Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking

It's 10:40 pm, Monday 10 November 2014 here in Hong Kong.  Today's post is about quitting smoking.

I attended a therapy session last week called Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking, which I've shortened to EasyWay.  The idea is to change your mindset so that you see tobacco in a different light.  The aim is not just to stop smoking but also to stop thinking about cigarettes.

For example, my daily routine used to be:
Wake up, have a Ribena and a cigarette, have a shower and brush my teeth, cup of coffee and another cigarette, read online news, check Facebook, another cigarette, go to work.

Now, my routine is supposed to be all of the above, but without the cigarettes.  However, after my first sip of Ribena, my hand still reaches for a cigarette that isn't there anymore.  The thought of having a cigarette still exists.  Not only that, my mouth still tastes like an ashtray.  I wonder how long that will last before it goes away.

One good thing is that I'm enjoying the sound of my breathing now.  I noticed it last night.  I was taking deep breaths and there was no wheezing sound.

EasyWay was introduced to the world by the late Allen Carr, who also wrote a couple of books.  The main difference between EasyWay and other methods is that this supposedly doesn't require willpower.  It's supposed to just change the way you think of tobacco, making the struggle unnecessary.  While that's true to a certain extent in my case, there have still been moments when the urge for a cigarette has been there.  At those moments, I've been thankful that the nearest shop is 40 minutes away.

This isn't the first time I've tried to quit, but I'm hoping it's my last.

A bit of history, if I may.  I was 14 when I tried my first cigarette, which I nicked from my dad's box.  Over a period of time, I took a few more until he started asking questions.  The first pack of cigarettes I bought was Viceroy. I had two or three in a row, felt dizzy and threw the rest of the pack away.  Pity I didn't take that as a sign to stay away completely.

During my school days, I would smoke for six months and quit for six months because I was on the track team.  My coach used to give me a hard time, but I delivered the gold medals and kept the school name among the honoured list, so I was happy with the situation.

My first real attempt to quit came in 1979 when I went through a religious phase in my life.  I managed not to have a cigarette for three years, but a moment of anger put that to dust.  Since then, there have been a couple of half-hearted attempts to quit, but I really need to put it behind me now.  The cost is one reason for doing so.

I've set myself a few target dates to aim for, the first one being December 1st.  After that, I'm looking at the middle of February.  If I don't buy a pack of cigs until the middle of February, I will have covered the cost of the EasyWay session.  Beyond that, I hope to be, as Allen Carr put it, a happy non-smoker.