6 Tips To Avoid When Quitting Smoking

So, you smoke and want to quit. Here are 6 things to avoid doing. This is all in an effort to make it easier to quit smoking for good.

Tips to avoid when quitting smoking

Talking to a doctor

You may be able to quit on your own. Many people do. Just don’t fall into the trap that you have to do it alone. Do talk to your doctor. He or she has some tools that may help you on your journey to quitting smoking for good. There are medicines that can help take the edge off of withdrawal symptoms. There are things to replace the nicotine, such as gums and lozenges. These can help your doctor wean you off the nicotine. Chances are your doctor has helped others quit before you. So, he or she has experienced. He or she might have some good ideas worth trying.

Thinking that cigarettes control you

Think of it this way. That cigarette cannot control you. It is just dried and crushed tobacco stuffed into a rolled up paper. That’s all a cigarette is. It sits on your table. If you don’t pick it up, it will sit there forever. You have to take the actions to pick it up. You have to light it. You have to put it up to your lips and inhale. If you don’t do those things, it will just sit there on that table forever. You have to inhale on cigarette thousands of times to become addicted. So, that cigarette cannot drive you do take these actions. This means that you are in control. You are in the driver's seat. You control the behavior.

Listen to the voices in your head

You wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t want to quit. You wouldn’t think of quitting if you didn't want to. Most people quit many times. So, that means that something drives you to pick up that cigarette at some point. Something drives you to go to the store and buy another pack. Most of the time it’s that voice from that niche in the back of your head. It’s the voice that says, “I can just have one cigarette.” Or, “I can just take one or two puffs.” You know full well what will happen if you give in to that voice. Don’t be fooled by it. If you want to quit, you have to ignore that voice. After you quit for a while, that voice will gradually get weaker. It will eventually fade away.

Treating quitting as losing a good friend

That cigarette is not your friend. The tobacco is not your friend. The smoke is not your friend. It feels like a friendship if anything. It offers you a good feeling while you are smoking it. Then it wends its way down your airways. It makes its way into your bloodstream. It gradually starts causing damage inside of you. And I’m sure I don’t have to get into all the bad things that smoking can do for you. Smoking is like some evil you want to get as far away from as you possibly can. Just know that you should celebrate quitting. You should be happy that you quit. It is not something to mourn.

Preparing yourself for a new journey

When you go camping, you make a list or you have one in your head. This is to make sure, once you unload and sit down, you can start relaxing right away. You can enjoy your vacation to its fullest. Quitting smoking is no different. You need to prepare yourself. In those moments you normally smoke, what are you going to do? So, all the kids are in bed. You are sitting watching TV. That’s a time you’d normally light up. What are you going to do now? So, you need to have some options. You can go for a walk. You can call a friend or loved one. You can take a shower. You can fill in the blank. Here is where it’s a good idea to talk to your doctor. It’s a good idea to learn about withdrawal and how long it lasts.

Moving on to a healthier you

That’s how you have to think of this. Yes, there will be a period of time when you feel uncomfortable. There’s going to be that urge to quit quitting. Those are uncomfortable feelings that will pass. And when they do you can celebrate.