I’ve smoked for a long time and I hate it. I have no illusions left about it. I generally look after my health pretty well, eat healthy, work out etc, and every time I have a cigarette I feel disgusted and like I’m slowly killing myself. It’s not so much the physical difficulties of withdrawal that I can’t handle - it’s more like smoking is ingrained in my identity, like I can’t conceive of myself as a non-smoker or going through life without having it as a crutch. I’m wondering if anyone has any advice on re-orienting psychologically towards being a non-smoker? I’ve managed to cut down a lot but I can’t seem to let myself give it up completely no matter how much I want to.
I was a huge smoker, and I thought I would never quit. It was how I met people, how I relieved stress, got out of situations I didn’t want to be in, and way more. It was a huge part of me. I never even tried to quit, but I’ve not smoked one for well over a decade. This is what happened. I developed severe psoriasis as an adult. I have no reason to think smoking was connected to this, I have non-smoking family members who also have psoriasis. I tried lots of things to get rid of it, and eventually, I tried a prolonged water fast, about a week. During this week, I couldn’t smoke because I was only consuming water. After that week, the thought of breathing smoke into myself repulsed me, it just seemed like keying my own brand new car. This was never my intention, I’m so glad it happened, though. Good luck!