Good luck friend, I had a very similar progression and after decades of addiction, I am now over 2 years without any nicotine of any kind. You can do it.

“It’s easy to quit smoking. I’ve done it hundreds of times.” Mark Twain

I’m 10 years without a smoke-

I still want one every time I have a beer at the bar or a morning coffee.

There are now, fortunately, plenty of low carb, low glycemic products that are a lifesaver when you have cravings. 5 years ago navigating the world without sugar was a nightmare but these days it’s much easier. You can’t really go out to eat, people will get offended when you turn down food they’ve offered, but you can do it.

She said ‘This was why I couldn’t get off and stay off. Just as the cliché warns. I literally wasn’t keeping it in the day. I was adding the clean days up in my head.’ She cocked her head at him. ‘Did you ever hear of this fellow Evel Knievel? This motorcycle-jumper?’

Gately nods slightly, being careful of a tube he now feels. This is why his throat had had that raped feeling in it. The tube. He actually has an old cutout action picture of the historical Evel Knievel, from an old Life magazine, in a white leather Elvisish suit, in the air, aloft, haloed in spotlights, upright on a bike, a row of well-waxed trucks below.

‘At St. Collie only the Crocodiles’d heard of him. My own Daddy’d followed him, cut out pictures, as a boy.’ Gately can tell she’s smiling under there. ‘But what I used to do, I’d throw away the pipe and shake my fist at the sky and say As God is my fucking witness NEVER AGAIN, as of this minute right here I QUIT FOR ALL TIME.’ She also has this habit of absently patting the top of her head when she talks, where little barrettes and spongy clamps hold the veil in place. ‘And I’d bunker up all white-knuckled and stay straight. And count the days. I was proud of each day I stayed off. Each day seemed evidence of something, and I counted them. I’d add them up. Line them up end to end. You know?’ Gately knows very well but doesn’t nod, lets her do this on just her own steam. She says ‘And soon it would get… improbable. As if each day was a car Knievel had to clear. One car, two cars. By the time I’d get up to say like maybe about 14 cars, it would begin to seem like this staggering number. Jumping over 14 cars. And the rest of the year, looking ahead, hundreds and hundreds of cars, me in the air trying to clear them.’ She left her head alone and cocked it. ‘Who could do it? How did I ever think anyone could do it that way?’

-Infinite Jest

Do it for your health. Ejaculation frequency and prostate cancer

The scientists found no evidence that frequent ejaculations mark an increased risk of prostate cancer. In fact, the reverse was true: High ejaculation frequency was linked to a decreased risk. Compared to men who reported 4–7 ejaculations per month across their lifetimes, men who ejaculated 21 or more times a month enjoyed a 31% lower risk of prostate cancer. And the results held up to rigorous statistical evaluation even after other lifestyle factors and the frequency of PSA testing were taken into account.

Yep, it’s good for your health in moderation. As long as it’s not taking over your life to the point where it’s interfering with your normal life, it’s perfectly healthy and nothing to be ashamed about.

This. I know ‘nicotine’ is already here, but it’s not the same.

Confused the hell out of me when I was trying to switch to vaping that I’d keep going back to cigarettes - “I’M GETTING THE NICOTINE, WHAT THE HELL?!”, and it wasn’t just habit, it was overwhelming need to smoke.

I finally figured some of those other 2999 or whatever chemicals in there must be addictive too, or something, I don’t know.

I’ve quit drinking, when I was a daily drinker at risk of a seizure because my body had grown so chemically dependent on it. I’ve quit countless other ‘behavioral’ addictions.

NOTHING, was as hard as trying to quit smoking. Until, thank the powers that be, I met vaping, and after a couple months of back and forth, was able to transition to it entirely. Haven’t had a cigarette since, and it’s been at least 10-11 years.

Eventually lowered my nicotine to 0 mg, then gave up the vaping. Haven’t done either since. That was, probably 8-9 years ago now.

I still get the odd craving to vape. Zero cravings to smoke up until last year, first trip in my life to Vegas (and two more since). The casino environment with everyone smoking, I don’t know what it is. Got me looking at it with the rose coloured glasses occasionally while there - but then I quickly remember how hard it was to shake, and how happy I am without it.

My life got so much better kicking weed. I always knew it was bringing me down, but I never quite realized just how much. Add all the restrictions for jobs to it and it’s just a cocktail for depression.

I’ve come to grips with, “it fits for some, not for me.”

Broski, you got this!

Give yourself time to try again. Think about how long you smoked and drank before you quit the first time. I know you want to sprint to the finish line but you gotta stretch first.

If being hard on yourself worked, it would have worked by now. Besides, being hard on you is everyone else’s job. They dont need the help.

Everytime I manage to not bite my nails down and have actual nails, something stressful happens. Every. Single. Time.

This was a tough one for me. One thing that helped was always having nail clippers and a file at my desk at home and work. Any time I felt the urge to bite a nail I would use the clippers and file instead. Over time I have been able to taper down the biting quite a lot and now I’m to the point where I can grow my nails out. The ring fingers are by far the toughest to quit as they’re the most satisfying ones to bite. ADHD medication also helped.

For me: a big component of it is a sensory thing. My brain does NOT like it when I can feel roughness on my fingers or hands. The best I’ve been able to do is just keep a bunch of good glass nail files around the house and in the bags I use and travel with, as well as some cuticle trimmers. That way I just trim and buff things out until my brain is like “mmmm yes this is fine, carry on”, and it’s way less of a compulsion.

But stress also often triggers it for me, and that’s harder to buff out :(

I didn’t chew them, but I used to pick them with my fingernails. Painting them helped because then I would ruin it if I picked at them. Also fiddling with something else helps to occupy my hands.

I did it my whole life (~mid forties now).

I met and was talking to a guy about 10-15 years ago, and it came up - he said “oh yeah, I used to do that, I just stopped.”

Now, consider that, we’re both addicts and met at a 12-step meeting.

I’m like “You can’t just stop guy, lawl, wtf?”

But he insisted - “No, really, I just stopped.”

So I tried … and was absolutely, completely fucking stunned - it worked - I just stopped.

I’m a snack as well

Umm, I may accidentally changed that by staying for like 12hours outside with a mask on and when I’d go home I’d be tired and would sleep soon after. Did it for like a month?

Or was it another change at this time, not sure

I generally don’t condone AI use but this seems like a case where it may be beneficial. Is it possible to feed your news sources into a chat bot and have it generate a “daily feed” of headlines and summaries? If it works right it could save you a lot of time.

I left the US 3 years ago

I’ve always been well informed - but I realized I’ve made my choices, and most of checking the news now is looking for confirmation. It’s an anxiety behavior. It doesn’t change what I’ll do in any way - so why do I need to read it?

I do that as well but for some reason it doesn’t have detrimental effects on me.

I often hit myself on the nose with the phone because I fall asleep. In the morning, it helps get my brain gearing into motion.

Turn it to grayscale might help

I feel for you and I hope you can figure out a way to work on it! Therapy and pushing myself to socialize even when I don’t want to has helped me.