Need Advice!!!! People who quit something and succeeded

I quit smoking in March 2015.

I had been trying to quit for a while, but always failed. In March of 2015 I lived across from a 7-11 and saw the same guy at the counter everyday. One day he asked who the cigarettes were for. When I said me, he told me I smoked too much. It took a stranger to point it out. And he didn't say it in a shaming manor, but I definitely felt shame.

What helped me to stay quit was also quitting coffee. For me cigarettes and coffee went hand in hand and I couldn't have one without the other. So I gave up both. I also would brush my teeth as soon as I woke up. I needed something to replace what I did as soon as I got up.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

I quit smoking in 2013. I started at 15 in 1982. I can't say I really planned on quitting. I ran out of cigarettes one day and wasn't able to get more until over 24 hours. I kept having the mindset that I already had one day under my belt and if I really wanted one I could have one tomorrow. I found an app for my phone called Quit Now! It kept track of how many days it had been, how much money I was saving and what health benefits I was getting as the days ticked up. I'll tell you I looked at that app 50 times a day and asked myself if it was worth going back to zero. I found that using a cinnamon stick was useful in over coming the hand to mouth habit. The first 6 months was really the hardest. I had terrible nightmares for a couple months (but maybe that was just me, because I never heard anyone else have that issue). I really felt like a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs for quite a while, but I kept checking that app. I'm a fairly competitive person and I just could not tolerate the idea of going back to zero.
I also needed something for my hands to do when the urge came up, so I checked out a knitting video on youtube and made the world's worst scarf. I would just knit a couple rows until the urge passed. I think they call that urge surfing. It might not be knitting for you, think about origami, a hand puzzle- like a Rubik's cube or a brain teaser puzzle, get some rope and learn some knots, if you like fabric you can learn to make yoyo's, or heck, get a real yoyo and learn a few tricks. Just find something that you can keep with you so that when the urge happens you can refocus your brain on this other activity.
It's been 3670 days since I ran out of cigarettes. I've save over $14k. I would have to say it was one of the hardest things I ever did and without a doubt one of the best things I ever did too!
Good luck!

Two packs a day for 20 years. Tried quitting hundreds of times with about 10 quits of a month or longer.

Finally realized I was really good at quitting and decided to put my efforts there. Every night, no matter what, I put my "last" packet of cigarettes under a faucet, scrunched them up and dropped them in the trash.

For a while, the next day I would panic and buy another pack. But over time the panics started to diminish. Then I was able to explore what being smoke free really felt like and — in the absence of the little panic attacks — realized it didn't feel too bad.

Ultimately the day came when I stopped completely. That was June 6, 2004.

A friend, so I don't know the whole story, and his wife both smoked. They both tried and failed several times to quit. Then one day they decided to quit together. They took Chantix. They both succeeded. He said the Chantix helped a whole lot, but the wholehearted support helped more. Is there a smokers anonymous?

I quit my daily alcohol habit cold turkey.

I had enough of feeling lousy every day and that motivated me big time.

I will still have a drink if it's a special occasion but am noticing I don't enjoy drinking at all anymore.

Quit smoking several times---never think you can have just one. Just this time. NOPE. My final time, decades ago now, best tip was to deep breathe through the craving, with a promise it does go away in 1-3 minutes, also told it might be gone for just seconds before it starts again, but knowing how it does stop, you just breathe through it again. Amazed when I realized absolutely true. This was the really changing tip for me. Another thing for me, was that I was washing light color walls. My bucket was getting absolutely brown water every few feet and I would have to change it. And it absolutely was coming off those walls. I could see the difference in the unwashed section next to the washed. I realized it was NICOTINE. I started picturing that brown film coating my lungs every time I smoked just as it coated my walls.

Cant_think_of_a_username wrote: »

I quit drinking alcohol after eating and drinking myself into a gout attack. It wasn't easy, as home brewing craft beer was my main hobby at that time and I had to get rid of all my gear and have a rethink. For a couple of years I'd get the occasional craving where I really fancied and ice cold brew on a hot day etc but over time that faded to the point I never give it a second thought now.

