1. ADDICTION: Like it or not, if you are a daily smoker or e-cig user and reading these tips then in all likelihood you are a true drug addict in every sense, addicted to a most amazing chemical called nicotine. Canada's most empowering cigarette pack warning label ever read, "Warning: cigarettes are highly addictive. Studies have shown that tobacco can be harder to quit than heroin or cocaine." There is no U.S. addiction warning label. Fully accepting who we became destroys the need for the long list of reasons we invented to try and explain that next fix. There's just one. It wasn't that we liked smoking but that we didn't like what happened when we didn't.
2. HOOKED: Studies suggest that most of us became hooked far quicker and while smoking far fewer cigarettes than previously believed possible. Two-thirds of all first-time youth smokers will become chemically addicted. A June 2005 study (Kandel) found that 86.8% of students smoking nicotine at least once daily were already hooked solid using dependency standards contained in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, 4th Edition. Dump or flush any dreams and tease that you would someday learn or discover how to control the uncontrollable.
3. THE LAW: The Law of Addiction states "administration of a drug to an addict will cause re-establishment of chemical dependence upon the addictive substance at the old level of use or greater." Yes, just one powerful puff of nicotine and within 8 to 10 seconds up to half of brain dopamine pathway receptors would become occupied by nicotine. You'll be faced with enduring nicotine detox all over again. We're not that strong. Discard any and all thoughts of "cheating." Fully commit to ... no nicotine just one hour, challenge and day at a time, to Never Take Another Puff!
4. YOUR HISTORY: Reflect back to your longest attempt ever. It failed for one reason, you introduced nicotine back into your bloodstream. After lapsing, it wasn't long before you found your brain wanting, plotting to obtain, or even begging for more. We can learn the power of a puff through the school of hard-quitting knocks or in lessons such as this. Either way, knowledge truly is power.
5. PERMANENT: Nicotine dependency is every bit as real and permanent as alcoholism. Don't play word or mind games with yourself. While we can fully and comfortably arrest our dependency, we remain on probation for life, just one puff away from relapse.
6. JUST A "BAD HABIT"?: Now that you understand the Law, discard junkie thinking telling you that all you had was a "nasty little habit." Why? Because harboring such beliefs can foster relapse once complacency arrives. Habits can be molded, modified, manipulated, and controlled. Failure to use turn signals while driving or using too many cuss words is a "habit." But when in the history of the world was any person who started using turn signals and stopped cussing been thrown into full-blown withdrawal? Again, believing that you will someday discover how to control the uncontrollable invites loss of control.
7. RECOVERY: Nicotine physically alters and desensitizes the brain. It causes at least eleven different brain regions to grow millions of extra acetylcholine receptors. Successful quitting is allowing the up to 3 days needed to empty the body of nicotine and move beyond peak withdrawal, the up to 21 days needed for brain receptor re-sensitization, the time needed for extinguishing subconscious nicotine feeding cues/triggers, and the time needed to move beyond years of conscious smoking or vaping rationalizations and minimizations.
8. GETTING CLEAN: Nicotine's elimination half-life is roughly two hours. Unless replenished, the amount of nicotine remaining in your bloodstream will be cut by half every two hours. When quitting cold turkey, 100% of nicotine and 90% of its metabolites will be out of your system within 72 hours. It's then that neuronal re-sensitization (to your own acetylcholine) has no choice but begin, leaving the most challenging portion of withdrawal behind you.
9. GETTING STARTED: How do you get started? It's simply a matter of mustering the courage to say "no" to that next mandatory feeding. After you do, congratulate yourself. You did it! It was perfect! Now, relax as much as possible, yet stay prepared to say "no" to the next urge too. Again, after you do, get excited! This is all it takes. You're doing it. Now, baby steps, just the next few minutes, that next challenge if any, yes you can!
10. WHEN TO START: Two studies, West 2006 and Ferguson 2009, produced the exact same finding, that unplanned or spontaneous quitting attempts were 260% more likely to succeed than planned attempts. Was that the result of planning allowing time for anticipation to gradually drain the quitter's resolve or simply evidence that those who postpone quitting are generally less committed? Either way, the best time to begin your journey home is now.
11. DESTROY ALL NICOTINE: Destroy all cigarettes, e-cigarettes, use accessories, and other nicotine products beyond your ability to salvage them. Keeping a stash handy makes as much sense as someone on suicide watch keeping a loaded gun. Fully commit to going the distance and seeing what it's like to awaken to an expectation of going your entire day without once wanting to inhale nicotine. Oh, you may still want to from time to time but such events will become the exception, not the rule.
12. FINDING CIGS OR E-CIGS: Don't do it! It's common and normal to find cigarettes in coat pockets, under couch cushions or a seat in the car, to find an old cigar that you were given after a baby's birth or nicotine-gum from a prior failed attempt. It's not fate or the return of some long-lost friend. Destroy them, and relish doing so. Freedom from nicotine is wonderful and you've earned the right to experience and savor the calm and quiet mind that returns once your addiction's chatter ends.
