Smoking behaviour is usually carried out by the youth. Young adulthood could be overlooked in the period of regular smoking behaviour. 1.4 million or 28% of adults in Canada actually smoke among all age groups. More than half of these started around the age of 18.
Step 1: Brainwash yourself
Blame the cigarette for everything that is wrong with your life, your friends and the world in general. Slowly and steadily, your brain will be accustomed to the theory that smoking causes all the problems and you will atleast try to refrain from it.
Convince yourself that everything will eventually get better if you stop smoking. All your health issues will be solved.
If you have the urge to smoke, make sure you do it in uncomfortable situations, like in the freezing cold, or all alone (if you are a social smoker).
Tell yourself how dirty and disgusting it is to smoke.
Add up what smoking costs you per day. Start seeing it as an addiction, and how much you can save if you give it up.
Step 2: Don’t make a huge deal out of Quitting Smoking
You don’t necessarily have to stop on Monday morning. Or the next week. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself or make a big deal out of it. You can stop on Tuesday or Wednesday once your packet runs out. It does not matter when you do it, it is important that once you do it, you don’t get back to it.
Think of it as self-preservation, or self-respect. Sooner or later you will feel better about yourself. If you also smoke because of stress, just like me, you just need to find out other ways of handling your stress.
Whether it could be talking to your best friend or mom, or going out for a walk or listening to songs. Just let the urge pass. Slowly and steadily you will have a permanent solution to smoking. You could try Nicotine Gum to help you, it really helped me with the urge to smoke.
If you prefer toffees to gums, there’s also Nicorette Mini Lozenges to help you out. An extremely important step is to tell someone that you’re planning to leave. The support that close ones can give you is incomparable. And let them know that you’re having gum or lozenges, so that if they aren’t there, you can still deal with your problems alone.
Step 3: Make it a big deal! :P
Yes, you are letting it go. You are not the same person you were when you started smoking. You are a changed person, you can deal with your problems (hopefully) without harming yourself mentally or physically.
Step 4: Withdrawal
Research shows that withdrawal lasts for about 72 hours. If you can get through a nicotine withdrawal, you can get through any kind of withdrawal. Yes, you should be proud of yourself if you clear it! And it only lasts 72 hours, as long as a cold.
Tell the people around you that they should ignore all the emotional outbursts that come as a result of this withdrawal. Millions of people with less intelligence /good-looks /money /talent /support /determination etc. have survived nicotine withdrawal so you can too.
Every attempt at withdrawal is different. Just because you went through hell last time, it doesn’t mean that this time as well, it will be as difficult.
Don’t resist the cravings, in fact, welcome them. That is how you will learn to deal with them. Feel them, where are they? In it your throat, your chest or your stomach? Just locate them. By the time you locate them, they are usually gone. The struggle is just mental. You just have to distract yourself. If you think it is difficult, it will be difficult. However, if you think of it as a huge problem, it will appear as one.
Do some physical activity. Something as simple as breathing deeply. Or just jump, everytime you think of smoking. Jumping will make your lungs fill up with clean air.
Imagine nicotine as a monster that has invaded into your head. Everytime you get the urge to smoke, this monster is asking for food. Deprive it, and instead just give it Nicotine Gum, so that it feels satisfied but in reality you know you have duped it.
Just be positive, have self-confidence and try the techniques above, trust me, you will feel MUCH better.
