It has been around 18 months since I gave up smoking and every time I meet
a smoker they always ask how I did it. I have to say it took me three
times before I eventually gave up for good.
There were lots of different factors that led me to even start thinking about
giving up; however the main one was my own health. Other reasons included
my children, they kept telling me I was going to die and got quite distressed
about it; the smell in the house; the smell on my clothes; feeling like a leper
when going outside to smoke. There are a million reasons to give up and
only one reason to continue and that is addiction.
I used to tell myself I could give up if I really wanted to but I didn't
want to. The truth is I did want to but felt it would be too hard
and I didn't want to fail, so it was easier to say I enjoyed it too much. I
enjoyed the supposed feeling it gave me after dinner, with a cup of tea, whilst
having a drink etc. However when I realised it was me who was creating
this feeling and not the cigarettes things started to change in my way of thinking.
I began telling myself it was easy to give up smoking and after about 2 months
I gave up for good and haven't looked back since. I worked on my
belief system about giving up smoking and convinced myself it was going to
be easy and when the time came it was easy.
My tips for giving up smoking would be:
- Give yourself compelling reasons to give up, don't do it for other
people, and do it for yourself. - Set a date about 2 months in advance of when you will give up and tell
yourself every day you are going to give up on that day. - Don't try patches or gum with nicotine in it. Once you
told yourself for two months when you will give up just give up - Tell yourself every day it is easy to give up smoking; your brain will
really start to believe it after a month or so. - Tell your friends and family you will be giving up on "˜that date',
this gives you a little pressure and shows your friends and family you are
committed. - Break the old patterns of behaviour surrounding your smoking e.g. if you
smoked after your dinner at night, go for a walk instead or go clean the
bathroom. Pretty soon your mind will get out of the old habit and start
forming new habits.
It is easy to give up smoking, however we have been conditioned to believe
the opposite is the case. Our mind will believe whatever we tell it to
believe and adjust our physiology and cravings accordingly. When you
tell yourself it is easy to give up smoking for two months, it will be very
easy on the day to give up, you have to believe it.
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