13. MOTIVATION: Having trouble getting started? Is your motivation in need of a boost? Guess what 23-year-old Quentin's final act was before dying of renal cell carcinoma? According to his mom, "He did not ask to look at the sky or feel the soft late-summer air on his skin. He did not ask to see his baby daughter's face. He did not ask for his beloved dog, or for his brother, or for his mother. He asked for a smoke." Visit WhyQuit and meet Deb, Neal, Kim, Noni, Sean, Bryan, and Brandon.
14. CONFIDENCE: Strive to change your thinking as to how "likely" success is. Quitting smoking isn't just possible, we have far more ex-smokers in the U.S. than current smokers. Never forget that it is IMPOSSIBLE to fail so long as all nicotine remains on the outside.
15. COMMITMENT: Nicotine dependency recovery is all or nothing, either you're serious or playing games in pretending to arrest your addiction. Accept the fact that recovery is one of the few things in life where being 99% successful results in defeat.
16. SMARTS: Although extremely addictive, like salt, nicotine is simply a chemical with an I.Q. of zero. Understand your massive advantage. Nicotine cannot think, plot, plan, or conspire and is not some monster or demon that dwells within. Although we'll never be stronger than nicotine, we don't need to be. Our greatest weapon has always been our vastly superior intelligence, but only if put to work.
17. GO COLD TURKEY: Cold turkey is defined as an abrupt and complete end of the use of an addictive drug. FACT: Each and every year, for at least 5,000 consecutive years, cold turkey has helped more people arrest their chemical dependence than all other quitting methods combined. It's fast, free, safe, highly productive, and more effective in real-world quitting than over-the-counter replacement nicotine (NRT).
18. TURKEYVILLE: Would you like to see these quitting tips in action? Visit Turkeyville, an education-oriented Facebook support group exclusively for cold turkey quitters. While you can join now, you cannot post to the group until you have abruptly and completely ended all nicotine use.
19. NTAP: Knowledge is power! Read the free ebook "Never Take Another Puff." It's a collection of 129 short articles by Joel Spitzer, who devoted nearly 50 years to teaching smokers the keys to successful cold turkey quitting.
20. JOEL'S LIBRARY: Explore Joel's Library, home to Joel Spitzer's life's work including nearly 500 video pages, his clinic reinforcement letters, and his Daily Quitting Guide.
21. SMART TURKEY: Free and less than an hour's read, "Smart Turkey" was written by John R. Polito, a former long-term heavy smoker, WhyQuit's 1999 founder, and the author of these tips.
22. FFN-TJH: While there are hundreds of stop smoking books, only one was cited by the U.S. Surgeon General in his 700 page 2020 report entitled "Smoking Cessation: A Report of the Surgeon General": "Polito JR. Freedom from Nicotine: The Journey Home, 2013." Again, it's free!
23. THE ENEMY: Only in an addict's mind would the natural insecticide depriving them of freedom be considered a friend, pal or companion. Toss out all junkie thinking that the toxin and cancer promoter nicotine is somehow your friend. It's the enemy. Imagine the sickness afflicting a mind that fears coming home.
24. FEAR OF FAILURE AND FEAR OF SUCCESS: While fear of failing can be a massive obstacle to making a serious attempt, fear of success can too. It's normal for a dependency-conditioned mind to both fear failing while at the same time being terrified that life without smoking or vaping won't be worth living, that you'd be leaving a huge part of yourself behind. Calm such junkie thinking. Amazingly, within two weeks, for most newbies, such fears are replaced with like or even love of being free. Acknowledge the negative but dwell on the positive.
25. EVERY ATTEMPT IS DIFFERENT: If your last attempt was easy or hard, this time may be the exact opposite. Illness, disease, pregnancy, education or super desires, our motivations can grow so overpowering that our subconscious somehow instantly switches teams and begins seeing nicotine as the enemy. While cake-walk quits are more common than we think, whether this recovery is your easiest ever or your hardest, the next few minutes are all that matter and each is entirely doable.
26. FOREVER: Forget about quitting "forever." It's the biggest psychological bite imaginable. Instead, work hard at adopting a more manageable "one day at a time" standard for measuring victory. If we insist on seeing success only in terms of quitting forever, then on which day will we be entitled to celebrate? Who is coming to that party?
27. IT'S TEMPORARY: Nicotine dependency recovery is a temporary journey of re-adjustment. It transports us home to the richest sense of mental quiet and deep inner calm that we've known since nicotine assumed command and control over the flow of more than 200 of our body's neurochemicals, including dopamine, adrenaline and serotonin. So, get as comfortable as possible being temporarily uncomfortable.
28. IT'S DOABLE: The idea that quitting is close to impossible or that relapse is a natural part of quitting process is often perpetuated by Internet quitting sites and is dangerous. Worldwide, there are more than 1 billion calm and comfortably recovered nicotine addicts. There is absolutely no reason why you can't join us.
