Pre-Quit Day 2: Taking this One Day at a Time

     Quitting smoking is like any other addiction. To quit and remain quiet, you need to take it slow. When I say taking things slow, I mean taking it one day at a time. You cannot rush rush it or you're going to end up back in a relapse. Take it from me, I rushed the process and I'm re-planning to quit smoking. This time, however, I'm going to take it one day at a time and work the good fight. I know that quitting is a slow process, and I'm finally ready to be at the finish line already. You see what I just said, that's called rushed thinking. I definitely need to slow it down a bit.

    I've started to understand that rushed thinking brings us back to the starting point otherwise known as a relapse. I've been "drug-free" for 6 years now because I didn't rush it. I didn't rush the thinking process, and I've taken it one day at a time. The reason why I'm mentioning my past addiction is because, whatever worked the last time when I quit drugs, maybe the key to quitting cigarettes, not just temporarily quitting but permanently quitting for good. I'm going to trust my own process, during the next 100 years to stay quiet.

    When I quit drugs, I journaled a lot and I still do to this day. Journalling helped me come to terms with why I was so addicted to that substance, and it helped me stay in the moment as well as my feelings about addiction, and to also practice gratitude. On top of this, I kept every journal and I skimmed through it from time to time to see how I was back then, and what I've changed to stay away from my drug of choice. So this is one of the things in my toolkit that may be helpful to me. This is how I practiced, one day at a time back then, now I am going to do it all over again, and still read the journals from this quit.

Pre-Qui Day 2: Taking this One Day at a Time

     The last couple of days have been not really problematic in my eye but, I've noticed that I've rushed a little which has caused me some stress and I've smoked a lot more. Today, my roommate decided that he wanted to start smoking outside, and I followed because I wanted to quit smoking and it would be beneficial because now I have an excuse not to smoke. You see it's easier to smoke indoors than outdoors, and along with that, I've also stopped wearing my shoes indoors just to make it even harder for me to want to go outside to smoke. How is this relevant to what I am talking about? Well, it's relevant because quitting is a process, and with that being said during the process removing the act of smoking from the house helps me acknowledge that I'm quitting and the less I smoke in the house the less that I want to go and smoke. You're not rushing the process this way, you're basically cutting down how much you smoke in the house. Let me break this down for you.

The Process of Not Rushing!

    I've learned in previous attempts to smoke the process of Not rushing your quit. You may think that this is as easy as 1.2.3 but to be honest this is the hardest part of quitting. I believe that pre-quit days and the first 72 hours of quitting are the hardest days you'll have to endure. Here is the process of not rushing, and I'll be using this during the rest of my pre-quit days and throughout the coming weeks and months after my quit:

