Quit Smoking - tips from a
former two-pack-a-day guy

To quit smoking "cold turkey", remember the following quotation - print if off and post it were you can see it at the beginning of each day -

Setting a goal is not the main thing.
It’s how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan. -

You can’t make a snap decision to quit smoking cold turkey and expect to be successful - it takes planning and, more importantly, the right mind set. As it is when you start a new business – you have to have a plan – a plan based on your lifestyle and schedule.

Begin with the mind and the rest will follow. We are not going into pages of motivational theory here; that is for another time, but if you ever hope to defeat your nicotine enemy, it is important for you to realize that you have to work at this—mental work to supply new software to your brain computer. You must diminish worry and doubt. As the song says: “You have to accent the positive, eliminate the negative, don’t mess with Mr. In between.”

One of the main reasons people fail in their bid to stop smoking “cold turkey” is that they allow their brain computer to file every negative thought and cliché they have ever heard or read about the process. These negative thoughts allow the element of fear to rear its ugly head. It has called the “threat to the self system”. The fear the possibility of failing. People who try to quit smoking "cold turkey" find it easier to give in to the habit rather than fight back. Before they throw away, what they hope will be their last cigarette, they have psyched themselves out to be losers and nicotine wins again.

Question: Before you start your prgoram to quit smoking, do you want to tell your family and friends your quitting or do you want to go it alone? It is possible to win this war with or without allied support. However, once you have made the decision to quit smoking, and, more importantly, you have your battle strategy completed, it is best you brief those around you and ask them to join you in the fight against your nicotine addiction.

To announce your intention to quit shows courage and belief in yourself, and when you succeed you can bask in the spotlight of self-promoted achievement.

Should you feel at anytime your battle to quit smoking is not going as you have planned it, the help of those you love and respect can be invaluable in holding you to your commitment. However, you may find that your public announcement to quit smoking could, on its own, be the reserve force you need to regroup and carry on.

The minute you start talking about what your going to do if you lose, you have already lost.”

It starts with the mind – what are the reasons you want to quit smoking?

• To save money? Work out how much you will save in a year.

  Quit smoking for health reasons? (In adult men, smoking accounts for 90% of all deaths from cancer of the lung, trachea and bronchus; 92% of deaths from cancers of the lip, oral cavity, and pharynx. Due to an increase in smoking by women, lung cancer recently replaced breast cancer as the chief cause of cancer death in women.)

• Hurting others? (Secondhand smoke from a parent’s cigarette increases a child’s chances for middle ear problems, causes coughing and wheezing, and worsens asthma conditions.)
• Pregnancy? Pregnant women who smoke are more likely todeliver babies whose weights are too low for the babies good health. If all women quit smoking during pregnancy, about 4,000 new babies would not die each year.)
• Better sex Life? (It’s a fact, smoking can interfere with a healthy sex life by reducing blood and oxygen to key areas of the body.)
• Maybe you just want to look and smell better.

Whatever the reason or reasons, be honest – it all starts with the mind.

Here are the basics of your battle plan -

• Your Quit smoking day will be a date of your choosing. Check your schedule – pick a seven day period with little or no stressful challenges such as special appointments, exams, assignments, meetings, project deadlines etc – you get the idea. You’re looking for a period of at least seven days that allows you a comparatively stress-free environment - (I picked a holiday week.)
• Five days before your “Q” day - change your smoking habits.
  How many cigarettes did you smoke today? On the first day of training cut that number by 10%. If you smoked 20, you will start your training with just 18. (Keep track on the notepaper you have attached to your cigarette package. On day two, another 10%= a drop of another 2 cigarettes—16. (rounding out 1.8 to 2) Day three: 10% = a drop of another 2 cigarettes—14. Day four: 20% = a drop of another 3 cigarettes—11.Day five: 30% = a drop of another 3 cigarettes—8.
  So on your “Q” day you will have cut your habit down by 80%.

When I decided to Quit smoking, I found in my research that many people who had difficulty in trying to quit smoking failed to take advantage of two other major weapons that are extremely valuable in fighting the urge to smoke. One we do automatically every day, the other is readily available. We take them both so much for granted that we fail to recognize their value in defeating an addiction like nicotine.