29. SYMPTOMS: Regarding withdrawal symptoms, within reason, it's fairly safe to blame what you'll feel during the first three days on quitting. But after that, you need to listen to your body. If you normally would have made arrangements to get seen by a doctor, the smart move is to give your doctor a call. And don't blame your symptoms on where you're going but on where you've been. See each symptom as evidence of healing.
30. BLOOD SUGAR ISSUES: A stimulant, each puff of nicotine was our spoon, releasing stored calories into our bloodstream. It allowed us to skip meals without experiencing wild blood-sugar swing symptoms such as an inability to concentrate (brain fog) or hunger-related anxieties. Learning to again properly fuel our body by spreading out our normal daily calorie intake more evenly over the day takes a bit of practice. Do not skip meals.
31. NATURAL FRUIT JUICE: If your health and diet permit, sip on natural fruit juice for the first three days. Cranberry is excellent and a bottle will cost less than a pack of cigarettes. The acidic juices will not only aid in more quickly eliminating the alkaloid nicotine from your bloodstream but will help stabilize blood sugars. Take care beyond 3 days as juice is rather fattening.
32. HIDDEN ISSUES: Each puff of smoke contained more than 5,000 chemicals, and 80 chemicals have been identified in e-cigarette vapor. One or more of these chemicals may have been masking an underlying hidden health problem such as a thyroid condition (some cigarette brands contain iodine), asthma (some cigarette brands contain bronchodilators), or even chronic organic depression (nicotine). Stay alert for the possible surfacing of hidden health issues and get seen if at all concerned.
33. MEDICATIONS: One or more of your cigarette's chemicals may also have been interacting with medications you were taking and an adjustment may be necessary. Also, smoking contributes to hundreds of health issues and some of your medications may need to be reduced in strength or eliminated. Again, stay alert for the possibility and if at all concerned contact your physician or pharmacist.
34. EMOTIONAL RECOVERY: Chemical dependency upon smoking or vaping nicotine is one of the most intense, repetitive and dependable relationships you've likely ever known. It's infected almost every aspect of your life. Be prepared to experience a normal sense of emotional loss when quitting. Expect to travel through and experience six different emotional phases: (1) denial, (2) anger, (3) bargaining, (4) depression, (5) acceptance, and (6) complacency.
35. DENIAL: Cessation denial is a state of disbelief. The denial phase of emotional recovery questions and challenges whether a long and intense chemical relationship is really ending. While using, we were protected by a thick blanket of rationalizations, minimizations, fault projections, escapes, intellectualizations and delusions. Our denial helped insulate us from the pain and reality of captivity. But here, during recovery, those same anxiety coping defenses begin to distort reality about what's really happening. I started my quitting seminars by asking for an honest show of hands to the following question. "How many of you feel that you will never, ever smoke again?" Rarely would a hand go up. Even though all attending came wanting to stop, then and there, all were in denial, as none believed they would. Don't allow denial to transform disbelief into failure.
36. ANGER: The anger phase of recovery is a period of healing where we begin to awaken to the realization that it may actually be within our ability to pull this off and succeed. It's the awareness that, just maybe, our last puff, dip, chew, pouch or vape "ever" is already behind us. Durable nicotine use memories flowing from captive dopamine pathways elevated that next fix to one of life's top priorities. But emotional recovery has now transported us from fear of stopping to fear of success. Is it any wonder that anger would be the mind's reaction? It's now sinking in. Success is occurring despite years of denial. A relationship that was once high-priority is ending. This realization can feel overwhelming. While this high-energy phase of goodbye is normal, find non-destructive ways to vent.
37. NEW ANGER REACTIONS: Recovery's normal sense of loss aside, expect new reactions to anger generally. While hooked, when we encountered a person or situation that angered us it had the physiological effect of increasing the acidification of our urine. While urine acidification is of no consequence to non-users or ex-users, it causes the nicotine user's kidneys to accelerate removal of the alkaloid nicotine from their bloodstream. This throws them into withdrawal. Instead of addressing what caused their anger, they are forced to service and calm their addiction instead. Upon quitting and becoming nicotine-free, replenishment's false calming effect will no longer be felt and distract you when angry. Be careful, as it may cause you to, at last, confront the root causes of anger.
38. ANGER AS A RELAPSE PLOY: While anger is a normal and expected emotional recovery phase, it's also a way to experience the flow of missing adrenaline that was once part of our nicotine high. Anxieties flowing from anger can also be used to intentionally fuel rage. I take no pride in recalling that, during multiple prior attempts, I became so nasty and created so much turmoil among those I loved, that I was able to convince them that I needed my cigarettes back. I could then blame them for my failure ("Maybe someday they'll be able to handle my quitting"). Go easy on loved ones. Even during withdrawal, they deserve the very best we can muster.
