There are a lot of tools out there that claim to help smokers quit. Nicotine gum, patches, drugs, hypnosis, and more.
Here’s an unpleasant truth – tools are just tools. Some may help, some may help a lot, but nothing will do the hard work for you. There are no shortcuts, no tricks, no magic bullets. Different tools claim different effects, usually easing withdrawal symptoms a bit, but none of these tools (not gum, lozenges, Chantix, Zyban, or anything else) can stop you from choosing to pick up a cigarette, light it, and inhale.
I used the nicotine lozenges during this quit. I also used the lozenges in my last two failed attempts to quit. What can we conclude about lozenges from this? In all three attempts, they did their job – they gave me a small dose of nicotine to make withdrawal slightly less uncomfortable. The lozenges worked just fine – it was ME that failed those two times, and ME that chose to change my behavior this time.
Think about this – if you need to build a staircase, and build a shoddy, rickety, unsafe thing that collapses the first time you use it, do you say “I guess my hammer didn’t work”?
Include these types of tools in your plan if you want. Absolutely. But put the proper emphasis on them.
And while you’re mapping out your day-by-day plan for using different tools, make sure you’re also mapping out your mental plan – your commitment to change your behavior, to respond to life’s triggers in a new way, to distract yourself when it gets difficult, and to accept that withdrawal is uncomfortable but entirely manageable. No pill or patch will do that part for you.
Physical – managing nicotine withdrawal.
Mental – responding in a new way when you’re stressed, bored, hungry, or sad.
You need both plans to succeed.
Choose, commit, and act! You can do this!
I quit making excuses to smoke 872 days ago. I have saved $4,360 by not smoking 17,441 cigarettes. I have saved 1 Month, 4 Weeks, and 2 Days of my life.
