How to Quit Smoking Cold Turkey: Saved by the Power of Sudoku

Before telling you how my wife quit cold turkey, I need to tell you just a little bit about her story. I told my wife that she was killing me slowly often, but that was not a good enough reason for her to stop lighting up. Her smoking didn't put me off from dating her when we were younger, however it did put a damper on me wanting to be around her when she did. You see, I have a history of bronchitis issues and asthma. When we moved to North Carolina, I found that I had added severe allergies to the list of problems I with which I had to suffer. Mine is so bad that I could sneeze through paint on a wall. Winters are especially rough with me as it was often too cold for her to take her cigarettes outside.

My Wife Tried Everything To Quit

When I met my wife, she was a smoker, but I did not judge her by it. We found ways to get around it. As our lives edged closer, we discovered that her smoking was as complicating my health just as it was to hers. She has already been smoking for 20 years when I met her, and I saw little hope in changing this fact. We had a couple of children together, and she managed to stave off most of her smoking during both pregnancies. Stress with her first born, my stepson, time and time again forced her to light up again. Other personal issues arose, as they always tend to do, which interrupted her seven to ten-day streaks where she resisted the nicotine fits. She had tried everything to quit, short of hypnosis, and none of these options were working in unison with her mindset of quitting.

The Tipping Point

There was a singular moment when she realized her health was declining from all of those years of toking on cigarettes. She knew that she only had herself to blame. Nothing I had said could motivate her to quit and leave her smokes in the past. Telling her that she was "killing me" never worked. Telling her that her smoking was hurting the kids did not work. It's not that hearing this didn't emotionally affect her. However, her need to get her cigarette fix was stronger than anything I could ever do or say to bring her out of it. Ultimately, she had to decide to do it for herself. Not for me. Not the kids. Only for herself.

Learn Thy Enemy

It was personal to her that she should succeed. After all, her very life depended on it. So she began her pilgrimage to breaking the habit, the way most do nowadays. She started researching on the internet. She studied and studied. She learned all of the bad things that happen to the body while smoking. She discovered how the lungs get scarred, charred and slowly begin losing their ability to function. She also learned how fast the body repairs itself after one stops smoking permanently. There is a website that has a table that shows what gets corrected and at what time. It also marks when your risk of stroke or heart attack is back down to that of a non-smoker. This chart specifies data for those who quit cold turkey, not for those who turn to other drugs as a replacement for smoking. I cannot replicate the table here, but the informational tables can easily be found by searching on Google. My wife also looked up how much money she would be saving on cigarettes if she quit today. The national average is somewhere between $6 and 8 dollars per pack now, with some prices in the Northern States reaching upwards of almost $13 a pack. A pack a day habit would cost you about $2,300 a year. That in itself is a great motivator for needing to quit. I'm sure everyone could benefit with an additional $2,300 in their bank accounts right about now. That is pretty much like a stimulus check all by itself.

The Weapon That My Wife Used To Win Her War Against Cigarettes

However, even the knowledge of how smoking affects a smoker wasn't enough. My wife did indeed quit cold turkey. She took her last cigarette out of the pack and then gave me the remaining four or five and told me to crush them. I did so obligingly. She had done her research and realized that what she needed to quit was to find something to occupy her mind during her cravings. Cravings typically last from 20 to 30 minutes depending on the dependency of the individual. It was hard, but not impossible. She found the one thing that worked for her, and she has not looked back since. Here is the big secret:

Sudoku puzzles.

Weapon: Thy Name is Sudoku

An Unexpected Solution?

I am not kidding you. My wife quit smoking playing Sudoku puzzles. The sad part about this story is, I was the one who introduced her to them. I had seen the mini-books in our local supermarket, and I had heard about them. I decided to buy books to take home and give them a try. Unfortunately, my purchase just so coincided with my wife’s Quit Day. It wasn't long before I lost those books forever.

