Its Ok To Be A Quitter.

I've made a lot of goals for myself this year, some of them are a lot more attainable than others, some I've already reached and one in particular I'm still struggling with but I've made some really good strides toward.
I'm talking of course about my goal to quit smoking, you may recall the review I wrote on Voxiva's Text2Quit program, which is a very helpful program; unfortunately, I - much like anyone else who has been smoking for a long time - needed more than just one quit aid.

My second step in my goal to quit was reading Allen Carr's "The Easy Way To Quit", now, I'm not a fan of self-help books for a number of reasons, and though this book did at times reinforce a lot of the reasons I dislike the genre it was/is an invaluble tool for those who want to quit smoking. The book goes into at depth the brainwashing and social conditioning we experience as smokers, the reasons we smoke, and the way to begin to change your thinking in regards to smoking and quitting.

My third step was joining the "Ex Community", this site was by far the most welcoming and supportive of the sites that I came across, its kind of like a Facebook or Myspace for ex-smokers and those who are becoming exes. At the "Ex Community" you can make friends, earn badges, comment to others, post your own blog entries, and post things on your wall or on the walls of your friends. Its a fun and positive environment, full of very supportive folks.

My fourth and final step has been the NicoDerm patch. This has been the most effective for me, at least when I remember to put it on, I truly don't want a cigarette if I'm wearing the patch. There were few drawbacks with the patch, the only ones I experienced were slight levels of twitching (like I've had too much caffeine), itchiness were the patch is, and weird dreams if I happened to leave the patch on overnight (only did that once). I have had the patch catch on clothing and it does not stand up to the temps I like to shower at, other than that I've had no issues aside from remembering to put them on.

I've had a fair amount of success with a combination of these sites and products, I had even managed to completely quit for nearly 3 weeks. Sadly I've suffered a recent slip, and am smoking again. Thankfully its not a full slip, I haven't had more than 3 cigarettes in any one day, and as of today, I'm back to 0 and wearing the patch again.

Its not a quick process, to quit, and I know this, but I'm taking it seriously, its something I desire, and something I will do. I know that each time I slip and give in to smoking, I learn more about my personal reasons for smoking, besides just the addiction to nicotine. It becomes easier to not have a cig when I can rationalize why I want one.

My suggestion for those trying to quit would be to first join the Ex Community and then get yourself a copy of Allen Carr's "The Easy Way To Quit". NTRs are helpful, but not necessary. For me, between the book and the community, a lot of the fear and reluctance that many smokers experience when contemplating quitting, literally disappeared in a puff of smoke, the patch just soothes the cravings which really aren't as bad as they are often implied to be.