by andy_g » Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:07 pm
can't say i agree with anyone who says to take it a day, or week or a month at a time - then start again if you feel like it. i've given up twice for 2 years and am now a year and a half into my latest. the first two times was through sheer determination, no patches, gum, or any of that other rubbish, but making the most of being ill. those 3 or 4 days that you feel so ill you don't want a ciggy are a great head start.
for me the most important thing is a little reprogramming of that chip in the brain that says you're a smoker because if you don't change it you'll always be someone trying to give up, or an ex-smoker. change the chip to be a non-smoker. if any one offers you a ciggy you reply 'no thanks, i don't smoke' and not 'no thanks, i'm giving up'. thinking about the fact that you're giving up makes you think about the ciggies and you'll miss them, so just stop considering it. from the morning you wake up on the chosen day you are a non-smoker and you just get through it.
this works for me and i know i'll never go back to smoking (despite a cheeky one at new year and a crafty one at a party the month before). having said that, we all know that everyone is different so find the way that works for you.

Get up! everybody's gonna move their feet
Get Down! everybody's gonna leave their seat