39. BARGAINING: "Maybe I'm the exception to the Law of Addiction." "Maybe I can handle just one!" Bargaining's primary hope is about continuing this journey home while also visiting with nicotine now and then. Instead of grief simply accepting an end to nicotine use, dependency ignorance toys with breaking free while remaining great friends. Its aim is the impossible feat of letting go, without letting go. But, if allowed, "just one" or "just once" thinking can evolve into "this is just too hard," "too long," "things are getting worse, not better," "this just isn't the right time to stop!" Recognize bargaining when you see it. The key to navigating conflicted feelings is to demand honesty while keeping our primary recovery motivations vibrant, strong and on our mind's center stage.
40. DEPRESSION: Recovery reflects the end of a long and intensely dependent chemical relationship. As the brain restores sensitivities, physiological, psychological, and emotional bonds are broken. Upon realizing that your recovery is likely to be successful, some degree of sense-of-loss sadness is normal and expected. The problem is distinguishing normal and expected sadness from underlying chronic organic depression that surfaces after quitting in a small percentage of quitters. Untreated depression can become as serious and life-threatening as uncontrolled bleeding. If you or a loved one becomes concerned about continuing depression, get seen and evaluated by a mental health professional as soon as possible. If having any thoughts of harming yourself, call now for emergency medical assistance or type "crisis hotline" into any search engine.
41. ACCEPTANCE: The victory phase of the Kubler-Ross grief recovery cycle is acceptance. It's the "this is entirely do-able" moment of our emotional journey that marks our transition from a "user trying to stop" to an "ex-user." It may or may not have been pretty getting here. In regard to emotional recovery, if you've accepted letting go of nicotine, your emotional journey is complete. Congratulations! Now, find a healthy way to celebrate.
42. NICOTINE PRODUCTS: If quitting cold turkey, leave replacement nicotine, e-cigs, pouches and smokeless tobacco alone. Expect pharmaceutical and e-cigarette industry marketing to tease you with the promise of craving satisfaction. Expect nearly all quitting info sites and well-intended support group members to recommend nicotine use as a crave coping technique. But if you've gone 3 days without nicotine, your body is already 100% nicotine-free and you've moved beyond peak withdrawal. Any nicotine now would mean having to go through nicotine detox again. You're smarter than that.
43. OPEN SUPPORT GROUPS: If participating in a mixed support group where all quitting methods are welcome, unless you know that the member posting is going cold turkey, be careful in comparing your recovery to theirs. Bupropion and varenicline have a long list of potential side effects, some serious. If a member who was using e-cigarettes or NRT is now attempting to step-down or stop using nicotine months or years into their quit, it can discourage, frighten or even shock new cold turkey quitters, who are left wondering if they too will experience early withdrawal-type symptoms months or years after quitting.
44. DREAMS AND DESIRES: As with achievement in almost all human endeavors, the wind beneath your recovery wings will not be strength or willpower but robust dreams and desires. Keep your dreams vibrant and on center-stage in your mind and no circumstance will deprive you of glory.
45. CARRY YOUR REASONS: Once in the heat of battle, it is normal for your mind to quickly forget many of the reasons that motivated you to stop smoking or vaping. Write yourself a loving reminder card or letter, carry it with you, and read it often. Make it your first line of defense - a motivational tool that you can pull out during moments of challenge. As new quitting benefits are noticed and appreciated, add them to the list.
46. WEIGHT GAIN: Regarding weight, you'd need to gain at least 75 extra pounds in order to equal the health risks associated with smoking a pack a day. Still, snacking between meals or increasing the overall size of meals can easily result in consuming several hundred extra calories per day. Think long-term. Eating just an additional 100 calories a day (2 cookies) will result in a one-pound fat gain in just over a month, 10.4 pounds in one year, and an extra 104 pounds in ten years.
47. WEIGHT CONTROL: It's normal during early recovery to attempt to satisfy urges for nicotine with the dopamine "aaah" sensations generated by eating extra food. But if left unchecked, it can be highly demoralizing. Instead of chips, crackers, and sweets, consider low-calorie pre-cut veggies in bowls of cold water, as ready to eat as a big bag of chips. And consider fat-free dopamine releases generated by taking slow deep breaths, a cool drink of water, when experiencing accomplishment, and during big big hugs.
48. ACTIVITY: Engage in some moderate form of regular exercise if at all concerned about weight gain. If a former smoker, a substantial increase in overall lung function of up to 30% within just 90 days will aid you in engaging in extended periods of physical activity, in shedding any extra pounds, and in building cardiovascular endurance.
49. QUITTING FOR OTHERS: We cannot stop for others. It must be our gift to us. Quitting for a child, spouse, parent or friend creates a natural sense of deprivation that will ultimately result in relapse. People make mistakes. If quitting for another person, how will the deprived addict respond the first time that person disappoints you?
50. PREGNANCY: The most critical pregnancy consideration of all is quitting for "you." Quitting for "the baby" will leave you feeling deprived and all but guarantees that your baby will have an actively feeding nicotine addict for a mom. Picture your baby bonding to your natural scent instead of the chemicals that smoke deposits on your hair, skin, clothing and kisses.
