Quitting cigarettes is never easy. However, this is not due to the popular belief that nicotine is addictive. Once you become a true smoker, smoking a pack a day at minimum, the difficulty in quitting is in breaking the habit. You’ve probably been smoking for years. As you know it slowly moves from just socially to smoking with your morning coffee, during your breaks at work and eventually just you all the time. In the end, quitting just comes down to willpower. There are tricks though, and they are listed in the steps below. The steps will take you from start to finish in the quitting process.
While quitting cold turkey is possible, it is very difficult. It rarely works and usually happens when someone encounters a significantly stressful event, causing them to gain willpower and deciding to quit. However, this is something that just happens, only sometimes and only to some people. You cannot rely on this as you might have this moment 20 years from now, and that moment may be the when the doctor gives you that long-dreaded diagnosis. By following the steps below, you will find it easy to quit, as they are simple and happen over a longer period of time. The choice you have made is an adjustment to you current life, and a proper adjustment takes time.
Step 1: Occasionally you will find you have just finished one cigarette just minutes ago, and you have already about to light another one. Just hold that one. This is the habit, not a craving. So put it back and go about your business. Focus on whatever is happening to you, whatever you are doing. You don’t feel the craving so it should not be difficult.
Step 2: Physical exercise is one of the healthiest activities to undertake in you life, both for your physical and your mental health. Get a hobby, get motivated. What have you always wanted to do? Get buff? Play soccer? Be a ballerina? Learn kung-fu? Just start. Go once. Go again. Get motivated. Your body will start to reject the cigarettes,
and you will have difficulty in your training due to your extremely poor cardio. Do not quit your new hobby. As with everything, it takes time to get good. And there is always a benefit. Learning martial arts may save you from a beating one day, or enable you to protect someone you care about. Ballerina and dance are extremely sexy activities your partner will enjoy too etc. Your goal with physical activity is to change you. While you may love yourself and feel you do not want to change, this is obviously not entirely true as you are reading a how to quit smoking article.
Step 3: Whether or not you have become active, try drinking water when you feel like a cigarette. If you are exercising now, you will be drinking much greater amounts of water. Hard exercise, and as often as possible will get you tired and weak, and it is at these times that you want to light up. But it is really at these times that you should be drinking water or eating healthy food to regenerate your body for the next training session.
Step 4: Just learn to say no. Be strong. A strong person can achieve anything in life, because he stays steady and consistent in whatever he or she does. It benefits you to be strong in any aspect, and part of this is learning to say no to people. You will often be offered cigarettes by your friends, family or peers. While it may sound tempting, it is better you smoke your own cigarettes than take from others. While this is a method to quit, it is also an important life lesson in responsibility. Be strong and do not take what is not yours even when offered.