1. It's not as hard as you think. Once you begin to be honest with
yourself and to look at the facts about smoking, it will become a
pleasure to remove this addiction from your life.
2. Square off with your smoking habit. Look at it and size it up.
Ask yourself exactly what it is doing for you; then ask yourself
what it is not doing for you. You can begin with your hair and work
your way down to the tips of your toes. It is a medical fact that
smoking affects every organ in the human body in a harmful way.
3. Look at quitting cigarettes as giving yourself a gift - a very
big gift. You are giving yourself a better quality of life and, very
possibly, a longer life. You are giving yourself a healthier body.
You are giving yourself more self-esteem. Wrap all this in a package
and look at it for the gift it really is, then "Go for it"!
4. Set a date. Make a commitment. Give it a try. Remember, it is
alright if you don't succeed at first. Just keep trying. The only
way you can lose is by ceasing to try.
5. Don't look at it as if you are giving up something. This makes it
seem too much like a loss. What you are really doing is tossing
something out of your life that has done you harm and doesn't belong
here anymore. You are throwing away pure garbage. No longer are you
going to allow your lungs to be resting place for nicotine and tars.
6. Always keep a positive attitude. After all, this is one of the
most positive things you've ever done. Stay away from negative
people and worrisome situations.
7. Quit for yourself. Even though your family and loved ones will
benefit tremendously from your quitting, it is you that will benefit
the most.
8. Treat giving up smoking with the respect it rightly deserves.
Become willing to go to any lengths to remove it from your life. If
you are not willing, try praying for the willingness. This usually
works.
9. Look up the word "nicotine" in your dictionary and write down the
definition in big letters: "A poisonous alkaloid used as an
insecticide." Put it where you can see it.
10. Don't say "I'll take my chances" and continue to smoke. They are
not ours to take. We didn't give ourselves life and we don't have
the right to "take our chances" on giving it away. That is up to a
higher power.
11. Don't fool yourself by saying you have too many pressures in
your life right now to give up cigarettes. If you are smoking, this
in itself is a pressure, a very great pressure. Every day is a
gamble and your life is at stake. By getting nicotine out of your
life, other things will become easier to handle. You will feel
better about yourself and you will have more energy. You will have
accomplished something more meaningful than all the money and
material objects you could ever acquire. You will have given
yourself what no one else could give you. You will no longer have
the pressure of being a smoker.
12. Don't use the excuse that you might gain weight to justify your
continuing to smoke. Even if you do gain a little, the fact that you
will be more active and will get more exercise should counteract any
weight gain. Remember, overeating, not stopping smoking, causes
weight gain.
13. Plan to do things that will keep your mind off smoking.
Sometimes our minds can be our worst enemies. They will tell us that
we need a cigarette for just about any reason that is handy at the
time. By doing things like going to the movies in the non-smoking
section, munching on corn or sucking on a lollipop, we can keep our
minds occupied and get a break. Go to museums and other places where
smoking isn't allowed. Swimming is a good idea, too.
14. Quit smoking one day at a time and think only about the part of
the day your are in. "I am not going to smoke before noon." "I am
not going to smoke before 3 o'clock." Sometimes just do it one hour
at a time. This is a lot easier than trying to quit forever.
15. Don't subject yourself to smoky situations. If you do come in
contact with someone who is smoking, just say to yourself, "He is
having the cigarette I might be having", then, be grateful you don't
have to have it.
16. While you are quitting, look at it as an investment. Once you
have quit for one hour, you have invested this hour in becoming a
healthier person. Now, invest one more hour. Continue to add to your
investment hour by hour. It will grow and become more valuable as
the hours go by. You will begin to see and feel the rewards from
this investment more and more. Protect and guard it just as you
would a treasure.
17. Start being kind to yourself. It is the beginning of a new way
of life for you and you are the most important one there. Treat
yourself with respect and love and remember, you are no longer
filling you system with poison every few minutes. Breathe the clean
air and breathe it deeply. Smell the different and wonderful
fragrances. Begin to spend time outdoors close to nature. Many new
sensations await you.
