Action

If you have read the article posted below, you have by now most certainly realized the the process of "quitting" had to be cold turkey.. at one go.

I selected the date of my so called "quit", it was 15th February 2009, Sunday. The choice of this rested on a few facts.
1. It was 10 days away from the day I was fixing this date
2. My cousin was getting married on 10th Feb

Till 15th Feb 2009, I smoked to my hearts content. Even on 15th, I smoked my usual quota and some more. The last cigarette I had was around 11.20 PM and I went to sleep. The battle started from the next day....

On 15th , I also sent a SMS to all my known friends and office colleagues . It went something like this - " I am quitting smoking effective 2mro. Hence I may be a bit edgy, irritable, grumpy and behave like an asshole for the next few days" :-) . This SMS was met with answers like "God Bless", "Aap samajhdar ho gaye" etc

Let me tell you a simple fact. The physical craving is simply nothing compared to the psychological craving. However, being aware that a craving lasts a minimum of 2 seconds to a maximum of 5 seconds can help you to plan ahead on how to deal with it. I followed a simple method which worked for me :: Whenever I had the urge to smoke, I closed my eyes and took deep breaths. Very deep breath, take one, keep as long as you can( count till 10), and then exhale slowly. I generally took 12 breaths for every single urge that I had..

This made life a bit easier.

The notable side effects that I had consisted of the following ::
a. Constipation
b. Acute sleepiness ( falling asleep in office at 11 am in the morning !!!)

The first 72 hours is the toughest, then the cravings are spaced out . As of writing this post, I am 11 days without a smoke and there are periods of 12 hours also where I have not felt a single craving. My personal experinece suggests that if you are sufficiently motivated and have reasonable will power, YOU CAN QUIT.

If you go through the internet, you will come across umpteen links which will tell you how tough it is to quit "cold turkey", how many people have failed, what your body will experience and the assorted bullshit...

Let me assure you as a first hand quitter by the "cold turkey " method, there are discomforts but nothing is as serious as portrayed by these over zealous websites. The conspiracy theorist in me ( you will come to know slowly that I am a bit paranoid) thinks that all these websites which tell you that quitting "cold turkey" is impossible are actually mouthpieces of companies who deal in nicotine patches/gums etc... he he he :-)

Sleep now is extremely deep ( due to clear breathing), I feel extremely energized and people known to me have commented that I am looking a bit different nowadays. I have noticed a significant change, I am not losing my cool easily. I am much more relaxed.

It is 11 days since I last smoked, the urges have practically vanished. Hence I can claim with reasonable pride that I have QUIT.

Next post :: We start on the diet and the exercise.