The other day a buddy and I were ‘dock walloping’ (this mean to wander the docks looking at the boats) and he was bemoaning the fact that he was having trouble quitting cigarette smoking.  I told him that years ago I too smoked.  He was quite surprised to hear I’d been a smoker and was amazed when I said I’d had a 3 pack a day habit when I quit smoking cigarettes.

The first question I hear is, “How long ago did you quit?”  The next question of course is, “how did I do it?”  I kind of grinned at him as he’d been trying everything and was still hooked.  He frowned when I told him it was pretty simple, didn’t cost me anything and within a short time I was able to throw away a half a pack of cigarettes and never picked up another one again.

Now let me tell you I had a BIG habit!  I’d wake in the night to have a smoke, light the first cigarette in the morning before my feet hit the floor…I’d even lay that first morning cigarette on the side of the sink while I brushed my teeth or worse, I’d smoke while I ate….  I had it bad!  I’d smoke those little suckers almost to the filter and then light the next one off of it before snubbing it out.  Three packs of cigarettes a day and maybe four matches a day, yep I had a big habit.

I know this has nothing to do with boating but after looking around the docks I’ve come to the conclusion that cigarette smoking is a problem for many boaters.  I have told others about what worked for me and I’m happy to tell you too.  I hope it works for you as well as it did for me.  I quit smoking in my mid twenties and I’m now in my 50’s.  Pretty good!  I think the hardest part for me after I quit, was going to the bar…yep, a cigarette and a beer just seems to go hand in hand.  I did find however, that what I really struggled with was not so much the smoke or lack there of but, what to do with my hands!  Which is probably why I use my hands so much when I talk!

The thing to remember is there’s no time limit on working through this process.  No one will know you’re doing it.  It doesn’t cost you anything.  You get to keep smoking while you go through the process.  There’s no patch, no gum… just you and your smokes.  If you really want to quit and I mean YOU want to quit, this really works.  Remember I was 3 packs a day when I quit…cold turkey….

It’s so simple you’ll think it’s stupid.  For me the entire process took about three months and still works to this day!

So go ahead and light up!  I’ll give you the secret in just a moment but you have to remember one very important thing.  Yep, here it comes the official “catch”…no matter how great this cigarette tastes you have to do this on each and every drag (yeah, that’s the catch).  Inside your head, the only place that matters right now, you have to say the following…  “This tastes awful!  It’s making me sick to my stomach!”  Oh, there’s my big secret.  Each drag, each puff, no matter how good it tastes you say these two sentences in your head.  You don’t have to say it out loud but you have to think it on each drag of every cigarette.

For me it kind of became my mantra.  Sometimes I was really lying to myself because some of those cigarettes tasted pretty darned good.  You know what?  After about a month my regular cigarettes didn’t taste so good.  So what did I do?  I started brand hopping.  I still smoked three packs a day, you know that’s 60 cigarettes a day and it took me about 15 minutes to smoke one.  Even though I didn’t realize it at the time, I was spending a lot of time on quitting smoking.

Take a drag, “this tastes awful, it’s making me sick to my stomach.”  Pretty soon the new brand tasted odd and I switched again.  I jumped around on so many brands it wasn’t funny.  After a while though they did begin to taste awful.  Did I cut back?  No, three pack a day…but they began to taste awful.  After more time passed, they did indeed “make me feel sick to my stomach.”  Then almost magically, one day about half way through a pack, I lit up and thought I’m sick of this…I threw out the pack and never again picked up another cigarette.

If I can do it, anyone can do it.  If you forget to say it after a drag, no biggie just catch it on the next one.  If YOU want to quit you can do it.  Don’t give up!  You don’t have to say anything to anyone.  You don’t have to hear, “how’s it working for you?”  Or, “I thought you were quitting?   Are you smoking?”  No one will know because you’re only talking to you.  If you can do it in a month, good for you.  I took three months.  If you can do it in six months, good for you!  Don’t give up and don’t say anything.  Do it for you.  When you toss out that pack of cigarettes you’ll feel great but don’t say anything.  As time passes your family and friends will notice.  When they finally say something just smile at them and say, “Aaah, they just didn’t taste so good anymore.”

“This taste awful…it’s making me sick to my stomach.”

“This taste awful…it’s making me sick to my stomach.”

“This taste awful…it’s making me sick to my stomach.”

“This taste awful…it’s making me sick to my stomach.”

I did it and I can tell you there’s nothing extraordinary about me.  Take your time say it after each drag, each puff, and each cigarette.  No one will know you’re working on it because there’s nothing to see.  It’s private.  It’s just for you.  Only you know.  Go ahead, light that cigarette, this tastes awful…it’s making me sick to my stomach….  Stick to the mantra inside your head.  They will start tasting bad and then it’s just a matter of time before you too toss out that half a pack of cigarettes.  I did it…you can too!