Quit Smoking 101
Posted: Saturday, January 02, 2010
by WhiteGyr
This is an article about the ways to set your mind to the right place so that you make a very conscious decision to stop smoking. This is really a decision that if you engage your brain it just does not make any sense to continue with your smoking habit at all. By making a plan and following it and by knowing what you are going to get as payoff for quitting this habit you will motivate yourself and remind yourself even when you are tempted that the payoff is so much more for breaking the habit than to continue with behavior that is costing you dearly financially and health wise.
So, I was sure I was going to have to find a behavior to replace my smoking or other methods of dealing with stress. At work instead of taking ten minutes smoke breaks I started to replace them with ten minute walks outside in the parking lot. In the mornings instead of a cigarette with my coffee I ate a healthy breakfast instead of my usual breakfast of a cigarette and coffee. After eating instead of a smoking I took a walk or worked out or read a book. In the car I listened to books on tape or music that took my mind off usual times in the car when I would smoke.
It wasn't easy but I started replacing other activities and habits for times when I would usually smoke. When I decided that I had to break the smoking habit I started with a list of pros and cons for my decision to smoke or to quit. In other words what I was getting out of smoking and then the cons to keeping with my smoking habit. Of course the pros far outweighed the cons. The financial and health cost of a smoking habit makes the decision to continue one you can't really justify in any sense except for the fact that as a smoker this is a habit that you enjoy.
After I made my list I hung this list up on my bathroom mirror and also on my refrigerator door. I wanted everyday to see my motivation for changing my behavior this helped quite a bit since quitting smoking is a decision on has to make everyday day by day. When you stop smoking you have to expect some times when you may slip but in times past once I slipped I just accepted failure and started smoking full steam ahead but this time if I slipped and bought a pack of cigarettes or smoked one I begged from a friend I allowed myself forgiveness for not being perfect and started right back up.
When I saw the scales go up I made sure to exercise more and not to replace eating with smoking. I also rewarded myself by pampering myself with something I usually wouldn't do for myself. Maybe by a splurge on shopping or a movie I wanted to see a nice dinner a Starbucks coffee just something I enjoyed to remind myself that smoking wasn't the only enjoyable thing for me. I can't say I still don't think about smoking from time to time and probably always will but I also remind myself that what you save is money your health and generally just feeling better. Your clothes don't smell like smoke your hair doesn't reek of smoke you can taste the food you eat. You can also put the money you would have used for buying cigarettes into a saving account and watch it add up.
Millard Hiner , the owner and operator of WhiteGyr dot com lives
in Pierce, Idaho and has been computer programming for over thirty years now
and has used Fortran, BasicV, C++, RPG II and Prime's CPL. He calls himself a
Web Developer or Web Development Manager (for this work and he does both) but
he answers the emails sent to whitegyr at gmail.com. He is editor and publisher of noxobmp dot com and author of many articles
about behavioral modification products has a collection of these on his new
website Odor Control which includes information and
articles about Smoking.
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Top-level comments on this article: (7 total)Time to make a list! Good article WhiteGyr and thanks for sharing. Breaking the smoking habit is indeed a commendable feat, congratulations.Thanks for the read and comment. Looking forward to your next article Robert.
This is a great support article... If you are trying to stop smoking and are having trouble because you think no one cares... read this article!Thanks for the read and comment Anonymous.
I've been having trouble loosing weight. This inspired me to add this method to dieting. Congratulations on your success. It could fit very well. Thanks for the incouragement.
very inspiring and great ideas!
This is a great artcle! Thanks for all the great ideas. It gives me hope, if others can do it so can I. Thanks a bunch.
Great article! Thanks for your effort. Maybe there is hope for me, if others can do it, so can I. Thanks again........PCSome tips for parents to help prevent teen smoking:1. Educate your child about the dangers of smoking early on.2. Be a good example. Only 2 percent of smokers have parents who don't smoke. (Mayo Clinic).3. Don't leave cigarettes where children or teens may have access to them.4. Teach the teen or child refusal skills
Very well written. A very critical topic. Identifys the dangers caused by smoking and provides sensible recommendations to help in quitting.Those of us that have quit must never forget just how severe the addition is.
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