It was a bit difficult for a while when others around were doing the old "just have one, it won't do any harm" routine - but I had the memory of the pain of a gout flare up in my mind as a deterrent.

Same here! Gout hurts worse than anything I have ever experienced. Dr said watch the alcohol and all the "purines" I consumed. Keeping a log I found what did or did not cause a flare up. Two years now no alcohol and almost 100% plant based diet.

Good news is all the sugar in alcohol is now avoided! Stop drinking and you lose weight fast.

I quit smoking on April 18, 2022. I have been a smoker since I was 12 years old, and the longest I could ever quit was about 6 months. How did I quit? I finally had enough. I had enough of being winded just walking up the stairs. I climbed to the peak of Mount Rose Summit, and was so out of breath the entire hike, that it kind of ruined the moment for me. I finally chose for myself. I wanted to be healthier for me. So many people say that they quit for others, or their "Why" is for their children. My why, I realized, had to be for me. I need to be healthy and happy in my life, for me, and that is what my focus has become. I tried using the patch, and the gum but had adverse reactions to both. So, I threw it all out and decided to just stop with all of it. I do crave a cigarette every day because I smoked for over 30 years. It gets easier as the time passes.

I quit smoking on July 3, 1998, at 1 a.m. after smoking about 1 1/4 packs a day for 19 years. I had tried the year before but only made it to 5 months. I quit cold turkey, but what really helped was an internet discussion board. Those were just starting to appear, so after dialing up my internet connection (yep, it was.a long time ago!), I found a group and posted a message because I was one week in and thinking of going to the local bodega for a pack of cigs. Almost immediately, a bunch of complete strangers from who knows where posted helpful suggestions for things I could do instead: go for a walk, go swimming, etc. I didn’t do any of those things, but just knowing there were people out there in the ether who understood and wanted to help kept me going. Kinda like here.

Back then, a lot of people on the board were using the patch or gum. Some were taking Wellbutrin, an antidepressant that was found to induce quitting in smokers during clinical trials. Many reported eating ice-cream flavoured lollipops, I think, called Chupa Chups. (I never quite figured out what those were). My trick? I ate three pints of blueberries a day. Everyone was worried about gaining weight.

Another thing that helped was a little piece of software called SilkQuit. You’d put it on your computer and fill in when you quit, how much you smoked, and the cost. Then it would do a running calculation of how long you’d been ”smober,” how much money you’d saved, and (questionable value) how much time you’d added to your life. That was a huge motivator. Oh, and the admin people had a setup where you’d get an emailed certificate marking your quit date anniversary each year.

I don’t remember what that group was called - something like better4u? best4u? - but I’ll always be grateful to them. I still maintain that if I, someone with very addictive qualities, could quit smoking, anyone can. I stopped getting bronchitis. I felt tired naturally at normal times. My hair and bras didn’t reek anymore. My face stopped looking yellowish (I didn’t know about this but found out when a guy who worked the deli counter at my local grocery and saw me regularly commented on it!).

A year after quitting smoking, I quit coffee - I’d been drinking 5-6 cups a day with half-and-half - because a cup of coffee without a cigarette just wasn’t the same.

But I still haven’t kicked the nail biting habit. I think it’s probably time.

ETA: one other thing. I was shocked, when I quit, to discover how easily enraged I was. I wanted to rip people’s faces off for the littlest things. And what I realized, in part due to insights from people on that board, was that I used cigarettes as a coping mechanism - or more like a substitute for actual coping mechanisms - to deal with stress, anger, etc. I started at 19, so I hadn’t had a chance to develop healthy techniques for managing challenges. And, I suddenly realized I had been addicted ti a drug. I hadn’t understood that at all; I just thought I smoked because I liked it. These were definite eye-openers. As some others have pointed out, there’s more to it than just quitting. It’s life changing. Hard, but totally worth it.