"Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times." (this quote is not by Mark Twain and is hard to trace to who coined it). This quote really caught my eye one day on the internet. I've tried to quit smoking multiple times and each time ended in a failure where I once again lit up a cigarette. I used smoking as a crutch for my anxiety, everytime I quit smoking my anxiety would get ridiculously out of control to the point I would make myself physically ill from stress. I hated this side of myself, and hated that I had to use an outside source as a crutch rather than being strong enough to handle my issues on my own.
I started looking at ways to help me quit smoking and keep myself calm. As soon as you put anything like that into a search bar there are all kinds of add's being shoved in your face for medications and "hollistic" ways to quit smoking that you would have to spend lots of money on. I have already spent loads of money on cigarettes and here is more organizations asking for more money to "help" me quit smoking. I was so sick of the organizations preying on my weakness by digging into my wallet. I tried a perscription from my docotor called Wellbrutrin or something of that nature and I later tried some herbal remedies. None of them seemed to work, I was angry from the nicotine withdrawl, the medication added to my mood swings, the anxiety stayed, and as anyone who has quit smoking knows, you have a battle being waged in your head about getting a pack of cigarettes.....after all, what would just one cigarette hurt?
That's when I started thinking about the affect nicotine was having on my mind. Were these thoughts of wanting a cigarette my own or the result of the chemicals mixing around in my body? This thought disturbed me above all else, I'm willingly putting something into my body that could have this big of an affect on my thoughts? My attitude? My personality even? I really wanted to quit now, and luckily I found a tip how on the internet that really was natural and healthy.
Now here is where you might think, " ah here is where she gives us her sales pitch to go buy something that she is now endorsing", well I'm really not lol. I did see a "lifehack" on pinterest one day for quitting smoking and decided to give it a try. The lifehack was that if you are trying to quit smoking then you should go to a sauna for three days in a row, this will allow your body to sweat out all the nicotine in your system. I then did some reseach on the different types of saunas, what ones do best with detoxing your whole body, what types had more health benefits or were more comfortable to be in. I did some solid research for a couple of days. Then I remembered that my mom always enjoyed saunas and christmas was coming up. I had some refund money from school and so I decided to get her a christmas present to out-do all christmas presents. I bought her one of those little one room saunas that you can install yourself.
I'm not going to lie, this sauna did not solve all of my problems with smoking. First time I used it and quit I ended up falling off the wagon from making myself ill again. So then I started yoga in addition to my daily workouts, this helped a lot with finding my inner peace and learning how to control my anxiety. I don't think that would work for everyone, but part of life is finding what works best for you. Medication may work better for others, but after realizing what a crutch smoking had been for me I did not want to substitute one crutch for another. I wanted a cure and not just a masking of the symptoms. Cures come from the inside, from learning about yourself.
So I know I'm only five days in too not smoking but I'm not having any of the same issues I did before. I've sweated out all of the nicotine and I no longer have the feeling of absolute need for a cigarette. Having quit before I know the first two weeks are just horrible, and I'm just not going through that at all right now. The sauna helped a lot, especially with the chemicals that get stuck in your body, but it really comes down to finding your inner strength.
