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Putting Down Cigarettes for Good |
By Carlos Scarpero
 You can say that you are quitting smoking as much as you want, but, to actually achieve that goal is a different story. You can say you want to quit, but until you know how you are going to quit you cannot fully stop the addiction. You must put in a plan of action each day to avoid lighting up. To stop smoking for good, you must come up with a plan and stick to it.
Any habit will not only be hard to stop, but it can also be a frightening task. When you are so used to having that first cigarette in the morning to wake up, you may have the fear that each morning that you don't smoke will be hard to get through. Or, you may smoke every time you get nervous or something stressful happens. Knowing that you cannot light up each time these things happen may cause extra stress. Also, you may enjoy a cigarette after a meal to help the food settle.
Breaking your dependence on cigarettes is going to be hard no matter what
your reasoning for smoking is. Believing that your mornings are going to be rougher without a cigarette, that stressful situations will only become worse without a cigarette, and that your meals will not be as enjoyable without smoking will undoubtedly doom your chances of quitting.
On that same token, if you believe that you can quit smoking and that cigarettes are not going to affect your life negatively, you can quit more easily.
First, you have to convince yourself that you do not actually need cigarettes. You have to believe that the habit of smoking is what makes you feel better in the morning, during stressful situations, and after meals.
If you can grasp the concept that it isn't the cigarette that is making you feel better, but, the belief that they are helping, then you can quit. But, until you actually believe that, your chances of succeeding are limited.
You need to decide when you are going to quit. There is no specific day that is better than others to quit smoking. You can decide to not smoke anymore after finishing this article, or, you can choose the third Thursday of this month if you want.
It is all up to you of when you make the decision to finally quit. When the date comes for you to not smoke, you need to implement your plans of attack. For instance, rid your house of any packs of cigarettes, any ashtrays, and even lighters. Remove everything that you feasibly can that will remind you of smoking.
The less temptations you can have the better. If your spouse smokes too but isn't ready to stop smoking, you can ask that they smoke outside. However, you cannot always enforce that rule since this is your decision to quit, not theirs. But, hopefully they will respect your choice and will start smoking outside. With any luck, maybe they too will decide to quit.
You may also wish to wash all of your bed linens, drapes, pillows, etc to get the smoke smell out of your house.
This goes too if you smoke in your car. Getting rid of the smoke smell will help you to quit smoking, and also if you ever slip up and start smoking again, you will notice the smoke smell in your house and it may help you to quit again. You will be amazed at what cigarette smoke actually smells like.
You are probably so used to the smell right now that you cannot smell it. But, after a week or so of not smoking, you will be able to sense the smell of smoke and realize how awful you used to smell.
Rewarding yourself for not smoking a cigarette can also increase your chances of actually not ever smoking again. Small rewards at first and then larger rewards the further you get being smoke free. For example, if you generally smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day, you probably just saved $8 for not smoking.
After 2 of no smoking, take that $16 and buy yourself something. Later, you can take the money you had saved and buy yourself something big. You will enjoy the things you can buy with your cigarette money more than you ever did by actually burning your money by smoking.
Start a blog or keep a journal of all of your goals. Write down each day how many cigarettes you smoked and how many you would have normally smoked. Keep track of the things that trigger your cravings and what things helped you to not think about smoking.
These are useful tools to your success. Later on when you look back at your notes, you will be amazed at how far you have come. From day 1 when all you could write about was wanting a cigarette, to day 30 when you didn't even think about having one.
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