Its Time to Quit Smoking

By:anonymous(wishbowl.org)
Picture/s by:(fwweekly.com)

"I am going to quit smoking tomorrow..." How many times have you said this and how many more times have you heard it? Smokers, like alcoholics, make this pledge many times in their lives because they need to and they break it for the simple reason that pledges are always meant to be broken. This does not mean that every time you will take a pledge you will break it. Try to make this the last one because you can do it and you are going to do it. Believe it and you will, here's some help:

• Believe in yourself. Believe that you can quit. Think about some of the most difficult things you have done in your life and realize that you have the guts and determination to quit smoking. It's up to you.



• After reading this list, sit down and write your own list, customized to your personality and way of doing things. Create your own plan for quitting.



• Set a quit date. Decide what day you will extinguish your cigarettes forever. Write it down. Plan for it. Prepare your mind for the "first day of the rest of your life". You might even hold a small ceremony when you smoke you last cigarette, or on the morning of the quit date.



• Drink lots of water. Water is good for you anyway, and most people don't get enough. It will help flush the nicotine and other chemicals out of your body, plus it can help reduce cravings by fulfilling the "oral desires" that you may have.



• You need a good reason to quit. Simply deciding to quit because the sky is blue is not a sufficient reason. The need to quit smoking is obvious, but the desire to quit needs to come from inside in order for the process to be successful.



• Look for small rewards that you can give yourself as you make progress. You are not likely to just quit cold turkey with no complications. Set up small rewards that will help you to want to make progress towards ultimately quitting. This can be a great motivation to keep you on target.



• Plan out your quitting strategy. Decide how you want to try to quit and stick to it. Set a specific amount of time for your plan. If after a time, say six weeks you have not quit, work on a new plan. This will allow ample time to try each method, while still giving yourself flexibility to try something else.



• Work to overcome your struggles. If you are smoking due to stressful things in your life, you need to deal with the stress before you can successfully quit. Regardless of the reason why you are smoking, it needs to be dealt with in able to quit for good.



• Set up a punishment for yourself. For example, if you generally stop at a Cafe each day for a coffee you might consider skipping that on days when you have fallen short of your goals for smoking. Whatever punishment you select, make sure it is something that you care about.



• Seek out help from your friends and family. You need support as you are trying to quit, and this will help you to ensure that you are not alone in the entire process.



• Look for someone to quit with you. If you are entirely on your own, you are going to be much more likely to slip back into smoking. If someone is working with you and holding you accountable, you are more likely to struggle to succeed. Working to quit smoking is not easy, but hard tasks are much easier to accomplish with a partner.



• Aim to quit for good. This might seem a bit strange, but if you are just planning to quit for a weekend you are not going to put much effort into the process. If you are planning to quit for good, a lot more time and effort is going to go into the process as well as your plan to quit.



• Look for ways to take your mind off cigarettes. If you are always thinking about cigarettes, you may find that you are much more tempted to smoke. Reading a book, exercising, talking on the phone, surfing the internet and even cooking are all great ways to occupy your mind and keep from thinking about when your last cigarette was.

Conclusion:

The decision to stop smoking can be one of the best choices that you can make for your health and your life. So it makes sense to put everything into it when you decide to quit ensuring success. Think of the things that motivate you, find a support system, and use tips like the ones in this article to create a plan that is sure to succeed.

Most people are readily aware that stopping smoking can improve their health, but learning how to really conquer the urges to smoke is not easy. With so many temptations circulating around, as well as the stresses of daily life it is easy to see why jumping into a pack of cigarettes seems like a good idea.

But, the bottom line is that you need to just take it one day at a time and step by. You can achieve the ability to quit smoking, but it is something that you do not want to look too far in the future. You do not want to get to the place where you think you are so strong that you can put yourself in vulnerable situations. You need to surround yourself with other non-smokers, or you can hang with the same friends you have always had as long as they are respectful to the path which you are walking; they may even be inspired by you to take control of their own life.