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I began smoking the summer of 1989, when I was thirteen years old. I told myself I could quit at any time. Seventeen years later, I finally quit smoking at 12:00 am September 25th, 2006.

It still seems unreal that I'm a nonsmoker now. Even though I don't miss cigarettes at all, being a nonsmoker didn't fit in with my self image for the longest time. Quitting smoking was the biggest change I'd ever made towards a healthier lifestyle, so big in fact that I found myself rebelling in every other aspect of my life. For awhile after quitting I subconsciously self sabotaged my health in other ways. For example, I gained 30 pounds in the following three months leading up to Christmas after I quit smoking and ate so much sugar my dental work started falling out.

Oh well. You win some, you lose some. The good news is that I managed to lose all that weight and more the following year using trophology (food combining) and fasting. And I'm thinner now than I was when I smoked.
But how did I actually quit smoking?

I used several different approaches at once and I planned it all summer. The date kept moving every week for at least a month. I decided I wanted to do it on a Monday because that's when things started getting really busy for me. I definitely didn't want to do it anywhere near my day off because I knew the boredom would derail me. Every Monday for about six weeks was to be my intended quit day.

I kept putting the actual quit date off because I was waiting for an order of these herbal pills. I used them but I strongly recommend against this approach. I started getting migraines and they looped me out pretty seriously. Although the getting looped thing does help, just as long as it doesn't make you want to smoke cigarettes. Medicinal cannabis is also excellent for creating this loopy, detached feeling. I thought about making leaf joints and smoking them instead of cigarettes but that turned out to be sadly impractical.

This reminds me of another thing I did for the first two or three weeks: Incense! I carried around lavender incense and took all my regular smoke breaks with it. I would go outside, light up, take deep breaths and wave that skinny little stick right underneath my nose. People made fun of me but the best thing about this technique is that you can continue to associate with your smoker buddies and take smoke breaks with them without feeling deprived. You get the hand to mouth action plus the incense smell keeps you from salivating over their secondhand smoke.

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