1. Planning how you're going to quit: This is the time when you're ready to quit smoking for good. You need to plan how you will quit because, without a solid plan, you will fail. Having a viable plan helps ensure that you won't fail yourself, and go back to smoking. I believe that many plans do fail but the ones carefully thought out will help you succeed. Here's how you can plan to quit for good and succeed:
1. Pick out the perfect day to quit: On your calendar find a day that you feel that you could quit smoking on. Whether it's a Friday at a certain time, the beginning of the mont,h or the year, you will need a quit date.
2. Write down all the reasons why you want to quit: This will help you on your journey to a smoke-free life. I would suggest having these handy posted on the fridge or a wall so you can look at your reasons why, you want to quit smoking:
1. I know what you're thinking, why did you fail all of your quit attempts? And what makes you the poster child of quitting?
1. I failed because I rushed my quit. I didn't have a plan and I just tried doing it cold turkey one day. I'm merely the fact that it's best to have a plan in place with a quit day and 7 pre-quit days to help you cut back because this is something that I've learned from my quit attempts.
3. Calculate the total of packs you buy yearly: The formula to find out how much you spend on cigarettes should look like this: how much you spend on a pack a day x how many days in the week = how much you spend during the week then you take that number and you x 52 weeks = how much you spend yearly. For example, let's say I spend about $17.95 on a pack of cigarettes a day:
1. $17.95 x 7 = $125.65/Week
1. Now take the number of the week you just calculated like this:
2. $125.65 x 52 = $6,533.80/Year
1. This is a lot of money, and you could potentially use the money you save from quitting on something better.
1. When I did my quit estimate it was much lower. This is just an example of how much you could be saving per year.
4. Write down your smoking triggers: Lots of quit programs say to avoid these triggers, and I found that avoiding triggers, especially with mental health triggers, triggers me to want to smoke. These programs, teach you to avoid your triggers instead of dealing with your triggers to smoke.
1. By writing down and keeping your triggers on a piece of paper on a fridge or a wall dedicated to quitting, you won't be able to avoid them.
2. Write down underneath your trigger how you can use the trigger to positively overcome your addiction to tobacco. I found that this worked as long as I was being consistent with it.
3. In your journal, if you have one write down why it's a trigger to you and how you're going to use the trigger to positively quit smoking. Writing about it helps because we can then understand why the trigger is a trigger to you.
1. Let's say one of my triggers is stress: I write about a stressful situation that I was in, what I was feeling, and how it triggered me to pick up a cigarette.
1. From there I can read what I just wrote and analyze the situation, the feeling, and the trigger.
2. For this I would then, practice mindfulness techniques and then the next time something like this happened I would then resort to meditation, writing, etc.
3. However, do what is right for you.
5. Find the positives in your quit: If you do plan on journaling just like I am throughout my quit, always find the positives within the quit. Write down people, places, and or techniques to help you support you throughout your quit.
6. Is NRT, COLD-TURKEY, OR HYPNOSIS right for me?: You need to ask yourself if any of these would be able to help you in your quit, if you've tried NRT and it didn't help then keep trying another method to help you quit. I've tried everything and NRT is my last resort before I go to my doctor and as for the medication. I'm going to keep going until I finally quit. I imagine that you have tried many but you still want to quit smoking. Try and try again until you eventually prevail.
2. Planning how your pre-quit days are going to be spent: You need to plan these 7 days because we are cutting back, so you will need to find something to do for those times you're having a craving. Let's say I'm having a craving right now! In real time I'm having this mentioned craving. I go to a smoke-free app for iPhone and I tell it I'm having a craving, then I am writing this blog. I know it takes about 2-10 minutes for a craving to subside. So I am going to keep writing. This is a real-time example of pushing off the craving. I also have an urge to pick up a cigarette, so by my hands typing I'm trying to reduce the urge to want to pick one up. Remember, by planning these days it will be much easier for you to quit when your day comes.
3. Finding support groups that fit your needs: By finding support groups either through social media, in-person and online groups for people who've gone through the quit or who are going through the idea of quitting, this will help you learn from other people who've done it an succeeded or learn from the ones like me who've failed as to do or not to do for example, letting people smoke in the house while you're trying to quit, right in front of you. Bad idea indeed. These groups of people are helpful in many ways because they can become a part of your support when quitting especially the ones who've quit for good, and are still in these groups to help people like us out. (I will be creating a list of groups designed to help you out during your quit, and also everything that I've highlighted in this and recent posts and future posts that can potentially help you to quit). I'm still exploring the other possibilities.
4. Keeping a journal or a blog: Journalling is a great way to write about your triggers, and how you can positively overcome these triggers without avoiding them. For example, mental health issues like anxiety use avoidance of the trigger but then you come face to face with the trigger and you learn to deal with the trigger positively. It's the same with addictions to be honest. You've got to deal with the triggers head-on to deal with the addiction itself. Avoidance only leads to the trigger coming back stronger, and the stronger it gets the more a relapse is imminent. Avoidance is what these government programs teach us, and then it blows up in our faces. This is why journalling is good for when you're going to quit something like drugs, alcohol, and smoking.
5. Removing ALL smoking tools to an outdoor area: Before you start pre-quit day one, on the day before find a place that's going to be out of sight, and out of mind. If you live in an apartment building find a place on the balcony that is out of sight and you can't, if you have a house and a usable back yard then find a place maybe behind the garage or a shed where you can't see smokers, and all of the smoking tools you had in your house. Put a table and chair with a drawer set out that way you can hide your tools in there and it's less likely to be stolen or seen by you or anyone else. Then take all of the tools from the front yard where you smoke or indoors and place them in that area. Put your shoes somewhere where it's too far from your reach when sitting on a couch or upstairs, this way you're making it hard for yourself to want to go have a smoke. Make sure you tell people where they are allowed to smoke and be firm about it.
6. Asking smokers to smoke outside and out of site: Continuing from the last point make sure to ask smokers to go smoke in the hidden area, you might even inspire another smoker to want to smoke by asking them to smoke in this area. Also, get yourself some no-smoking signs, and place these around your house and in areas where smokers aren't allowed to smoke. This will help them realize that they're supposed to smoke in that designated smoking area. Again, be firm and consistent with them.
7. Keeping yourself busy through the hardest cravings/Cutting back: Keeping yourself busy during the pre-quit days will help you cut back. Try learning crocheting or knitting. These activities not only keep your hand busy but require you to concentrate on what you're doing. Other things require this skill like typing for instance again I'm writing through a craving. This one was not as intense as the last one and I made it through that one without picking up a cigarette. This one I tried but I failed but that's ok I can keep trying to cut back because it's my pre-quit day and this is what these 7 days are for, to cut back and to plan what you need to do to quit and to learn about your triggers.
8. Taking it one day at a time: Remember taking it one day at a time, and not doing everything at once is the best step to help you quit anything. Do not Rush your quit!
9. Keep telling yourself smoking is just a chore: When you have asked smokers to smoke in the designated hidden area, make smoking a chore. Convince yourself that it's a chore because people hate chores, and don't want to do them. This is why I said to stop wearing shoes in the house, place this area in a hidden place, put your shoe/coat, etc on the other side of the house, and put the tools away in something where you can see them come into place. You're making it seem like a big chore.
10. Finding healthy lifestyle choices that you want to include in your non-smoking life: Now is the time to find healthy lifestyle choices that you want to include in your life. Whether it's going to the gym, eating healthier, or going for a walk with your partner this can be time that you use as a smoke-free time. My smoke-free time is when I'm walking my dog. This is time for Tyberious and me, and I wish not to smoke during this time because I'm concentrating on being in the moment with him. I'm trying to find other ways to add smoke-free time so that I know that it's smoke-free time and not smoking time. Things like meditation and mindfulness are things I like to do without smoking. Same with journalling, I like that time to be just me without a cigarette in my hand. The best way is to find the choices that are right for you and make them smoke-free so then you can continue cutting back through your pre-quit days.
11. Do it for you, not for anyone else: The best way to keep yourself from disappointment is to quit smoking for you. Don't rely on people because sometimes these people can't be as helpful as you can before yourself. Do not make this decision to quit for someone else because people can disappoint you in many ways. You need to do this for you.
12. Reward yourself for every pack of cigarettes not smoked: The one thing I've learned to do is reward myself for the packs of smokes I haven't smoked. I usually do it with money so that I can later buy myself something that I want to have. I put this money in a jar labeled Reward Money and I placed it right beside the smoking saving jar, this was in use the last time I quit. This however I will be quitting for good. I'm going to use all of the methods used in these posts.
13. Keeping Your Quit as Fun as Possible: You probably tell yourself quitting isn't fun. But you can make it fun, especially by rewarding yourself or playing a game whenever you want a cigarette. It's possible to make your quit as fun as possible.

Dee