Nicotine-free in 2023, it's not too late!
Click article images for higher-resolution copies
Wish you could quit vaping or smoking? What if living nicotine-free is vastly more wonderful and doable than you think? Have you ever noticed how obnoxious ex-smokers can be? It's because they can't believe how wrong they were all those years, that being free and home again is amazing!
The key? It's somehow eventually discovering that quitting is all or nothing, that one puff and it's always back to square one, and having to do withdrawal all over again. We're not that strong.
Did you know that spontaneous attempts are 240% more likely to succeed (see West 2006 and Ferguson 2009)?
Zero anticipation anxieties, nothing to buy, and within 72 hours a 100% nicotine-free brain would have no choice but to begin the process of restoring natural sensitivities. Peak withdrawal behind you, it's then a matter of simply continuing to say "no" to a quit-destroying puff, as the periods of calm between challenges gradually become longer and longer.
Why wait on the emotional turmoil surrounding New Year's to jump in the pool? Here are a few resources that hopefully excite you about taking back control of your mind, priorities, time, emotions, coins, breathing, health, self-esteem, and life. Knowledge is power!
Remember, while one puff will always be too many and thousands not enough, it is impossible to fail so long as all nicotine stays on the outside. Yes, there was always just one rule, no nicotine just one hour, challenge, and day at a time ... to Never Take Another Puff!
John R. Polito received his JD from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1985, where he graduated Wig & Robe. He is a former 3-pack-a-day thirty-year smoker and the 1999 founder of WhyQuit. A nicotine cessation educator since 2000, John mentored under Joel Spitzer for two decades, presenting more than 100 live nicotine dependency recovery programs modeled after Joel's programs. He is the author of "Freedom from Nicotine - The Journey Home," "Smart Turkey," 6 peer-reviewed journal articles, and founder and director of Turkeyville, a 17,000-member Facebook support group exclusively for cold turkey quitters. Email: johnpolito54@gmail.com