51. ATTITUDE: A positive can-do attitude is important. We are what we think. Take pride in each hour of healing and freedom, and in each challenge overcome. Celebrate the full and complete victory each reflects. Strive to embrace your healing instead of dreading, fearing or fighting it. The next few minutes are all that matter and each is entirely do-able. Yes you can!
52. BE PROUD: After your first full day of recovery be proud of what you just did. The first 24 hours can be challenging. A sense of accomplishment and taking pride in what you just did may be the only positive thing you're feeling. And 48 hours is huge too. Again, take pride in getting clean and staying free. And at 72 hours, wowsers, your body is 100% nicotine-free and you've moved beyond peak withdrawal. You've come far and invested much! That's awesome!
53. PATIENCE: As deprived nicotine addicts, we could inhale a puff of nicotine and sense an "aaah" wanting satisfaction sensation in our brain within 8 to 10 seconds. Years of inhaling nicotine conditioned us to be extremely impatient, at least when it came to our addiction. Realize the importance of patience to successful recovery. Baby steps, just one hour, challenge, and day at a time, and then celebrate the newfound patience you just demonstrated. That's huge!
54. RELAPSE REWARDS: "I got through a month without smoking." "Boy, I deserve a cigarette for that!" This is a kind of twisted logic that some people experience when first quitting. They look at a specific time frame as having been the problem during prior attempts, and once they pass it they're confident that they can handle just one. But like gravity, the Law of Addiction states otherwise.
55. CAFFEINE: Amazingly, nicotine somehow doubles the rate by which the body depletes caffeine. If a regular caffeine user, your blood-caffeine level will rise by 203% if no intake reduction is made when quitting. Although not a problem for most light to moderate caffeine users, consider a caffeine intake reduction of up to 50% if troubled by anxieties or experiencing difficulty relaxing or falling to sleep.
56. TRIGGERS/CUES: You have conditioned your mind to expect nicotine when encountering certain locations, times, events, people or emotions. Be prepared for each event to trigger a brief crave episode. Encountering a trigger cannot trigger relapse unless you take a puff. Take heart, like the traveling hypnotist's implanted suggestion, many triggers are extinguished by a single encounter during which the subconscious mind is told "no," and fails to receive the expected result - nicotine.
57. CRAVING DURATION: In contrast to conscious thought fixation (the "nice juicy steak" type of thinking) that can last as long as our ability to maintain focus and concentration, it is rare when any subconsciously triggered crave episode fails to peak within three minutes, roughly the time that we needed to smoke a cigarette.
58. TIME DISTORTION: Studies have found that nicotine cessation causes serious time distortion. Although crave episodes peak within 3 minutes, to a quitter the minutes can feel like hours. Keep a clock handy to maintain an accurate perspective on time.
59. CRAVING FREQUENCY: The "average" number of crave episodes (each less than three minutes) experienced by the "average" quitter on their most challenging day of recovery is six episodes on day three. That's a total of 18 minutes of challenge on your most challenging day. But what if you're not average? What if you established and must encounter and extinguish twice as many nicotine-feeding cues as the average quitter? That's 36 minutes of significant challenge. Can you handle 36 minutes of serious anxiety? Absolutely! We all can.
60. CRAVE INTENSITY: According to studies, the intensity of a particular crave episode appears to be influenced by a number of factors including how long we've been quit, our level of impulsiveness, and the availability of cigarettes. But generally, and unless you panic (invoking your body's fight or flight response), cravings gradually become less intense the longer you've quit.
61. THE BIGGER THE BETTER: The average quitter is experiencing just 1.4 crave episodes per day by day ten. After that, they soon begin to experience entire days without encountering a single un-extinguished subconscious crave trigger. If a later crave episode ever feels far more intense, it's likely that it has been some time since your last significant challenge and you've dropped your guard and defenses a bit. It can feel as though you've been sucker-punched. If panicked, time can seemingly stand still. If this ever happens, pause, take a slow deep breath and reflect on how long it had been since your last significant challenge. Then smile. What a wonderful problem to have!
62. DEEP BREATHING: The most dependable coping method of all is slow deep breathing. It is not normal to breathe deeply. Most of us breathe from the chest. It's called shallow breathing. Try this practice exercise. Get as comfortable as possible. Place one hand on your stomach and the other on your chest. Breathe in slowly through your nose. Feel your stomach expand as you inhale. If you are breathing from the stomach, the hand on your chest shouldn’t move. Focus on filling up your lower lungs with air. Slowly exhale, releasing all the air out through your mouth. Use your hand to feel your stomach fall as you exhale. If a beginner, try breathing at or near six breaths per minute (about one full inhale and exhale every 10 seconds). Return to normal breathing if you begin feeling light-headed. If light-headedness occurs, during your next practice session try adding 1-2 additional breaths per minute. Repeat the above steps up to 10 times. Also, listen to this relaxation exercise.
