What worked for me to stop smoking

[ElectricEgregore]

Hello,

I had this little fight quiet some times in my life - I think I stopped and began smoking around 20-30 times by now.
Usually I started again through the weed pipeline. Sometimes I stopped the weed smoking directly, or it went the longer route with transitioning into a cigarrette smoker before stopping again.

The answer may sound ridiculous - what worked for me the last 2 times was:

1:Exercise + Cycling (makes lung volume easier to grasp) and extended walking/wandering.

That usually does the most for me - the last time stopping I literally started to smoke daily again n the same time I began my regular workout in the gym cycle.
At some point I found my behavior so ridiculous that I managed to transition back to the "preferred addiction":

2. Nicotine Gums

Yes these things have the right amount of disgusting to them that you don't get completely addicted to them, as they tend to have something that makes your stomach acid increase.

3. As I still need something for my mind and I haven't tried fidget spinners yet - this time I also transitioned from the nicotine gums to regular gums.
My jaw is quiet well trained now, beware!


Going to the gym or doing something of similar physical exhaustion is the greatest lever for me, with the cognitive dissonance of being into healthy food and supplementation and all that - while smoking - yeah that helps too

Anyways, I thought I'll start this thread here for anyone with similar issues,
with additional advice.

For me it was always 100% switching to something for the most part - no less and less addiction x.

Have a good one!

 

[mistiquemisty]

I honestly think a lot of people will relate to this more than they admit. The cycle of quitting, relapsing, switching habits, and trying again is extremely common, especially when smoking becomes tied not only to nicotine but also to routine, stress relief, identity, or mental stimulation.

What you said about exercise creating cognitive dissonance really makes sense. Once you start feeling your lungs working better, your stamina improving, and your body recovering, smoking starts feeling increasingly incompatible with the lifestyle you’re building. Cycling especially seems like a powerful motivator because you can physically feel the difference in your breathing capacity.

I also found your point about “switching” instead of simply removing the habit very interesting. A lot of people underestimate how much addiction is ritual and sensory repetition: hand movement, oral fixation, pauses during the day, etc. Replacing the ritual with something less harmful can sometimes work better than relying on pure willpower alone.

And honestly, the “preferred addiction” line made me laugh because it feels very real. Sometimes recovery is less about becoming perfectly disciplined overnight and more about gradually moving toward less destructive patterns.

Thanks for sharing this!
Threads like these help people feel less isolated in the process.

 

[ElectricEgregore]

I think fighting off these habits is all about making pacts with yourself and with powers that support you -
it can be pretty subtle, but just know that aligning yourself with a principle you want to emulate can bring the momentum you need.

For discipline it can be Saturn - and Saturn likes rules that you set for yourself.

One that was hard for me was that I failed at my challenge of keeping 3 rules every day for around 40 days (time the nervous system needs to change patterns) - It were 3 harsh rules, so i could have started with applying one rule after another week after week. But not me

1.It was no overthinking/phone for 60-90 min in the morning and doing something that is straight action to get something done/movement right away.

2. at least 60-90 min deep focus every day on some topic that brings me forward in my goals and visions.

3. No screen time after 9 pm.

It's astonishing how these basic small rules can be too harsh for a modern human being/
how easy it is to break one and then another - or life get's in between so often that you feel like the last cheater.

Anyways - if you add the rule of detox Sundays on top (Sundays are vegetable days - you are the vegetable - no distractions/electronic devices (e-reader allowed), no food, just soup and that kind of fasting stuff, teas allowed, walks allowed (I thought abut allowing expeditions into the woods and magick too) - if you add this rule to number 1. and 3. from before - this was like a total reset button.

The weekly detox Sundays are working in a way where you reset your dopamine to the simple things in life - so on Monday you get exited to work on your stuff again, to eat something etc - and the rules are easier to apply - and increasingly you fall back into old habits - until it's Sunday again - this way you improve week to week if you manage.

At least the effects were strongest for me in the combo when i had a detox sunday and went through with the wake up rules and the early bedtime/only reading rule (i think i also made it with the focus sessions) - that way i really changed something very quick. I think if I kept the detox rule too i might have made it through the whole thing.

Not completely related to this smoking thing, but it's basically the same helping principles -
If you think about a pact - you choose something that is a little more than you would normally do or give -
if you make the contract over time - it's basically like these challenges.

You give to receive. You achieve by giving up on something else.

You gain self esteem and trust in yourself by standing by what you think and say.

Thinking and speaking and doing aligned.

That is even the key thing that increased testosterone in men - the trust in yourself and the following through and achieving things you set your mind to. I