subject: Maintaining The Will To Quit Smoking Is Not So Easy [print this page] You have been trying to quit smoking for a very long time. You have used the nicotine gum and patches. You have looked on line for tips to curb cravings. And you have even gotten rid of your cigarettes, but you just keep finding yourself buying more packs of cigarettes and lighters. You cannot seem to kick the habit and it is starting to drive you crazy. If you are serious about wanting to quit smoking, then here are some tips that you can use to help make it happen.
The first thing you need to do is reaffirm to yourself your stance on why you need to quit smoking. Like most people who want to quit smoking, you probably want to quit to benefit your health and prevent yourself from getting lung cancer. If that is indeed your reason for wanting to quit smoking, then you need to reaffirm to yourself that you are quitting so that you can save your life.
The next thing you need to do is round up all of your cigarettes, your ash trays, lighters, pipes, tobacco, and anything else that you use to smoke and then simply throw them away. And after you have thrown them away, bury them with more trash so that you will not be tempted to fish them out later. Removing the temptation to smoke is one of the most difficult, but important tasks to take on when trying to quit smoking.
The next thing you need to do is to start surveying the time you normally spend smoking, mainly taking note of the specific times you would smoke, be it your smoke break at work, or just in general, and instead of smoking, use that time to complete a menial task such as solving a simple puzzle. You also need to take note of times when you are tempted to smoke. Write down whenever the temptation to smoke gets really high.
You also need to accept that you may backslide from time to time and smoke to relieve stress. If you do this, then do not beat yourself up over it. Instead you need to be able to take note of what led to you wanting to smoke, and then using those notes for future reference to prevent it from happening again. And keep in mind that yes, quitting will be difficult, but as the old saying goes, anything worth having takes work to achieve.
