I bought an electronic cigarette. I spent $20 on a little dinky no-name e-cig from 7-eleven. It doesn't need to be fancy. I do recommend getting one that doesn't resemble and real cigarette as I've tried the multi-colored ones and just plain black ones in the past and they didn't cut it. I'd assume because it didn't trick my brain into thinking I was smoking a real one. The one I bought came with a wall charger and looked like this:
Before you buy an e-cig and think, "Hey, this is a good alternative" Don't kid yourself. You'll soon realize after reverting to the e-cig, it tastes, feels and smells completely different than smoking a real cigarette. Most people that decide they're going to use an e-cig instead of smoking usually ( about 40%) end up reverting back to smoking cigarettes. I bought this e-cig fully knowing it's not going to be my "replacement". It was only going to be there if the craving was too much to handle so I wouldn't catch myself thinking of driving to the gas station to pick up some smokes. It worked for that purpose 100%.
Now for the gruesome pictures that kept me motivated. Again, skim through if you've got a sensitive midsection.
I saved these pictures on my phone so I could literally gross myself out of wanting a cigarette when a craving would strike. These hit home every time. Find some photos like these or use theses! Sometimes the glory of saving money and being able to travel or pay off debt it's quite enough of an aid as some my think. Having something to represent a different benefit of quitting is very much advised.
FOOD! ( I know, I should have written about food before those photos. lol )
I knew before quitting that doing so would increase my appetite dramatically. Some people don't experience this at all. So, before the journey began, I went to the store and got healthy snack options like fruits and veggies primarily. With these I could stuff my face happily and not worry about weight gain because of my ravenous feelings. People will try both quit smoking and eat healthier, but I don't recommend it. It's far too much on your plate. In my experience, once I starting paying attention to not smoking, I also paid a lot more attention to what I was eating for some reason. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big girl all 200lbs of me, and I fully expected to put on a weight during this process. I never before watched what I ate until now. And I wasn't even trying! It's amazing what happens in your brain when you flip that switch. I ultimately lost weight during my 30 day process.
The last tool I recommend is time-wasters. You'll find out very soon on that there are times you're body automatically get's prepared for a smoke. Like, after eating and when you wake up in the morning. This will pass. Every time you get a craving, IT WILL GO AWAY and you have to remember this every single time. That's why time-wasters are a great idea. In my case, I love crafts and art projects so I went to Hobby Lobby for a haul. I bought paints, glitter, glue, canvas' , yarn and needles. etc. I figured, I'd normally be spending this money on smokes, why not get whatever I want in their place. GREAT IDEA. I youtubed and googled DIY crafts and made a list of all the cool things I could make. This made those difficult cravings and lack of stimulation seem like little speed bumps. For some, it may be cooking, reading, cleaning or outdoor activities that will strike your fancy, along with many other likes. Go to that awesome sports store and get that racket you've wanted or go to Trader Joe's and let you're heart go wild.
Doing this, you'll remember how happy these things made you before you used smoking to compensate for it. For me it was Goodwill, I got so much stuff to upcycle, I'm still doing them well after quitting smoking.
These are the most prominent tools I used to help me quit smoking. There are other's that played a much smaller role in my quitting, but I'll disclose those as we're going through the process and steps to quit.
I hope you find time to get some of these tools to aid you as well. If you have any questions about these tools or need support in any way please comment and I'll gladly help you out! :) Tomorrow, I'll start from day one and explain the process of smoker to non-smoker.
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