The Trick To Success

I think I managed two or three of the puzzles before my wife got a hold of the books. The ferocity in my wife’s face was hard to describe. She powered through the problems every other hour or so. Dealing with the placement of the numbers took her mind off of the pangs of wanting to light up. Hours melted into days, and days into weeks. Confidence built within her daily, as she notched off her survival days. Like a prisoner scraping the days with hashes into her cell wall, the inside cover of each book was replete with marks. After two months of hard-core Sudoku, she officially told herself that she had kicked the habit. She never looked back. To my surprise, each of "my" books had been filled out in their entirety. She even made sure they were written hard in pen, I assume so that I could not erase them and play them myself.

Reflecting on Her Unique Solution

Now and then I stumble upon the two books she worked on and I'm moved emotionally as I flip through them. When I look upon them, and I remember how proud I am of her, and I remember that in the end, she had to do it for her, not me. There was a lot of anger and pain in those numbers, and you could see the indentations ease from heavy to light as you moved forward through those pages. I still find it amazing to bear witness to her ironclad resolve. She insisted on quitting her way. She did her research, analyzed her situation, and came up with a brilliant plan to beat her own addiction. I mean, how many people can say that playing Sudoku saved their wife's life?

The Key to Surviving Your Cravings

The key here is that Sudoku was the distraction that helped save my wife and me from many years of suffering from what could have turned into a much worse disease. So, I ask you. What is your Sudoku? What can you use as your distraction to get you through that craving? Maybe is your favorite game on your cell phone (Mine is Candy Crush). Perhaps it's reading a favorite book. Whatever your distraction, only you know what your best amusement can be. Here is the secret to starting on your path of walking away briskly, but at a steady pace from your addiction.

It is Possible. You Can Quit!

I wish the best of luck to you. I pray that you find the drive to change your life. However, understand that no one can do it for you. Just as I could not be the driving force to convince my wife to quit, you can not rely on someone else to motivated you to make that change. It has to be your decision, and you decision alone. I recommend that you do your research and discover for yourself what the benefits are to quitting smoking and what you can expect during your recovery. It is not a smooth and easy road to be sure. However, if you arm yourself with this new information, perhaps you can get ahead of your cravings and take actions that will enable you to set yourself up for success. Do not allow yourself to fall into the same pitfalls from the last time you tried to quit. Analyze your triggers and begin using that information to make subtle lifestyle changes that will give you the edge in this seemingly impossible battle.

During the Struggle

When my wife retells this story to others who have expressed their desire to quit, she often talks about how bad the first three days are. The first three days without cigarettes are the worst. Once you survive those first three days, it gets exponentially easier to deal with the cravings.

After the first week, you may start to notice that you are coughing more. You might perhaps be coughing up phlegm and dark bits and your throat might be sore. Believe it or not, your throat and lungs are lined with these tiny hairs called cilia. When you are smoking, you are effectually burning away the cilia you have in your throat and lungs. After one week of not smoking, these cilia amazingly begin to grow back. Since you are not used to having the cilia in your throat, you will tend to feel itchy and your reflex to cough and hack will be activated in a rather elevated manner. So, a rough cough at the end of your first week of not smoking is a sure sign that your lungs and throat are regrowing those tiny hairs, and that your body is beginning maintenance of cleaning out all of the soot and tar you have accumulated all those long years of cosplaying a chimney. Expect some coughing. It will get better as the days progress.

Education is Key

My wife was a smoker for over 30 years. She quit, and in doing so displayed a great deal of courage and strength. What worked for her was doing her research and finding out all the details of what happens to your body when one quits smoking. She found timelines that break how the body heals after 20 minutes, eight hours, 24 hours, 48 hours, and 72 hours. She educated herself further on how exactly the body heals after 1, 2, and 3 months, and 1, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20 years. There are blogs out there that illustrate this. Once she understood the little nuances of what was going on in her body, she was empowered to push through to those goal posts.

I believe in you. Have faith in yourself, make a plan, stick to it, and before you know it, you will be smoke-free and onward to more healthy living. Imagine. In 10 to 15 years, all of the cells you have damaged in your body from smoking will all be replaced with living, healthy cells.

Long life and peace to you all, and I wish you the best of efforts as you take back over your life. Breath clear.

Your Wordsmith,

Matthew Leo

© 2020 Matthew Leo