Health and Lifestyle

Here’s How I Tricked My Mind to Stop Smoking.

My personal story on how I quit smoking 40 years ago and never smoked again

We are hard-wired for addictions. The brain must be tricked into stopping addictive behavior. It is difficult but possible to get rid of long-term addictions. Understanding thoughts and emotions are critical.

Addictions create strong paths in our brains. The ongoing action of repeating a habit creates robust circuits in the brain.

There are many addictions. Some are good, and others are bad for our health. Acceptable addictions are the habits we build to perform better and enjoy our lives comfortably. Destructive addictions are the signals our brain computes as good for us but, in reality, harm our health.

Smoking was one of the bad habits I acquired in my late teenage years. The reason to start was the peer group pressure and the admiration of those who smoked, and some thought it looked like a cool thing to do.

The first time I tried smoking, it was awful. However, after smoking a few times with friends at parties, I started enjoying it. In a few weeks, my body got used to it. It turned to pleasure. In a few months, it turned into an addiction.

The cause of addiction is nicotine. Interestingly, I don’t know why and how evolution gave it to us, but our brains have nicotine receptors.

Nicotine itself is not as harmful as it seems; however, smoking cigarettes was proven extremely dangerous to health. The body of knowledge is full of evidence on the detrimental effects of cigarette smoking.

Despite all the millions of people who continue to smoke.

When I started working in the early 80s, almost everyone was smoking. My job was stressful in an office full of technical employees. We were allowed to smoke in the office. The room was full of smoke. All day we kept breathing in cigarette smoke.

Those few who were not smoking were also inhaling smoke which is referred to as “second-hand smoking.” It looked so natural as almost everyone was smoking in the office and social settings. Even when I would visit my relatives, people used to smoke in the presence of kids at home.

There was some initial research in those days, but they produced only preliminary findings. Not many of us took notice of it. Due to my work stress, smoking at least a packet of cigarettes and inhaling cigarette smoke started causing some health issues.

The first physical manifestation was my stomach discomfort. It continued for a while and turned unbearable. The advice I got from a healthcare professional shocked me. If I didn’t give up smoking, they would cut out the lower part of my stomach.

The real root cause of the stomach ulcer was not known in those days. The treatment was cutting the ulcer, which the doctor believed my smoking exacerbated. This bad news shattered my views about smoking. I tried to give it up, but my body was craving it. There were no smoking cessation aids like lozenges, patches, sprays, and gums in those days.

Fortunately, I met a caring psychologist who walked me through the process. I did not know anything about mindfulness and emotional intelligence in those days. It had yet to hit the mainstream. But this psychologist introduced me to observe my thoughts and feelings. She taught me to name my thoughts and feelings.

She emphasized that craving is a kind of feeling generated by the brain. When nicotine amounts drop in the body, the brain thinks something important is being lost for our survival; hence it is notified via feelings.

Whenever a craving was coming, I started seeing it as an object. I was talking to it. Here we go, another message from my brain. It was only a thought. I did not entertain the thought; hence they did not turn into feelings. I kept self-hypnotizing myself and using my reticular activating system.

Some advice from this psychologist was critical. She said thoughts could turn into emotions, and emotions come and go. They were not permanent. By observing the emotions and not judging them, I noticed that the unpleasant feelings were disappearing.

Besides, this psychologist taught me that these urges come from reducing nicotine in my bloodstream. She assured me that once nicotine was fully consumed from my body, the urges would stop. She was right. The hope and optimism she introduced to me were excellent motivations for me to endure the urges. As she pointed out, after a while, the urges disappeared.

Within a few months, I did not have any urges to smoke. Once I gave up smoking, my appetite increased, and I fed myself nutritious food. A few months later, when they used endoscopy, my stomach healed.

The physician said, “Did I tell you that giving up smoking would heal your ulcer?” I am not sure whether stopping smoking healed the ulcer, but I was happy with the outcome.

From hindsight, things looked clearer. Years later, studying cognitive science at the postgraduate level, everything this psychologist taught me was right and made perfect sense. She helped me rewire my brain.

I remember her as an angel who touched me in my desperation.

This was over 40 years ago. I never smoked again but used pure nicotine for different reasons, as mentioned in this story:1 Mg Pure Nicotine Helped Me Write 10,000 Words.

I believe that pure nicotine does not cause cigarette smoking’s side effects. Many other factors, like harmful chemicals in cigarettes, cause them.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

You may also check the experience of Mike Broadly — Healthier Lifestyle in the attached short story.

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