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Nicotine is a drug, and alongside some of the over 100 chemicals in a cigarette, it acts as a sedative. Smoking suppresses emotions, numbing out stress, anxiety, and even anger. So, when I quit, those emotions come back stronger, like a backlog of feelings waiting for their moment to shine—or, in my case, explode. For some, quitting smoking brings out depression and tears. For me, it’s mostly anger. I get irritable, short-tempered, and downright mad at the world. This is hard on me, but it’s even harder on the people around me. No one wants to be collateral damage in...

This morning, I had a plan. I was going to space my cigarettes out longer, especially when I first woke up. I’ve been trying to cut back, and for the past few days, I had successfully reduced my smoking from three packs to one pack a day. That was already a big step in the right direction. But today? Today was different. It started with anxiety, the kind that creeps in and takes hold before you even realize it’s there. No caffeine, no extra stimulant—just stress. A phone call with my mother left me on edge. Arguments around the house...

Today marked my second session of the local smoking cessation class, a free five-week program that meets every Tuesday at Anaheim Regional Medical Center. So far, it has been both informative and inspiring. I’ve already made significant progress, cutting back from three packs a day to one by spacing out my cigarettes—from every fifteen minutes to one every hour. This week, my goal is to extend that time gradually to two hours between cigarettes, and next week, I’ll begin using nicotine patches to quit entirely. One of the biggest triggers we discussed in class today is my morning routine. Waking...

Quitting smoking isn’t just about breaking a habit—it’s about rewiring the mind, challenging the body, and outlasting the cravings that have dictated my daily routine for years. Over the past week, I’ve made serious progress. By spacing out the time between cigarettes, I’ve cut down from three packs a day to one. That’s a huge victory, but now, I’m hitting a wall. The plan is to get down to half a pack a day within the next few days and then prepare to quit entirely. But the further I stretch the gaps between cigarettes, the more I feel the anxiety...

We’ve all seen the commercials. The ones that make quitting smoking seem like an impossible feat—something that requires a miracle product, a drastic intervention, or sheer superhuman willpower. From the old lady smoking through a hole in her neck to the ominous warnings that cigarettes are ten times more addictive than heroin, the message is clear: You can’t quit without help. Even 12-step programs like AA and NA, which pride themselves on helping people overcome the most severe addictions, often treat quitting cigarettes as an entirely different beast—something just too hard to overcome. The irony? This kind of messaging doesn’t...