are all unique. This is what worked for me and I’m sure will work for you. These 3 simple steps have me cigarette free for the last 160 days. Implement my plan or just take one or two of the steps and add them to your own quit smoking plan. Your success is guaranteed!
I would love to hear how you have quit smoking or are planning on quitting smoking. Share your story, you will be helping someone out, we all have valuable nuggets of information that need to be shared.
