(EDIT: I return here to note that of all the blog entries I've ever posted, this one is the second most popular. The #1 goes to "Some of the Values and Ethical Precepts of Judaism" by only 4 hits as of this date, OCT. 20, 2011. Every day there are still multiple *hits* from all over the world that view this page according to the "Stats". While it has been here only a couple of years, I first had it posted on a previous blog page where it was also one of the most popular. I hope it continues to be helpful!)
Kirk Douglas doesn't have some kind of school or program he sells for this purpose, that's just the name I created for the method he described that he used to quit smoking. I share his method here in desire to continue to help others. Over the past 18 years my sharing has helped many people to successfully rid them of the nicotine addiction. I have had many people tell me that the advice helped them even if they did not use the exact steps I describe to quit. Many others have said they used the exact method with success.
The physical withdrawal from cigarettes can be severe and very unpleasant. However, I believe that is only one part of why so many fail. I think that much of the failure lies in the thinking that takes place *before* the attempt to quit.
I would like to explain a few things to keep in mind before I begin explaining the exact steps I used to quit smoking. I am not offering medical advice here; see your physician for that. I am not claiming to be an expert on smoking cessation or in substance abuse. I want it to be clear I am relating personal experience and what I believe may help motivate you to overcome cigarette smoking.
While the physical withdrawal can be severe, it does not last beyond 10 days once you have stopped smoking. After that, it is the emotional habit and pattern of behavior that must be overcome and is still a very strong draw to smoking. I am not going to get too deeply into behavior modification techniques for overcoming habits, but will relate a few that I used. I am primarily addressing the physical symptoms of withdrawal and suggestions how to cope during that time. Some people feel no physical symptom after 7 days and that is generally when most at least begin to start to feel like a sane human again.
Even if you want to give yourself more time, by the end of two weeks, your body will be completely free of the physical addiction. It is out of your blood stream entirely. If you want to see how it stays in the pores, and perhaps a disgusting sight to help inspire you to quit, go wrap yourself in a white sheet and spend some time in a steam cabinet. If you are a heavy smoker, when you come out the sheet will be yellow wherever it was closely touching your body. It does not matter how clean you are before you enter that steam cabinet, if you are a smoker you will stain that sheet. The yellow stain is from the tars and nicotine that have oozed out of your pores, residue from smoking.
Here is where I begin telling how I quit:
I discovered the following simple method by reading Kirk Douglas' autobiography called "The Ragman's Son". In his book, he describes what I now call the Kirk Douglas Smoking Cessation Method. He said that he took all of the cigarettes and ashtrays out of the house except for one cigarette and one book of matches that he kept in his shirt pocket. Every time he would get the urge to light up, he'd pull out that cigarette from his pocket and say to it determinedly "Who is stronger, YOU or ME?" He would hold up the cigarette and tell it, "I stronger."
Yes, it is a form of “cold turkey” and the only thing unique about the Kirk Douglas method is how you relate to that cigarette and tell it who is boss. In my instance, it took me to day 10, and by that time I had shaken that cigarette in front of my face so often it was about to fall into pieces. That self-pep talk and thinking of that cigarette as an *entity* that was controlling me helped me to muster willpower I was not sure I had. I just knew I did not want to have a substance to have that kind of mastery over my will.
I have a few more suggestions to add. First, you cannot allow yourself to have an out. If you have not yet reached the point where you are disgusted that a substance is controlling you, then perhaps you will not be able to master the addiction. Once you make up your mind, and have just a bit of planning you can and will succeed. If you say, "I'll TRY to quit" you are leaving yourself the option to fail. If you say, I am quitting on such and such a date, and plan ahead for that date you help to ensure your success. I believe it is crucial to set a definite date and time, then when that day arrives, it is your quit date. Never call it the date you TRY. It is the date you become stronger than the cigarette.
Also, I strongly suggest to plan this to take place at a time when you can more easily avoid people you might wish to do bodily harm if they look at you crossways. Don’t laugh. Nicotine withdrawal is not nice and you may not be nice either…for a time.
You are not going to be pleasant to be around for at least a week. And you're not going to like yourself much that week, but you'll really be proud of yourself when it's over.
So, mark off 10 days on your calendar you can set aside to be an ogre. Then each day of the horrible withdrawal you can say, “ OK another day down and I have just THAT many more until it is OVER!”
If the end is in sight and you KNOW ahead when it ends, you can stick it out easier than if you are slowly weaning yourself with no end in sight. People who spend months slowly weaning themselves down over a long period DRAGGING the withdrawal out for weeks make themselves more miserable than if they did it all at once. A slow reduction in cigarettes leaves you wanting more and maintains enough of the nicotine in your blood to prolong the addiction and keep your body craving. You can put yourself through months of anxiety and craving rather than just a couple of weeks at most.
Of course I want to reinforce all the old standard helpful suggestions. Anything that works for you, go for it. Do all the usual suggested oral fixation things: chew gum, suck on sugarless candy. Those well known suggestions will help a little. However, the best help is simply to say repeatedly to yourself, this awful withdrawal is only going to last a week.
Quitting smoking was one of the toughest things I have done and one I am proud that I overcame an addiction I was not proud of having. Everything that lives dies, however, cigarettes are a major cause of some miserable ways to go. I know I smell a whole lot better than I did when I was a smoker, too.
The method I describe here may not be one that will work for you. If there were one sure-fire method for everyone, there would not be so many different places to go for help with smoking cessation. My hope is that whether or not my method here helps, if you smoke, you will find the way you can quit, too.
I am smoke free now since 1991.
While I read about this in his autobiography, Kirk Douglas’ story of “My First Cigarette, and my Last” appeared in the New York Times in 2003. This is a slightly amended and shorter version than what appears in his book.
Below is the link to the online telling.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/16/opinion/my-first-cigarette-and-my-last.html
I stronger.
Are you?
Shalom y'all
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