Some habits stop feeling like a choice. You promise yourself this is the last time, you mean it, and a few days later you're back where you started.
The people in these stories know that loop. A Londoner who quit drinking, cigarettes and cannabis lots of times, and went back every time. An engineer whose longest try at quitting lasted half a day. A New York drummer who hid in his apartment for years. A manager who drank every night to quiet one question. None of them found their way out in a straight line.
These are their own accounts, not formulas or promises. If you have tried and gone back more times than you can count, we hope they let you feel a little less alone.
Nobody can promise that. What these stories show is that a long record of trying was not the end of anyone's story. Every person in them had gone back before, and what changed was not a better trick but something steady to come back to.
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When Quitting Never Sticks
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These stories share personal experiences and inner journeys. They cannot replace professional psychological or medical help, and please don't stop or change any treatment because of a story. If you are in serious distress or crisis, please reach out to a qualified local counselor, doctor or crisis line.
Earl Rhodes, a Londoner, tried many times to quit drinking, cigarettes and drugs, and went back every time. After a separation left him sad and listless, a book he found at a London exhibition in 1997 began the change that let him quit smoking weed.
Han Jiao-Jeon, a division chief at GM Korea, drank every day after work and smoked two packs a day while his marriage seemed to be ending. At 40 he found Falun Dafa, and found he could quit drinking as the wanting fell away. Coworkers now say he has lived two lives.
Tonggui Ye, an engineer, started smoking at about 18 and was up to two and a half packs a day, quarreling with his wife about it all the time. His longest try at quitting lasted half a day. In January 1997 he told her, "I'll quit smoking from now on" — and did.
Sterling Campbell, a New York drummer who toured with David Bowie and Duran Duran, spent eight years on drugs, daily drinking and two packs of cigarettes a day. A pamphlet handed to him in a park in 1998 began his way out — and a harder lesson after it.
Before you go
A free guide for when quitting never sticks
Four true stories of people who tried to quit again and again, and what changed for them. One email with the guide, then a few short letters.
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