63. DISTRACTION: Three minute distraction exercises can be as simple as saying your ABCs while associating each letter with your favorite food, person, or place. For example, the letter "A" is for grandma's hot apple pie. "B" is for warm buttered biscuits. It's unlikely you'll make it to the challenging letter Q before the challenge begins to subside. Counting exercises can be as simple as counting backward from 350 by 7s. That would involve your mind doing 50 simple math calculations. Consider a hand of solitaire, reach for a crossword puzzle, sing your favorite song, reorganize a closet or drawer, look through a photo album, play with your pet, phone a friend, read a book or magazine, check your email, or do the dishes or start a load of laundry.
64. MINDFULNESS: Mindfulness is "the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something, a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. Try this mindfulness urge surfing exercise.
65. EMBRACING CRAVES: A form of mindfulness, try to mentally reach out and embrace your crave. A craving will not cut, burn, shock, or make you bleed. Try being brave just once. In your mind, wrap your arms around the crave's anxiety energy and then sense as it slowly fizzles and dies while in your embrace. Yes, another trigger bites the dust and victory is once again yours!
66. CET: Cue Exposure Therapy is intentionally exposing yourself to drug-related use cues in order to more quickly extinguish and silence conditioned responses. Recognize the fact that you will learn to again comfortably do everything you did as a user. Meet, greet and defeat your triggers, don't hide from them. Remember, you need not give up anything except nicotine.
67. INFREQUENT CUES: Expect to arrive home with a few seasonal, holiday, and infrequent use cues not yet encountered and extinguished. Infrequent use cues may be associated with a vacation, a wedding, death, funeral, meeting an old friend, or an illness. Infrequent cues have their own histories. The good news is that by then the remaining punch of your nicotine-use crave generator may have downgraded from hurricane-force winds to a soft gentle breeze lasting a few seconds.
68. EARLY ALCOHOL RISKY: Be extremely careful with early alcohol use during the first couple of weeks. Using an inhibition diminishing substance and then intentionally surrounding yourself with users smoking or vaping, while still engaged in early withdrawal, is a recipe for relapse. Get your recovery feet under you first. If unable to briefly abstain from alcohol, or you drink knowing that it will cause relapse, you may be dealing with two substance issues.
69. ALCOHOL PLANNING: If you do use alcohol, once ready to challenge your drinking triggers, consider breaking the challenge down into manageable trigger segments. Try drinking at home first without nicotine users around, go out with smoking or vaping friends but refrain from drinking, or consider spacing your drinks further apart, or drinking water or juice between drinks. Have an escape plan and a backup, and be fully prepared to use both.
70. FEELING INTOXICATION QUICKER: Nicotine is a central nervous system stimulant while alcohol is a central nervous system depressant. Stay alert to the fact that, when drinking, nicotine is no longer activating your body's fight or flight response and you may begin feeling the full effects of alcohol sooner. If an issue, consider drinking less, slower or spacing your drinks further apart.
71. FAILED SUPPORT: Don't expect family or friends who have never been chemically dependent themselves to have any appreciation of your challenges or the time required to achieve substantial comfort. It simply isn't fair to them or you.
72. NEGATIVE SUPPORT: Loved ones smoking or vaping in the house, leaving cigs or e-cigs lying around, innocent offers for cigarettes, or actually encouraging you to start using again, negative support comes in many forms. Although they may forget now and then, loved ones should honor reasonable support requests.
73. RELAPSE JUSTIFICATIONS: Recognize that vaping or smoking nicotine cannot solve any crisis. There is absolutely no legitimate excuse for relapse, including an auto accident, financial crisis, divorce, job loss, a terrorist attack, war, a blizzard, hurricane, tornado or flood, or the eventual inevitable death of those we love most.
74. THOUGHT FIXATION: Unlike a less than three-minute subconscious crave episode, we can consciously fixate on any thought of wanting to vape or smoke for as long as we're able to maintain our concentration. Don't try to run or hide from thoughts of wanting but instead closely examine the thought under honest light.
75. EXTRA MONEY: Save the money you wasted on smoking or vaping and buy yourself something you really want after a week or a month. Save for a year and treat yourself to a nicotine-free vacation.
76. GET OUT AND ABOUT: Quickly climb from that deep user's rut by spending time in places where you couldn't use, such as movies, libraries, restaurants, and by engaging in activities lasting longer than an hour, and by ever so slightly pushing your normal limits of physical endurance in order to sample the amazing healing happening within.
77. TELL OTHERS: Tell people around you that you have stopped smoking or vaping. Yes, it will likely make you struggle more if entertaining thoughts about relapsing, but that's exactly what you want. Fully commit to your recovery while taking pride in each and every hour and day of freedom from nicotine. And by telling others, it alerts them that you'll be going through withdrawal and recovery, that you may not be yourself for a bit. Otherwise, they may be left thinking that you've started using drugs instead of coming off of one.