We take approximately 21,800 breaths of air each day, but when we breath SLOWLY AND DEEPLY, we increase the intake of oxygen which in turn brings about of natural calm much like a tranquilizer, but without the pharmaceutical side-effects. Its nature’s way of allowing us to build up an inner peace within ourselves—we feel calm, lighter— more serene, our thinking becomes unscrambled and more focused. Find out for yourself the power of this weapon. From the first day of training and for all time thereafter, whenever you find yourself in a stressed-out situation or feel the urge to smoke, TAKE TIME FOR A PERIOD OF CONSCIOUS CONNECTED DEEP BREATHING.

• Water –Water-Water - you are going to drink water as if stranded in the middle of a desert.
  Even during normal times it is recommended you should drink six to eight glasses of water every day. However, with you at war with nicotine addiction, these are not normal times.
  Therefore, starting with the first day of training, through to at least the seventh day of not smoking, the requirement of six to eight classes of water is just for openers.
  You should carry a bottle of mineral water as you would a purse or wallet.

Once again, when you feel the urge to smoke - HAVE A DRINK OF WATER. Yes, you will be taking more trips to the bathroom but that’s the idea. This “open the flood gates” attack helps to flush the slime that is coating your system thanks to nicotine - BUT WATER ALSO DULLS THE URGE TO SMOKE.

• NO LIQUOR--NO COFFEE/TEA, OR ANY LIQUID WITH CAFFINE - drink only water, fruit juices or herbal tea. (Camomile is recommended for an anti-anxiety weapon.) Remember, it is only for twelve days. Think bland – for the twelve days, STOP SIPPING, CHEWING AND SWALLOWING ANYTHING SPICY THAT COULD STIMULATE YOUR NERVE-ENDS – THINK BLAND.
  Stay away from Barbecue sauces, mustards etc. THINK BLAND. Stay with fruits and vegetables. THINK BLAND. Chew sugarless gum. Stick a carrot stick in your mouth instead of a fajita. THINK BLAND. Salads are good but not topped off with Dijon dressing. THINK BLAND.
  Cereals such as Shredded Wheat, Puffed Wheat, Cherrios and Rice Crispies can satisfy a hunger pang without making your nerve ends feel like a bag of hungry rats trying to gnaw their way out of your stomach. THINK BLAND.It’s only for twelve days and you will have prevented another opportunity for your enemy nicotine to stage a counter attack.
  Print up and Cut out reminders on this and post them on your kitchen cupboards and fridge door.
  Wrap your pocket cash in one so if you find yourself in an out-of-home eating situation, you’ll order correctly. You’ll most likely save money, after all, how much can BLAND cost?

Plan and go for it - get’er done.

You are eliminating a REAL THREAT TO YOUR HEALTH and to the health of those you love. YOUR FAMILY WILL BE SAFE FROM THE DANGERS OF PASSIVE SMOKE.

You will have more energy and endurance.

In a recent article, Marlene M. Maheu, PhD, the director of the Nicotine Recovery Institute in San Diego noted,

“It’s (nicotine) potency comes not in the level of mood shift, but in the frequency one uses it to shift mood. If you are a bit drowsy and light up to make yourself more alert, you’ve shifted your mood slightly. If you are irritable or nervous and you light up to ‘take a break and relax’ then you are using nicotine to shift your mood.”

So when the urge to smoke comes on, take note of your mood at the time – focus - realize that in the past you would react to the situation by smoking a cigarette.
Find yourself another mood changer. Ask yourself why you feel this need to smoke? Is it because your nervous, exhausted, hyped?
Now change your situation not through nicotine, but the strength of your own willpower to understand what’s going on—then do something positive to change it.

Meet every counter attack with drinks of water along with deep breathing - Take a walk. (again, deep breathing)

The difference between a successful person and others
is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge
but rather a lack of will. – Vince Lombardi

Over a million North Americans quit smoking every year. Most of them, like yourself, quit on their own.

YOU ARE JOINING A PROUD LEGION OF INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE TAKEN CONTROL OF THEIR LIVES.

For background information about the author plus additional quit smoking suggestions visit this entry from the Retirement News Blog

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