There’s only one way to quit smoking or overcome any addiction for good, and it’s
NOT just fancy products or protocols. In this video, I’m going to show you how to quit
cold turkey OR make slow consistent progress. If you need a little tough love motivation,
be sure to stick around for “Bring the Heat” at the end. This is the Dr. K Show.
I'm Dr. Karthik Ramanan. I help ambitious individuals end self criticism with tools
and strategies to create optimal everyday mental health. If you're new here and you
know you need to get out of your own way to execute on your passions, I’m here for you.
I encourage you to subscribe right now.
It’s showtime!
Smoking is positively associated with numerous pathologies of the human body, not just lung
cancer, COPD, and others you might think of. In medical school, when we were in our pathology
and diagnosis courses, we’d study all the known risk factors for any given pathological
condition. Smoking seemed like it was on almost every list, so much so that I actually stopped
memorizing it. Smoking affects things that you don’t even think of, from colon cancer
risk to your vision.
That’s right, your vision. My friend Dr. Joey Allen mentions quitting smoking as one
of his five tips for improving your vision, which I’ll link here.
Now, you’re probably thinking… “yeah yeah, I know it’s bad for me. Knowing doesn’t
fix it.” I agree, knowledge isn’t enough. I have never smoked, but I do know a thing
or two about addiction. Food addiction in my case. I even abstained from solid food
for 108 days a few years ago to try to overcome it. What keeps us going back to our addictive
behavior, whether it’s smoking, unhealthy food, or anything else?
We have to address the emotional root, and we have to see ourselves as a different…
person.
The steps I’m going to outline can be used to quit cold turkey, and they can be used
for gradual improvement.
First, you NEED a deep emotional reason. Why do you want to change? Does it hurt enough?
What would it cost you and your loved ones for you to continue to live this way? What
does living this way allow you to do that you wouldn’t be able to do otherwise?
Take out a sheet of paper and write down the answer to these questions. Go back and re-listen
if you need to. Pause, then come back. I’ll wait.
Next, take a blank calendar, and for each full day you don’t smoke, put a check mark
on that day. Let each day continue the streak you’ve built to that point. Each check mark
is a vote that YOU cast to declare the person you are.
Are you getting value out of this? Hit that like button. And if you’re extra awesome,
type “YES” below.
Now listen up, because here’s where the magic is. In order to make permanent change,
you must stop refraining from smoking, but rather start to see yourself as a non-smoker.
A friend offers you a cigarette. You Version 1 says, “Thank you, but I don’t want one.”
You Version 2 says, “Thank you, but I don’t smoke.” Which of the two versions of yourself
do you think will succeed? Once you see yourself as a nonsmoker, it’s supremely hard to go
back.
Bonus Tip: Flooding your body with micronutrient dense food helps quite a bit in shifting the
oxidative stress and nutritional imbalances that can arise from smoking and other forms
of addiction. Focus on eating or juicing more whole, raw plant foods. That’s really just
a good idea for everyday mental health regardless.
Question of the Day: Have you struggled with smoking or any form of addiction? Let me know
in the comments below.
We’re going to do a little something different for today’s progress success. On my client’s
50th day of not smoking, she offers you this advice:
“Dr. K and I came up with a strategy to make check marks on a calendar for every day
I behaved consistently with being a nonsmoker. At the end of the day, I’d give myself a
check mark. As I started building up check marks, it became harder and harder to smoke
because I know I’d have to start my string of consecutive nonsmoking days all over again.
The longer it goes, the more I started to see myself as a non-smoker.
And it’s super important to have a good support system to help you see yourself as
a non-smoker and to help you remember your streak when cravings do arise, which ironically
can be in times of joy, not just stress.”
I get that quitting smoking is hard. I get it because I’ve dealt with addiction quite
a bit myself, in the form of food. What starts as a coping mechanism turns into a vice, and
a vice turns into our identity. That ends right now.
Whether you want to quit cold turkey or you’re going to gradually wean off, you have to understand
this. You have to have reasons, deep reasons for why you can’t go on smoking. You have
to dig within yourself to find purpose and identity beyond addiction. Who are you? Remind
yourself who you are every single day.
Quitting an addiction may seem like an impossible task, but did we come into this world with
those addictions? Didn’t we actually just learn how to be this way? I did. And I know
you did.
Take out a blank calendar and tick off every day you go without that cigarette. Each day,
celebrate that today, you are a non-smoker. Look at that string of check marks grow until
it becomes more powerful than your urge for a smoke. Oh it will happen. It will happen
because with each check mark, you are casting a vote for who you DECLARE yourself to be.
Right here, today, this moment, with that check mark, you declare that TODAY, I am a
non-smoker.
If you’re still listening to me, I know this is hitting home with you, so demand of
yourself that TODAY, right now, you’re done smoking. Today, you start to become a non-smoker.
Today, you embark on the journey to be the greatest version of yourself. The person you
were BORN to be.
I believe in your greatness.