It´s easier to start than to stop

CONGRATULATIONS! You have chosen one of the most entertaining challenges of all, physically and mentally. I wouldn´t say it´s hard to quit smoking cigarettes, you just need to be clever. You need to be smarter than your own brain is. You will need to fool yourself which actually is the entertaining part of this cold turkey program :-) 

It was easier to start than it will be stopping, but life is not always easy. Easy is boring, you will go the fun way. By the way this is the picture of the very first cigarette I smoked at an age of 16. The following three pictures in this article were taken during the same photo shooting. The very beginning of my smoking career, oh dear!  

You might say "you should not have done that". Well I say: I don´t regret, since it was exactly what I wanted to do at this point of time. Now I grew up and don´t need that poison anymore. It just don´t match with my new passion: surfing! :-) But it was true fun smoking during all these years.  

So be ready to smoke your very last cigarette with passion and fun- enjoy every single breath! But then follow my recommendations, give up this shit and your life will be even better than it has ever been. Promised!!! 

1. It´s not an option 

No, thank you I don´t smoke. You should tattoo that sentence on your brain! It´s not even an option to think about smoking. You don´t smoke anymore! Learn to accept this new situation. Cigarettes are not a part of your life anymore. Being a smoker your brain established several (supposedly) logical causalities. Example: Coffee = cigarette. Phone call = cigarette. Waiting for s.th. = cigarette. Every ex (!) smoker knows what I am talking about. Everybody has these connections. My favorite one is: finished meal = cigarette. 

To break down these apparently necessary sequences, you need to link these situations with something new, instead of cigarettes. Sounds easy, but it is not! BE AWARE: it´s not an option! In the beginning you will always fall back to your original habit. But hey, it´s not you, it is just your brain. Just say NO. Now you´ll understand what I meant when I said: you need to fool yourself. You need to tell your braing that´s it´s wrong, that coffee doesn´t need tobacco, that waiting can be solved without smoking, that all these stupid connections are not part of your life anymore. Come on! 

2. Re-program your brain

Since the mentioned old connections like coffee = cigarette are not valid anymore, you need to establish new matches in your head. Important: These new connections are only temporily necessary until you got over it. 

I recommend to write down all of these old connections / situations you want to break down. I will copy my own list including the old and new actions just to give you an example of how to manage it:

1. Finished meal - New action: eat an apple. This has the advantage that it will take you some time (you will completely forget about your idea to smoke while gnawing at this delicious little fruit) and it has a fantastic fresh taste which will make you feel healthy and guide your braing from the idea of tobacco to a more positive image.

2. After Surf Coffee - New action: I changed coffee for limonade which has a fresh flavour and helped me to forget about the spicy taste of tobacco. Instead of sitting around, having my cup of coffee and smoking I buy the limonade to go and have a walk aside the coast. 

2. Sundowner beer at beach bar - New action: Take some nuts, chips, whatever the waitress can get for you. Ex (!) smokers have an oral satisfaction problem, I am afraid. Well, during the next weeks you will need to compensate this desire to put something in your mouth (sorry to say it like that :-))). Be careful: it´s very common that ex (!) smokers gain some waight after having stopped smoking since the easiest way to establish a new connection is to change tobacco for s.th. to eat. That´s why you need to read point 3 of the program :-)

Resuming: Find alternative actions that cause you satisfaction! If you are unable to connect an habit with a new one, stop doing it for a while (see example: coffee). For me coffee was inseparable from smoking, well that´s why I stopped drinking coffee for some time. But relax: you´ll get back to your old behaviours very soon, and you will surprised how easy you´ll handle them without tobacco! You just need to uncouple these old connections for a while, give your head some time to forget about them, and then you can restart establishing new ones. Didn´t I promise this is going to be entertaining? :-)

3. Move your butt! 

(Picture: Barcelona August 2016) 

What happens to problems when we sit down and start thinking about them: they get bigger and more complicate and .... Don´t do it! Don´t lean back and wait for a miracle. Get yourself busy or otherwhise it will be damn hard to get over this poison. It´s evident that time seams to pass quicker when you are busy than when you are not. Think about an intercontinental flight: time seams to stand still when you have to sit there and wait. Lucky those who fly business class and can just fall asleep! But life is not about sleeping, life is about living. So don´t get yourself jailed. Move your ass, meet pe0ple (no matter if they smoke or not - remember: It´s not an option!) and especially EXERCISE! Sports will make you forget about smoking quicker than anything else! There is en evident and scientifically proved correlation between workout and mental strength. Sports will motivate you (by the way including sex :-)). Step by step your lung capacity will start to increase and your results will be better and better. You will run faster, longer, wider... and it will be awesome! You´ll love this new feeling of getting back your full power and energy and invest it into really cool and entertaining activities! 

4. Be positive! 

Be happy about your decision! Tell your family and friends and social networks! Smile at smokers and be proud, tell them about your success, motivate them to do the same, celebrate it! Don´t ever look back. Life is now. We are the sum of our experiences, both the good ones and the bad ones. You are an ex (!) smoker now, this is brilliant news!!! Yesterday is not real, it is just a memory stored well in your (not so clever) brain :-)) Love your new healthy life, enjoy it and be creative on your new brain connections. You will learn that your life will be exactly the same as it has been before, but even more energetic! This smokey clowd in your head will disappear, you will stop coughing and feeling tired. Withing very short time your body will spread a lot of endorphines, you wouldn´t have ever dreamt about! 

5. Be careful, your an ex smoker and not a non smoker!

(Picture: Tenerife August 2016) 

Don´t make the silly mistake and smoke "just one cig, I am absolutely clean". No you are not! Remember: it´s not an option! This one and only cigarette will destroy all the hard work you did during the last weeks and months without being a poison addict. Don´t give it up! Rember: you are smarter than your braing :-)

I would be really happy if this little guideline helped somebody of you to come over to the healthy and smoke-free side of life! Feel free to let me know how it worked, I appreciate every comment and review. If you need help to find new brain connections / activities, share your problem! There will be an appropiate new activity for all of your habits, since EVERY activity is better than smoking!!! And last but not least.... of course I´d be happy to get your up-voting in case you liked it :-) 

Cheers and live your dream!
Marly -