Quitting smoking is easy.

“Quitting smoking is easy, I’ve done it hundreds of times”
- Mark Twain

This is a very funny joke that I’ve encountered early on in my journey of quitting. It’s funny because quitting smoking is NOT easy. You do it hundreds of times and end up failing a hundred times as well. Because the process was so difficult, it didn’t make sense for someone to say that doing it was easy.

I was honestly pissed with my friends who were able to quit smoking early. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very proud of my friends for quitting smoking in the past year. Before quarantine, we bonded over the warm smoke of a marlboro red, chilled out with a few marlboro blues, and geeked out with imported brands especially those from korea.

Recently, most (almost all) of the people I spent YB (yosi breaks) with were able to successfully quit smoking. What particularly doesn’t sit right with me is that almost every one of them are so adamant that their method of quitting is the right one. Especially those who were able to quit smoking a bit earlier than the rest of the group, thinking that they’re superior because they got their life back together.

Imagine this. You’re using some kind of reduction method (slowly reducing sticks smoked per day until it goes down to zero. Then, when you’re talking with your friends, proud of the progress that you’ve made, they’ll tell you that quitting hard turkey is the only method that works. It ends up being discouraging for you, probably think that they’re right (since they were able to successfully quit) and then go back to your stupid habit of smoking 10 sticks in one afternoon, because you’ve decided that I’ll just quit hard turkey maybe next month.

One friend after another, more friends were able to successfully quit smoking. Each had a different method that worked for them. Some were able to quit at the first try, most were able to quit after many tries, me on the other hand, was able to quit after a hundred times (not literally). Eventually, it became clear to us that there isn’t a single way to quit a bad habit.

Claudio ate A LOT of lollipops and Maxs Candies, smoked once a month, and then didn’t smoke for 3 months, and then suddenly, he’s a year clean. PJ smoked 3 packs within 2 hours in one new year’s eve, became vegan, and never smoked afterwards. James hugged his girlfriend everytime he craved for a smoke. Dave’s dad got lung cancer, then quit smoking the same time as his dad, and jogged 5km everyday for 3 months straight.

I ended up trying a plethora of different techniques. I tried reduction techniques, I tried substitution (even getting kicked out of a classroom because I refused to not chew gum in class). More methods were tried, and more methods failed. Eventually, I found the one that worked for me. Today, I’m roughly half a year clean.

What’s important is that, at this point, you’re aware that what worked for others might not work for you. So what then if you end up finding out the methods that didn’t work? Simply, it just means that you’re progressing and that even if you aren’t smoking less, you’re on the road towards not smoking at all. The easiest way to quit smoking for you, might be the most difficult way to quit smoking for others.

Quitting smoking is easy, even if it takes a hundred tries. The quote at the start of this piece is a joke that I took maybe a bit too seriously, and maybe you should too.