Wednesday, September 30, 2009

10 tips for quitting smoking

1. chose the most stress free time you can possibly find in your life to quit; you don't want an expected stressful situation to push you towards lighting a fag do you?
2. find a good reason to quit; for me it was work, if i wanted to have my job i had to quit, also money was a good incentive too as cigarettes are very expensive here in the UK
3. never think of yourself as an ex-smoker, a quitter or whatever - you are a NON-SMOKER now; it is important to let go of that part of yourself, because otherwise you will keep on thinking that you should smoke
4. every time you think of a cigarette think of the most disgusting thing, for you, in your mouth; for me it was picturing a very full ashtrays worth of cigarette buts in my mouth that helped, cancer did not frighten me enough, nor did horrible teeth, or wrinkles or heart diseases, find something horrible that will frighten YOU
5. do not go out or drink alcohol for at least the first month after quitting; we all know how lovely it can be to have a glass of wine with a cigarette, a beer in one hand cigarette in the other, drinking and partying environment encourages you to smoke as there is always someone having a cigarette there
6. allow yourself to enjoy food; once you quit smoking your taste buds recover after years of being clogged up with nicotine and what not, enjoy the food and appreciate it, now it is one of your new luxuries in life, eat good food
7. if you gain weight do not panic; when i quit smoking i allowed myself to gain as much weight as i needed, i became one size bigger, now for the first time in years i have an incentive to watch what i eat, but as i said the food is so tasty you can't really eat that much of it!
8. reward yourself; this is very important, i myself apply the reward system in everything i do, if something is not easy or not pleasant to do i jut tell myself, once that is done i will buy this or this, or do this, i am sure you get the idea.
9. be proud; every day, and every hour, and every minute that you resist to cigarettes show how strong you are, do not think of yourself as weak you can do it this is why you are so proud
10. let the feelings out; this is the hardest one for me, for the first few weeks after i quit smoking i was flooded with crazy emotions that made no sense, it was a great relief that there was always someone i could talk to, or sometimes cry to

these tips are based on my own personal experiences, i suppose i wrote them down to remind myself why i quit as i was one of those people who really loved smoking regardless of the risks, however now that i am a non smoker i just want to enjoy my life, i have other objectives now

2 comments:

Richard said...

I wouild think the easiest way is to never start.

I often wonder how addictive nicotine is. I know people claim it to be more addictive than heroin, but ...

Well, you can buy nicotine patches / gum without prescription (at least in Canada), yet you would never see methadone sold over the counter.

I wonder how much of the addiciton is an excuse? I Can see it being habitual and habits can be extremely difficult to break. But is it really addictive? My dad only quit because the doctor told him there were changes occuring in his lungs and, bam, he stopped.

CG said...

I personally do not think that it is Nicotine that people are addicted to. I think like you said it is more of a habit. I noticed that I missed smoking most after meals when I would have my ritual cigarette, rather than when I am stressed. Also the only physical symptom I had was diarrhea, but no other quitters I know mentioned it, either they are embarrassed or I am exceptional. One can buy patches and stuff here as well but personally I think it is bullshit, yes they give you nicotine, but nothing to suck on I've known my husband to smoke while wearing a patch, no he did not end up being sick as they threaten...

Related Posts Widget for Blogs by LinkWithin