Quit Cigarettes - How to Quit Smoking Permanently

Cigarette smoking has got to be one of the grossest, most vile things we can do. I was a smoker once. I knew it then, just as you know it now. You try and try and try to quit cigarettes but nothing seems to work. You always end up right back where you started, puffing away mindlessly day after day, year after year.

As a former smoker...and I mean former in the sense that I never think about it, never miss it, and can't believe I ever even did it...I'm going to propose that your problem with smoking is almost all in your head. That if you really want to know how to quit smoking permanently you have to examine the psychological aspects of why you do it, and why you keep doing it.

I've heard and I'm sure you've heard that quitting cigarettes can be as hard as quitting heroin. Come on. Have you ever seen someone trying to quit heroin? They shake, and sweat, and throw up...it's a mess. A smoker can sleep sometimes 10 or 12 hours and not even have to get up to satisfy his addiction. Many times we don't even smoke immediately after we wake up depending on our routine.

No, say what you will but the physical effects of quitting smoking aren't that bad by themselves. There is definitely a period of withdrawal, but it is mild. It's our mental addiction that makes the whole process so unbearable. It's that sense of deprivation we get when all of a sudden we 'can't' smoke anymore. It's the sense of comraderie with other smokers we're missing out on. It's wondering who we're going to be as a non-smoker.

Here's what I did that really helped me quit smoking permanently. First, I got the notion of quitting smoking being physically horrible out of my head. Every smoker thinks they like it the most. If anyone else has quit successfully, so can you. Then, I pictured myself ten ot twenty years down the road, sitting in a doctor's office being told I had cancer. I actually put myself there. Then I thought, right now is the time I'm going to be thinking of when I hear those words. I'm going to be thinking back to right now when I had the chance to quit but didn't.

And that was that. Anytime I wanted one I replayed that scenario. It only takes a few weeks for all the nicotine to leave your body. Anyone who tells you they still want one years later is holding on to the psychological side of smoking. Let go of it. You don't need it. You aren't missing out on anything. You'll be the same you that you are now...you'll just be that you for a whole lot longer.