If you feel guilty about smoking...

[nsd_user663_3868]

...find a way to break the guilt/shame cycle.

I quit eight days ago. I felt guilty after each cigarette, smoked when I felt bad, got more addicted, then did it all again. When I became aware of this I realised that the only way to break the guilt cycle was to not beat myself up about smoking. It seems to have worked.

I went from 20-a-day to 0 overnight, had three days of cravings and now I can sit with smokers already and feel no temptation. I guess the broader point is that once you sit down and assess what your individual psychological addiction to smoking is, your are well on the way.

[NicFirth 10 Years Smoke Free]

...find a way to break the guilt/shame cycle.

I quit eight days ago. I felt guilty after each cigarette, smoked to punish myself a bit perhaps (smoking is sort of self harm when you think about it) got more addicted, then did it all again. At some point I realised that the only way to break the guilt/shame cycle would be to enjoy smoking and this might help me to quit. I'd been scared to relax into it over the years because I thought it was make the addiction stronger but for me the opposite was true.

I started smoking cigarettes without thinking about the stains on my teeth and fingers, the paranoia about my breath and clothes smelling and all the other negative things that play on your mind from time to time when you smoke. I let myself enjoy smoking for a bit and suddenly cigarettes seemed less appealing, because the addiction in a way had been a way of punishing myself and I was no longer letting this subconscious pattern happen. They no longer served that purpose and the psychological urge to smoke eased up hugely.

I went from 20-a-day to 0 overnight, had three days of cravings and now I can sit with smokers already and feel no temptation. I guess the broader point is that once you sit down and assess what your individual psychological addiction to smoking is, your are well on the way.

Not the route I took to quitting but the last paragraph certainly does ring true