“I tried my first cigarette when I was about 13 and I started smoking full time when I was about 16, once I quit school and started working. I’ve been wanting to quit for a while but it’s one of those things that’s hard to break, but I have found it easier now, I’m a bit older and wiser and I can kind of understand it’s an addiction not so much a pleasure.”

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I tried my first cigarette when I was about 13 and I started smoking full time when I was about 16, once I quit school and started working. I’ve been wanting to quit for a while but it’s one of those things that’s hard to break but I have found it easier now, I’m a bit older and wiser and I can kind of understand it’s an addiction not so much a pleasure.

Basically what I found was most helpful is I tapered off the cigarettes. So maybe I went down from 20 to 10 cigarettes daily, to 5, maybe to 3, and then from there it’s like I would have, like, really small amounts. So for me that was kind of like my nicotine support. And I guess psychological things that I’ve done which I felt helped was, I tried not to pleasure smoke. So for example I enjoyed smoking after meals or first thing in the morning or first thing before bed, so I kind of reset that clock in a way. So instead of smoking whenever I enjoyed it the most I just learnt to smoke at random times and in a way I felt like I broke the addiction pattern there. I think as long as I keep busy, I keep focussed, I should be able to continue my journey of not smoking.

People always tell me that they want to quit, or they’re going to quit, and it’s like they’re just waiting for this, or they’re waiting for that, or like the time isn’t right, and I guess like I don’t understand it, like, I used to do it as well, but I feel like the more I put stuff off, really just the harder it gets to quit. I guess until people are ready to quit, or you know to like listen and accept the health advice whatever it is, they’re probably not willing to make that stand. But I guess it makes me a bit sad to know like that they’re kind of damaging their body on a daily basis and it’s hard to tell what level the damage is at or what it could become.