The easiest way to quit smoking is do not start it at all. But in my case, this method does not work. I smoked for a long time and a lot. When I met my future husband, I began to smoke even more. Needless to say, I liked to smoke: to hold a cigarette in my fingers and inhale slowly and exhale a smoke, to feel the bitter taste of tobacco. Morning cigarette, cigarette after coffee and after meals, cigarette in the car, cigarette on the way to work, wine and cigarette, cigarette before going to bed.
When I smoked a little, I did not think about its harm. When I was smoking a lot, then such thoughts occur to me. And more and more frequently. I was thinking about future children, the wrinkles under the eyes of a gray complexion, dull hair, morning breath, dry cough, a grandfather, who has lost both legs because of smoking. Tobacco smell from clothing, from bags, from the toes, from the hair began to annoy me. And the first thing I felt in the morning when I wake up next to my beloved man in a soft bed, when the sun enveloped the room by warm cobwebs, was a wild desire to smoke. And it infuriated me the most. Then I decided to quit smoking.
After a couple of hours without smoking I had a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach and there were thoughts only about the cigarette, then all the arguments against smoking were dissolved in the needs and the farther, the less relevant they become, retreating under the onslaught of a single desire. And I thought that there was no need to torture. I inhaled and thought why not to smoke if I like to smoke so much. And I thought, just to try to smoke less. I like to admire myself. I want that when men look at me, they thought about sex. Not necessarily about sex with me, just about sex. It is such form of adoration. I like to think that so it is. I am pleased to admire myself in the glow of their thoughts. I do not like my pictures, but I like to look in the mirror. And in the mirror, I began to notice the first wrinkles under my eyes, and in the mirror, I began to see a dull complexion. And at that moment I began to feel hatred. Hatred of the cigarette. And each time, when I did not like the reflection in the mirror, I felt hatred of the cigarette. Every time I inhaled, I felt love for the cigarette. Then I realized how to quit smoking. It is necessary to hate the cigarette more than to love it, much stronger to withstand the onslaught of physical and psychological addiction. We must nurture this hatred, temper it, and only then to fight. Only then. And I was caring for it and cherishing it, I began to foster my hatred as a loved cat. I gave it the best idea. In the morning, evening, afternoon, I thought about the fact what the cigarette takes away from me, about my health and beauty. I listened to every cough, and said to myself: “It is the cigarette.” I sniffed my fingers, with which I touch my beloved, frowned and said: “And this is also it.” Previously, I crumpled the thoughts and flung into a corner of consciousness, but now I developed them, I imagined hatred in bright colors. Smoking a couple of months, I hated everything.
One day I woke up in the morning and I felt a familiar sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach. Desire to smoke possessed me, I was in bondage. I am not free, a cigarette lives for me. I felt it very clearly and immediately realized that I could not bear it. On this day, a bowl of my hatred overflowed. I realized that I will not smoke any more. I do not smoke for three months and three months I’ve never wanted. I began to clearly distinguish shades of smell and taste. In the morning I want to stretch out like a cat and drink coffee with crispy toast, I want to go out on a balcony and to smile to the sun, I want to go outside and breathe fresh air, I want to hug and kiss a loved one. But I do not want to smoke.

Anna, U.S.A.

Quit smoking: