I have been a smoker for more than 10 years. I started
really young, at the age of 15. I had forgotten how it feels like to be without
a smoke in my lungs. I cough so hard, it’s seems like my lungs are going to
come out from my mouth. From the way I cough, people know that I am a smoker. I
had gone thru a lot of websites on how to quit smoking. Read thru paper
cuttings as well. I had gone thru everything, tips and trick, the hazards of
smoking so that I might be scared to continue smoking. Nope! That didn’t work.
There was one time I stopped for about a month. After that I started smoking
again. Not enough determination. Determination and Will Power Is The Key.
Some
people say that I can stop smoking because I was not a heavy smoker. It depends
though. There are people who says, smoking 1 cigarette a day is heavy. Some
people say smoking 2 packs of 20 cigarettes a day is heavy. I smoke about 20
cigarettes a day. I will smoke more, if I’m stressed out. I can go for 40
cigarettes a day. I have stop smoking for 2 years now. I would like to share a
few points on how I manage to stop smoking.
1) Knowing the effects of smoking and remembering it will
help is the first step. What it will do to your inside? How will it affect your
family and your future? Read a lot of articles on the hazards of smoking. There
is lots of it on the internet. Go look at some pictures on what it can do to
your lungs, your brains and other diseases that you can get when you smoke.
Looking at pictures will let it stay in your mind. You will think twice when
you want to smoke your next stick. If that’s not enough, there are lots of
videos on youtube. Follow the links below for my favorites. I will only share
2.
2) Get an external aid. For example sweets, mints, chewing
gum, nicotine patch, or nicotine chewing gum. I have used all of these except
the nicotine chewing gum. When I feel like smoking I will pop a mint or a
chewing gum in my mouth. It will delay the urge for a while. It will work until
I ran out of chewing gum or mint. I will smoke after that somehow. Sometimes
worst, I will eat mint and have a smoke as well. I knew about nicotine patch
for a long time, but did not use it until 2 years back. The nicotine patch was
quite expensive. It has 7 patches in one box. Each box varies in nicotine
calculated in milligrams. The pharmacist will determine how many milligrams you
need on how many cigarettes you smoke per day.
3) Delay yourself from smoking. As stated above, having
something to chew on helps to delay the smoking. Keep yourself busy with work
that does not allow you to smoke at the same time does help as well, for
example washing the dishes, clean the yard, and do house chores and many more.
Most offices nowadays do not allow staff from smoking in their offices. So,
stay in the office and don’t go out. Try washing your hands often, when you
feel like smoking, go wash your hands. Do whatever it takes to delay you from
smoking.
4) Don't buy your own cigarettes. If you need to smoke, get your
cigarette from other people. This will slightly help. Sometimes we have the
tendency to smoke because we have a pack of cigarette ready on us. This might
be caused of habit or actually having the urge to smoke. Most of the time, it’s
because of habit. If we need to get a cigarette from somebody else, it will
somehow slow us down because we are reluctant to ask for a cigarette from
strangers or even our friends, unless they offer us the cigarette.
5) Refrain yourself from going to places where people smoke
and don't hang out with people who do smoke. For the time being, stop going to
public places where people smoke a lot for example open air coffee houses, mamaks,
outside a shopping mall and much more. If you have to, stay inside where smoking
is not allowed. Refrain from hanging out with people who do smoke. Say no to
them and explain the reason why. If they are your true friends they will
understand.
6) Stop doing the things that will give you the urge to
smoke. Stop! Yes stop. If drinking coffee makes you want to smoke. Stop for a
while, you can start drinking coffee again when you are confident that you won’t
feel the urge to smoke after taking a sip.
7) Get a professional’s advice on how to stop and come out
with a plan where you have to follow and have a recurring meet up with them. I
had a meet up with my family doctor and had a chat with him. More of a nagging
session to me. :P Got his advice. The funny thing is, I know everything he told
me before I actually met him for that session. Hmmm. Yeah, right after that I went
to the pharmacist and got me a nicotine patch.
8) Decide on when to stop. Keep to your decision! Had my
last smoking session with a good friend of mine. I did not buy a new pack of
cigarette. Finish my last cigarette with my good friend, told him that that
would be my last one. I had decided to stop smoking the next day. That
was my last cigarette since then.
These are some links that might interest you as well.
FreshStart is a safe, guaranteed, craving-free way to proudly become a permanent non-smoker without the need for heroics or willpower. If you are ready to stop smoking, you could be a non-smoker using this method.
These are some links that might interest you as well.
FreshStart is a safe, guaranteed, craving-free way to proudly become a permanent non-smoker without the need for heroics or willpower. If you are ready to stop smoking, you could be a non-smoker using this method.
Hope this helps. IF I CAN DO IT SO CAN YOU!! :)