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

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.