How to Quit Smoking and Make it Stick
A part of me desperately wants to quit smoking, and I know I should quit smoking, but do I feel I must quit. Truthfully, I love smoking, and know that I'll be miserable without my cigarettes. They've become a part of me, and I almost can't bear the thought of giving them up. Yet I know I have to...You're not alone.
Nicotine addiction is powerful, and smoking cessation involves a lot of work for most people -- it's not handed to us on a silver platter. You can, however, quit smoking successfully, and the good news is that thousands of people do just that every year. They've found their way out of the prison of nicotine addiction. And most of them thought, just as you do, that they couldn't quit.
How did they do it?
How did they turn a feeling of should into the certainty of must? How did they turn dreams of quitting into a reality in their lives?
While there is no magic bullet that makes smoking cessation easy and pain free, there are steps you can take to develop the commitment necessary to quit smoking permanently.
If you want to change your life, change your mind.
As smokers, we often think of lighting up as an enjoyable pastime. Cigarettes offer comfort, entertainment and companionship -- or so we think. At the same time, we relate smoking cessation to feelings of pain, misery and sacrifice, and for most of us, these opposing feelings exist and are reinforced on a subconscious level. They're below the surface of our thoughts, and the result is that we adopt unhealthy and inaccurate beliefs as facts of life when in reality they are only our distorted perceptions of the truth.It’s been said that the average person has approximately 60,000 thoughts a day; a significant percentage of those thoughts are negative and usually directed at ourselves. We're almost always our own worst critics. A first step in successfully developing the will it takes to quit smoking involves learning how to pay attention to what we tell ourselves and correct false statements as soon as they occur. It takes practice and patience, but if you keep at it, listening in consciously on the thoughts that go through your mind on a daily basis will become second nature, as will correcting those that don't serve you.Mental Conditioning
Just as we condition our bodies to build strength and endurance, conditioning our minds is an exercise in building new associations that will help us put smoking permanently in the past.Work with the thoughts that don't serve your best interests, and do it as soon as they crop up. Change the language. Restructure your thoughts in terms that will help you. For instance, if you tell yourself:
- "I won't enjoy the party, because I can't smoke. I'll be miserable and hate every minute of it. In fact, I'm already miserable just thinking about it."
- "Going to the party smoke-free will be a challenge, and I may feel uncomfortable, but it will provide me with the practice I need to learn how to live my life without leaning on cigarettes. After all, practice makes perfect. I know these discomforts are a temporary stage of healing from nicotine addiction."
- "My friends get to smoke; why I can't I?"
- "My friends wish they could quit smoking like I have. I remember how desperately I wanted to quit every time I lit up. It was a vicious cycle that I'm free of now."
- "I'm bored without my cigarettes. Life isn't fun without them."
- "At 10 minutes smoking time per cigarette, I used to waste nearly 3 hours every single day smoking! It's no wonder I feel a little fidgety and empty. I'll take up a hobby and do something productive with the time I used to spend smoking."
- "I feel so irritable without my smokes. I'm impatient and angry without cigarettes."
- "Cigarettes did this to me. Once I’m free of this addiction, I’m never going back to the slavery that nicotine forced me in to again."
- "I think about smoking nonstop! My day feels like one long, incessant craving!"
- "I know that nicotine withdrawal is a temporary phase of the recovery process. The discomforts won't last forever. I'm growing stronger with every smoke-free day."
Fortify the resolve you're working to build by considering one of the many quit aids available today and by connecting with like-minded people at the About.com Smoking Cessation support forum.
Smoking cessation is a gift that will reward you with benefits far beyond what you can probably imagine, so be patient and do the work to change your mind about smoking. Believe in yourself. You can do it!
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