78. AVOID CRUTCHES: A crutch is any form of quitting reliance that you lean upon so heavily in supporting your recovery that if quickly removed would significantly increase the likelihood of relapse.
79. ORAL SUBSTITUTES: If visiting Internet support groups you'll often see recommendations that new members suck on straws, chew toothpicks, or eat hard candies or sunflower seeds. But what happens when the substitute isn't available during a moment of significant challenge? And eating candy or sunflower seeds all day can add lots and lots of demoralizing extra pounds. Also, if trying to let go and move on, does it make sense to leave hand-to-mouth use conditioning intact?
80. QUITTING BUDDIES: Do not lean heavily upon a quitting buddy who quits at the same time as you, as their odds of successfully quitting if not committed and schooled are relatively small. Instead, ask a long-term ex-user for support or visit an online support group such as Turkeyville, Quit Smoking Cold Turkey, Quit Smoking Support, BecomeAnEx, StopSmoking, Freedom or QuitTrain.
81. BAD DAYS: As an ex-user, you should expect to experience bad days. Why? Because everyone has them, including never-users. Don't allow a bad day that occurs during early recovery to become ammunition inside a challenged mind looking for a quick solution. Relapse is never a solution.
82. INVENTORY REMAINING RATIONALIZATIONS: Once beyond brain neuron resensitization (within 21 days), it's time to identify and correct any remaining junkie thinking. Ask yourself this, what do I miss about smoking or vaping? If your answer is "nothing," congratulations! There are no roadblocks to letting go entirely and reaching Easy Street. It's simply a matter of time. If not, grab each remaining use justification and expose it to honest light. Let's look at a few.
83. "JUST ONE" "JUST ONCE": Why continue to torment yourself with this massive lie? Why pretend that we are not REAL drug addicts, that it isn't as permanent as alcoholism, that the Law of Addiction doesn't apply to us, that it's been long enough, "I'll be fine"? You won't be fine, you'll relapse. Months or years of additional toxins assaulting healing tissues, there's no guarantee that you could ever come this far again, or that sufficient time remains.
84. NICOTINE IS NOT A STRESS-BUSTER: Horrible things happen. Loved ones eventually die, wars occur, and disasters strike. It's why clinging to the false belief that inhaling nicotine relieves stress is one of the most destructive rationalizations of all. It's normal to believe that nicotine is a stress-buster, that it calms us during crisis, as we felt it happen countless times. Or, did we? What we felt was nicotine replenishment satisfying the onset of early withdrawal, anxieties that our addiction added to every stressful situation due to our kidney's accelerating removal of the alkaloid nicotine from our bloodstream in response to urine acidification. One of recovery's greatest benefits is the irony of an increased sense of calm during crisis. Don't let relapse make every crisis worse.
85. "I LIKED IT": "I vaped every chance I got, so I must have loved vaping." While normal to look to our own behavior in order to determine what we like, addiction stands like and love on their heads. It isn't that we liked smoking or vaping but that we didn't like what happened when we didn't: the onset of withdrawal. And in that your addiction quickly buried all pre-addiction memory of a calm and quiet mind that never once felt an urge to inhale nicotine, what basis exists for declaring that you like being addicted more than your pre-addiction self? Now, free and healing brain dopamine pathways are at this moment making it happen again. Within a year, you'll find it super difficult to visualize yourself having ever been a smoker or e-cig user.
86. BOREDOM: If we normally used nicotine 12 times per day and each replenishment averaged 5 minutes, we now have an extra hour each day to notice what's missing, an extra hour to devote to loved ones, gardening, cooking, a bike ride, or learning a new language. What a wonderful problem to have!
87. "I MISS THE FLAVORS": Ask yourself, how many taste buds are inside human lungs, the place we sucked and briefly held every puff? Answer: zero, none! While there are growing concerns that, like nicotine, some e-cig flavorings may stimulate brain dopamine pathways, there are no taste buds in the brain either.
88. MISSING "PLEASURE": "I vape/smoke for pleasure." Pleasure? The marketing theme for Newport cigarettes is highly effective. Pleasure is defined as a state of gratification, a source of delight, satisfaction, or joy. Wanting is defined as feeling a need, strong desire, suffering from the lack of something, or requiring it. Have you ever seen an advertisement showing a nicotine addict badly in need of a fix? And you won't.
89. "I'M STILL HEALTHY": Brain damage, breathing disorders, diabetes, artery hardening, cancer promotion, DNA damage, vaping is not safe. Any e-cig user who thinks that they will escape harm, damage and disease is engaged in wishful thinking. It isn't a matter of whether or not harm will occur, but when and how bad things will get.
90. LIVING WITH A USER: Don't allow living with someone who smokes or vapes to intimidate you. It's not insurmountable. In fact, millions of successful ex-users live with actively feeding nicotine addicts and so can you. The biggest challenge is if they leave their cigarettes or e-cigs lying around. Simply ask them not to leave them lying around as the temptation is too great. If they fail to comply, destroy them and if feeling guilty offer to pay for replacements. It sends a powerful message of just how serious and committed you are.
