If you are a person who would like to stop feeling slave to cigarettes, this article is for you!
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There are many different programs or methods for sale now that help people in their efforts to kick the nicotine habit. I can only attest to the method I used over 20 years ago that worked to kick my three pack a day habit!
I bought a “program” called Cigarrest that contained four pills that I was instructed to take one per day, to stop the physical withdrawal symptoms that occur during the first 96 hours. Science says it’s a fact that the adverse physical symptoms of quitting only last four days. Those first 96 hours are especially difficult because our body is experiencing physical discomfort from withdrawal AND our mind is supposed to be fighting all the internal talk that would rather give in than fight!
Just because I went the first four days without lighting a cigarette didn’t mean the hardest part was over because that chatter inside my head and all the daily moves that made up my smoking habit were my new battle.
1. Know that the longest and strongest urge you’ll ever have for a cigarette lasts only two minutes. That is a scientific fact. Those urges can/will come often at first, but they can NOT last more than two minutes. If you can distract yourself with something else for those short two minutes, you will have overcome one more urge. Make sure to remember that it’s only going to be two minutes and you can probably find something else to do during those two minutes!
2. Every time your brain tells you that you want a cigarette, you can NOT say “I want a cigarette” or even allow yourself to THINK “I want a cigarette.” The more times you allow yourself to even think that, the deeper and deeper groove will wear in your brain that will reinforce the belief that you want/need/have to smoke a cigarette. Replace that thought with the opposite statement, or even better: a statement like “I’m going to become a runner.” Also, and this is huge; the reason you “get nervous” or “need” a cigarette every time some supposed trauma occurs in your life is because in the PAST, when your BODY was addicted to nicotine, you DID feel the need or were nervous because your body he was having withdrawal symptoms, i.e. he needs NICOTINE! That symptom doesn’t REALLY occur after four days, you just keep waiting for that old reaction.
3. Smoking is not just a habit. There are a thousand habits, depending on how often you turn on or how long you’re awake. It’s the habit of smoking with your morning cup of coffee, it’s the smoke when you start the car, it’s the smoke when you sit down to write a letter, etc., etc., etc. What about smoke with beer or smoke after a meal? Lots of clothes attached to look like one, and what’s worse, it’s legal! The first habit I had to break was coffee in the morning. I told myself at first that I was going to have to give up that coffee, but what I did was buy myself a pair of running shoes and go for a run before I had that coffee. Can you imagine how easy it was for a 3 pack a day smoker? I don’t know how long I ran and it didn’t matter, because when I came back, that coffee tasted good even without the cigarette! The endorphins and the different mindset worked that morning. How could a runner be a smoker?! With all the other occasions I had to replace what was actually a hand/mouth habit. When I started my car, I put a piece of hard candy in my mouth. When I sat down to write a letter, I had a glass of iced tea. Instead of watching TV, I put on an exercise video and worked out. Do you get the point? One more tip on smoking after a meal: go brush your teeth! Works.
4. One of the first things I did for the first four days I was taking those pills was take a piece of paper, draw a line down the middle and on one side write all the good reasons to quit. Expenses, health, etc. I realized that the amount of money I spent on cigarettes would be equivalent to a full year of private school tuition for my daughter! That kind of list: be specific with the profits and losses, very specific. On the other side of the paper, list all the bad reasons to quit, ie I’d be nervous, I’d be bored, you name it! Anyone in their right mind would have a longer list of good reasons to let go.
5. 20 years ago I found out I was pregnant = a good reason to quit right then and there. Also, 20 years ago, smoking in public began to be looked down upon; even illegal. I grew up in a family where smoking was pretty much a right of way. You were about 12 years old and you started smoking in secret like my mother and grandmother did. Suddenly, in 1985 smoking was not allowed on a flight of less than two hours. Oh no! Smoking was beginning to be looked down upon! So changing attitudes and times helped me when I decided to quit. And that solidifies my final point.
6. YOU/HE/SHE must really want to quit smoking. You have to decide that for yourself, not because someone or something is forcing you to do so. Without that internal motivation, all the advice in the world will be useless. WITH that inner motivation and determination, these tips are guaranteed to work!