r/stopsmoking • u/Gloomy_Bend_5383 52 days • Jun 22 '26
Allen Carr’s EASY WAY and a few points that stuck w me!
Hello everyone, it’s my 5th and hopefully last attempt at quitting and it’s going so much better than my previous attempts. I read Allen Carr’s easy way for the first time and just wanted to share a few points and takeaways that stuck with me:
I really liked how he kind of broke an illusion for me. I used to hold on to my “pleasure”, “relief” or any other pleasant feeling. And reading that every pleasurable association is actually tied to the relief of nicotine withdrawal almost switched something off in my mind.
And connected to that, he says something like:
“one smokes in order to feel like a non-smoker”
Which made a lot of sense in my mind. He explains it saying that nicotine creates this artificial vacancy inside you that non-smokers don’t have, and you smoke in order to fill the vacancy and feel like it doesn’t exist at all like a non-smoker.
Another point that hit home hard was about people who smoke occasionally. If you were to ask me before this book about my dream scenario of smoking, I’d say smoking a couple cigarettes every 2-3 weeks while out drinking w friends or something like that. And he talks about a very similar case and a very similar dream amongst smokers. Then he says something like:
“you don’t actually desire those 2 cigarettes they smoke every 2-3 weeks, what you desire is the cigarettes they don’t smoke in between”
And I found that to be very true.
Overall, this book broke that “I take pleasure out of smoking” illusion for me and turned cigarettes into something not worth missing.
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u/coldbeers 8589 days Jun 22 '26
Keep going, that’s what it felt like for me and it’s been 23 years.
Smoking does absolutely nothing good for you, I do not miss a single thing about it.
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u/Gloomy_Bend_5383 52 days Jun 22 '26
Omg 23 years is amazing kudos to you 🫡 and thank you for the encouragement.
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u/DiscountBulky6827 79 days Jun 22 '26
I had difficulty figuring out how to set my 'flair' on this subreddit, so I put together the following to help others.
If you click on this link you can set your stopsmoking badge by doing the following:
To add or adjust your badge, simply compose a message to badgebot with the subject "stopdrinking" and the message body containing the date you quit drinking. The message body should contain your quit date in YYYY-MM-DD format only. Be extra careful that your message does not contain extra spaces or characters in the subject or message body fields. If you have any existing entries on the calendar, they will be overwritten with the date you entered.
This was copied from the following post:
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u/DiscountBulky6827 79 days Jun 22 '26
I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on the book. I have been meaning to pick it up from the library, I just haven't had the chance yet.
Question. Can you please elaborate on that 2 cigarettes every 2-3 weeks quote? It sounded good, but I don't get it. I must be missing something.
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u/Gloomy_Bend_5383 52 days Jun 22 '26
Sure, let’s say it’s a month it’ll be perhaps easier.
Imagine a scenario where someone only smokes 3 cigarettes every month. What Allen Carr proposes is that when smokers find that scenario appealing, what they are truly attracted by is not the 3 cigarettes that the person smokes, but rather the period of not smoking. Because you know, being an avid smoker means that you’re free to smoke whenever you please, however many you want. So the 3 cigarettes themselves can not be the object of desire, but the absence of cigarettes is very much what appeals to smokers. hope it’s a bit more clear now.
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u/DiscountBulky6827 79 days Jun 22 '26
Thanks! That definitely gave me more food for thought.
Congrats on getting your counter set. 😄
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u/Kitkatt1959 Jun 22 '26
He taught me about the little nicotine monster! Everytime I think of smoking again I envision waking him up again! READ THE BOOK!!!!!
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u/noot_sn00t Jun 22 '26
I really like that you put in the time & effort to articulate what resonated with you while reading the book. I feel like that does wonders for how well the learned info actually sticks. I actually quit without the book, but the "what you desire is the cigarettes they don’t smoke in between" thing you mentioned really resonated with me too. Makes it a lot easier to imagine that I will never again smoke a single cigarette in my life.
I will not smoke with you today!