91. WATCHING USERS USE: Study smokers and e-cig users closely. They are not inhaling nicotine to tease you. They do so because they must, in order to replenish a constantly falling blood-serum nicotine level. Most nicotine is inhaled while on autopilot. What cue triggered the public feeding you're now witnessing? Watch acid-producing events such as stress or alcohol quickly neutralize their body's nicotine reserves. Urge, puff, satisfaction, urge, puff, satisfaction, urge, puff, satisfaction, witness and reflect upon their never-ending mandatory cycle of replenishment.
92. SMOKING/VAPING DREAMS: Be prepared for an extremely vivid smoking or vaping dream as inhaled chemicals emitted from horizontal healing lungs are swept up bronchial tubes by rapidly healing cilia, and come in contact with enhanced senses of smell and taste. See its vividness as a sign of healing. Despite years and years of smoking memories, over the years smoking dreams will gradually become rarer and rarer. So long as such dreams remain disturbing or nightmares, that's good and protective, not bad.
93. BREATHING SECONDHAND SMOKE: If concerned that breathing secondhand smoke may cause you to relapse, you need not worry. The trace amounts of nicotine absorbed from breathing secondhand smoke is usually under 1% of what a smoker gets from smoking, an amount too low to foster relapse. A 2014 study found that, as with cigarettes, e-cig cotinine levels were roughly 100 times lower in exposed non-users than commonly seen in smokers.
94. INDUSTRY BAIT: Your freedom means thousands of dollars in lost profits to the nicotine industry. They do not want to lose you. See store nicotine product advertising and the hundreds of neatly aligned packs and cartons for what they truly reflect - bait. Don't bite. Behind the rows and rows of pretty colored boxes and among more than 600 flavor additives is hidden what many dependency experts now consider earth's most captivating chemical.
95. THINKING VS. WANTING: There is a major distinction between thinking about using and wanting to use. Don't confuse the two. After years as nicotine's slave, you should expect to notice (and smell) every smoker you encounter, especially when watching movies. But it doesn't necessarily mean that you want to smoke or vape. You have been "thinking" about the topic as you reviewed 94 recovery tips. But, be honest, how many times did you experience an actual urge or crave? Once, twice? As for thoughts of wanting, with each passing day, they'll gradually grow shorter in duration, generally less intense, and a bit further apart.
96. THE FINAL TRUTH The final and longest layer of recovery is rooted in the time needed for the conscious thinking mind to move beyond the influence of use-related memories, thoughts, and beliefs. We each have a huge pile of old memories documenting how using nicotine briefly satisfied wanting, the urge generating seeds that for years made us fear coming home. We can either wait for time and new memories to diminish their tease, or subject them to honest light. Why allow use explanations created by a mind that knew almost nothing about chemical dependency to combine with thousands of old wanting satisfaction memories, so as to fuel and drive irrational fears, anxieties, or even panic? It's really rather simple. Those thousands of old use memories belonged to a drug addict in need, not me. My brain and body are nicotine-free. There is nothing missing and nothing in need of replacement. Their tease has nothing to do with me, as I've moved on.
97. IT'S NOT TOO LATE: Regardless of how long you smoked or vaped, how old you are, or how badly use has damaged your body, it's never too late to arrest your dependency, become its master, and commence the deepest and most intense period of healing that your body's 37 trillion cells have likely ever known.
98. NON-USER OR EX-USER: What should you call yourself? Although it's normal to want to consider ourselves non-users, there is a major distinction between a never-user and an ex-user. Only the ex-user needs to protect against relapse.
99. COMPLACENCY: Complacency is when we become so comfortable that a new round of bargaining may begin. Don't let complacency destroy your healing and glory. The ingredients for relapse are: (1) suppressed memories of dependency's daily grind, of the reasons why we quit, and of recovery's early challenges, (2) rewriting the law of addiction to exempt or exclude ourselves, and (3) an excuse such as stress, celebration, illness, finances, war, death, or even being handed a cigar upon the birth of a baby.
100. RELAPSE: Remember, the true measure of nicotine's power isn't how hard it is to quit, but how easy it is to relapse. There was always only one rule ... no nicotine today, to never take another puff, vape, dip or chew!

The above collection of tips was compiled by John R. Polito, director of WhyQuit. WhyQuit is the Internet's oldest free forum devoted exclusively to the art, science, and psychology of abrupt nicotine cessation.

The list was developed primarily from Joel's Library, an insightful collection of short quitting articles written by Joel Spitzer and available as a free ebook entitled "Never Take Another Puff", as well as from John's two free ebooks, "Freedom from Nicotine - The Journey Home" and "Smart Turkey."

Be sure to share these tips with friends and loved ones who smoke or vape. Not being able to discover the law of addiction through the school of hard-quitting-knocks is a horrible reason to remain hooked for life.

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