Take a Few Trial Runs to Quit Smoking

I will now tell you the secret that I used to make my quit way easier than I had anticipated: I made a few trial runs first. Trial runs are not failed quit attempts, rather, they are a way for you to gather information for the real thing.

All you do is not smoke for as long as you can until you get really uncomfortable. You need to keep track of what triggers the urge to smoke, whether you got hungry, thirsty, crabby, how you got through your nic fits, whatever. Once you know what to expect, you will know what you need to do to be successful.

In my case, I wanted to eat a lot so I made sure I had lots of snacks around, especially pistachios. I also drank a lot of water. I also recognized that I'd be getting extremely crabby so I asked my wife to sort of lay low for a few days so I didn't yell at her.

I also tested the theory that nic fits only really last for about 15 minutes and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that that was true, however, it is a long friggin' 15 minutes. Knowing that I could survive them helped me a lot when I quit for real.

When I did a few trial runs, people around me assumed that I had failed when I started smoking again even though that wasn't true at all so I'd suggest that you keep your trial runs to yourself.