What Do Nonsmokers do?

    While I was still smoking, my desire to quit caused me to do research. I looked up different programs, how addiction to a substance affected the brain, all the different cessation aids and how successful they
are as well as knowing which one(s) worked best for me, and what was most important to me, the experiences of those I know that are “ex-smokers”. I don’t like the term ex-smoker. In my mind, at a certain point, you become a nonsmoker.

    Back to the topic, through my research I found a lot of different programs, websites, and phone apps that have worked for a lot of people. The problem I have, I don’t like following them unless I come up with it. I decided that following a program wasn’t for me. I also found that the best smoking cessation
aid for me was the patches. The gum seemed to choke me. Though it’s not a cessation aid, vapes just didn’t work.

    If I was going to smoke, Might as well have the real thing. Nicotine inhalers seemed to do fine but I was too lazy to go to the doctor to get a prescription for them. There are others but I found the patches worked just fine plus my niece’s girlfriend gave me boxes of 21, 14, and 7 mg patches. When I was finally
ready, all I had to do was slap a patch on and go.

    The most important thing was hearing the stories from friends, family and coworkers that are nonsmokers that used to smoke. They would talk about how they ate like they never had food before, how easily irritated they became and, the best part, how they felt better and not smoking “made everything better” as emphasized by my college math professor. He would open his eyes wide; rise up on his tiptoes with the okay symbol in the air stating “it makes EVERYTHING better”.

    This part of my journey took years for me to accomplish however, it doesn’t have to take that long for you. From asking so many people how they made themselves quit, I found that from my Mom who used the patches to quit 5 years ago to one of my best friends who quit cold turkey 6 years ago they all had one
thing in common. It caused me to ask myself during the first two week: What do nonsmokers do?

    At work I noticed nonsmokers didn’t take the unofficial 15 min breaks. Some didn’t even go outside during their lunch. I like sitting in my car on lunch so I kept my windows up to keep from smelling the smoke. My Mom and friend were always doing something so at home I made sure I always kept my mind busy. When you have the urge to smoke when trying to quit ask yourself, “What do
nonsmokers do?” and be observant.