18. Don't get too angry. If we are angry, our minds tell us we need
a cigarette to cope. Until your mind learns that it doesn't need a
cigarette to cope, try to avoid situations that might be setting you
up. Avoid certain people that may bother you. If you can't get some
time off, quit smoking on a long weekend. Avoid, as best you can,
things like getting stuck in traffic. Use a lot of caution. Anger
can be very destructive.
19. Don't get too hungry. It is amazing how our minds will tell us
that everything's wrong when all we really need to do is eat.
20. Don't get too tired. If we are tired, it is easy to become
irritated and when we get irritated our minds will tell us that a
cigarette will help. Our overall resistance becomes weak and it is
easy to say, "Oh well, I guess I'll have a smoke."
21. Don't get too lonely. It is good to know some people who are
going through the same thing.
22. You can remember these four things by the word "HALT": Hungry,
Angry, Lonely, Tired. If you feel you need a cigarette, check. Make
sure you are not experiencing any of these.
23. Don't get too bored. It is hard to just sit and not smoke. Keep
busy. Find things to do that you enjoy. Bike riding, hiking,
swimming, exploring new places, trying new restaurants. This is the
time to indulge yourself.
24. Have something to fidget with. We are accustomed to holding a
cigarette; being without one might leave our hands at a loss. Get a
small rubber ball or a yo-yo. Play dough is good also or a piece of
clay.
25. Have something handy to put in your mouth. Life Savers,
sugarless gum, lollipops, etc. Avoid fattening foods like cookies.
They don't last long and they fill you up. Experiment while you are
still smoking to see what will relieve the craving. If Life Savers
work, then stock up.
26. If you always have a cigarette with a cup of coffee, stop
drinking coffee before you quit smoking.
27. Don't drink alcohol while you are quitting. Once alcohol is in
you system your defenses will be greatly diminished.
28. Remember that the discomfort you experience in the first 2 weeks
will definitely come to an end and you will never have to go through
it again.
29. Frequently give yourself a pat on the back. What you are doing
isn't easy by any means. It takes a lot of guts to try to quit
smoking.
30. If you are feeling pain from withdrawal, let it become a lasting
memory to serve as a reminder of exactly how strong the drug
nicotine is and how hooked you really are.
31. Remember: every minute you were sucking on cigarettes they were
sucking on you. They were sucking the very life out of you. Don't
let them have any more.
32. Avoid the self-pity trap. If we begin to feel sorry for
ourselves, our minds will tell us that we deserve a cigarette to
make us feel better.
33. Remember: if you just keep trying, you will win. It is good
against evil and the odds are stacked in your favor.
34. Before quitting, plan your activities for the first few days
after you quit. This way you won't have to make too many decisions
while you are withdrawing. At first, making decisions may be hard
without a cigarette.
35. If you are not going to quit right away, then start cutting
down. If you smoke 2 packs a day and you cut back 1 cigarette a day
for a month, you will be down to just 10 cigarettes a day. Some
people, however, have found cutting back to be almost as hard as
quitting.
36. Drink lots of liquids to help flush the poison out of your
system. Orange juice is good because smoking depletes the Vitamin C
content in our bodies.
37. Remember: it is the first cigarette that gets you started. It
takes only one. This is the one you can't have. You can always put
off lighting that first one for a little while. Don't fool yourself
and think you can start and stop at will. You can't. Many people
have tried this and gone on to live the rest of their lives never to
experience freedom from nicotine again.
38. Frequently remind yourself about the differences you have
noticed in yourself. Things like: your breath no longer smells like
a dirty ashtray, your fingers aren't stained from tobacco, that
sickly sounding smoker's cough is disappearing, your senses of smell
and taste are returning, your complexion is beginning to improve,
your general attitude about yourself is better because you are
beginning to really care about yourself.
39. Give it away. Whenever you have a chance to give your
experience, strength, and hope to another smoker, use it. This act
of giving will insure your chances for staying off nicotine and give
strength to others who need it. There is much reward in helping
someone else to gain freedom from this harmful substance.
40. Have a follow-up program. Don't assume it is over because you
have made it through a couple of weeks. Nicotine is very cunning
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