From when I was 16 to 18, I found it impossible to close my days without an entire packet. That’s 10 cigarettes a day. 300 cigarettes a month. It’s wild, but crazier to know I had friends that feasted on more than a packet every day.

And in 2 years, I puffed on 7,200 cigarettes. The numbers should be bigger since there were days I smoked more than 10. But let’s just keep it this way and avoid the complicated calcs. I hate math.

I knew I had to cut down the numbers when my asthma god bad. It was worse at night so I’ve had countless number of days without sleep. But thanks to the sickness, I only light 1 cigarette a day now. And I’ve been smoking only 1 for a day for the past 4 months. Smoking is bad, certainly. But looking at my numbers, the transformation is pretty neat. In fact, it’s amazing when I think about the people that are struggling with the addiction.

I’m pretty sure what I did will help people. It’s not rocket science, by the way. I just got to learn to take control over my mind. And yes, there are a few things I did to get back in control. And that’s why I’m writing this article now.

I know how deadly the habit can be. Tobacco kills up to half of its users, which is more than 8 million death cases every year, and it’s only a matter of time for anyone like me to become the one in those millions. Is this frightening? Well, that was the whole point 🙂

How to cut down smoking can be done in different ways but there is no point not taking the risk when there’s already a cure for the habit. The cure is, of course, not easy for anyone that’s seriously addicted. My methods had my patience slightly tested, but I was ready to go beyond my limits.

1. Restrain Access to Cigarettes

The best way I dealt with smoking is by slowly cutting down the number of cigarettes I consume rather than trying to quit all a sudden. I personally do not know anyone that succeeded quitting out of the blue and it didn’t work out for me either.

What I did was control my urge to smoke and slowly brought down the numbers. And I did this by buying a lesser amount of cigarettes than I usually did. And I’m pretty sure this tip will help anyone that puff on more than 3 cigarettes every day. Believe it or not, this was the only method that finally helped me cut down from 10 daily cigarettes to just one.

I smoked 10 cigarettes a day. To deal with the habit, I immediately stopped stocking them. And when my current stock was done, I went out and bought 2 cigarettes less for the day. So initially, I was buying an entire packet of 10 cigarettes, but then I cut it down to 8.

When I was stocked for a day, I made a schedule for my addiction. As I had 8 cigarettes, I smoked two in the morning, two in the evening, two at night, and two before sleep. I had to make sure my stock had me covered for the entire day so I took it in intervals. I Kept following the new schedule until I got used to the new habit. It took me one week.

It kind of feel illegal for me to say I smoked cigarettes to not smoking them anymore. Yes, it sounds silly but these tips are effective as proven in my experience.

When I got used to the new habit, I repeated the method and cut down the numbers again. Bought 6 instead of 8. Then I made my next schedule and started to cope with that as well.

Eventually, this came down to 1 cigarette a day. This can come down to zero if the goal is to completely kill the addiction. But I love smoking and I don’t really want to quit it. Lighting a cigarette with some high energy music turned on really pumps up my adrenaline for some reason. I’ll feel like doing anything at this point.

2. Keep Away From Smoking Friends and Tobacco Environment

This is a crucial part in ceasing the smoking addiction. From my personal experience, a fair share of times I was influenced and driven to smoke when my friends tempted me to, or whenever I saw someone smoking peacefully down the street.

To prevent myself being easily influenced into lighting another cigarette was to cut off the influence in the first place. I told my friends about the situation and asked them not to smoke within my presence anymore. Sometimes I even tried not seeing them for some time until I was recovered from the habit.

I’ve also experienced the urge kicking in whenever I saw my favourite movie stars smoking for their scenes. Like I remember watching Thomas Shelby taking a puff in The Peaky Blinders, and the next moment I’ll be stretching to my packet, pause the video, and pump in-out the heavenly smoke. And it’s crazy this is normal for me and many others. Statistics do show this influence is real and common, where a strong relation between exposure to movie smoking and smoking initiation was proven, according to NCBI.

3. Don’t Stress Out Too Much

It’s true that many people smoke when under stress. And it is indeed true that tobacco relieves stress. But what’s not known is that tobacco only creates an immediate sense of relaxation and it is likely to increase anxiety and tension.

And when I think about it, this is, in fact, true. At least in my case it was. I smoked to relieve from stress but it pumped up my anxiety, nudging me to smoke more cigarettes, and I was eventually driven into the habitual loop.

So the best way to relieve from stress is actually not to stress out too much. Whenever I knew I was putting too much tension into work and got the urge to smoke, I’d just take a break, watch a comedy, and imagine myself struggling with the deadly cancer. Believe me, this bloody helps!

4. Get busy and stop thinking about smoking

Personally, I found myself smoking less cigarettes whenever I was busy. But still I’d get the urge to smoke and there have been instances when I escaped for a quick smoke. This happened whenever I kept thinking sabout lighting the cigarette.

But since being busy helped me on some level, I just started doing something in my house or office whenever I got the urge. Something that never really needed my attention but still made my life easier when I actually did it. Like putting my bed or organizing the workspace.

And yeah, it’s important not to always think about taking a smoke. Whenever the idea of smoking kicks in, I try and distract my head into something else. Although, to be frank, this didn’t always work for me.

Thanks for reading the article. I hope it’s brought some value to help anyone trying to cut off the addiction.

Don’t be worried about the habit. After all, no human is without a flaw. But be concerned of the addiction and be reminded of the worst that can happen from smoking.

The methods I’ve mentioned will be worth trying for anyone that’s addicted. At least they have helped me so I hope they’ll work out for others as well. Have a great day, all

How to Cut Down Smoking Gradually in Summary

Thanks for reading the article. I hope it’s brought some value to help anyone trying to cut off the addiction.

Don’t be worried about the habit. After all, no human is without a flaw. But be concerned of the addiction and be reminded of the worst that can happen from smoking.

The methods I’ve mentioned will be worth trying for anyone that’s addicted. At least they have helped me so I hope they’ll work out for others as well. Have a great day, all.

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