Getting Prepared To Stop Smoking

Most smokers seldom manage to successfully curb their smoking habit after the first attempt and sometimes even after the 2nd and 3rd attempt. If they do mage to stop, this lasts only for a short while and then they go back to their old habits. So why does that happen? After all, most of the treatment methods they’ve tried have been proven to be successful at helping break the smoking habit. However, there is one important component of every treatment that is only within the power of the smoker and nobody else and that is the mental preparation that is required for this treatment to be successful. Most smokers who fail do so because they failed to mentally prepare themselves to deal with the withdrawal symptoms.

Here are a few tips that will help you prepare yourself mentally to break the habit of smoking and never go back to it again.

First you need to ask yourself if you really wish to stop smoking because it does not do you any good or is it because somebody else has told you to stop. Do you want to stop because your habit is costing you too much money or is because everyone else insists that smoking is bad for your health or is it because your near and dear ones insist that it is bad for their health? If it is any one of the above reasons, the odds of failing are high. You have to want to stop for you! Not for anybody else. Listing the reasons why you intend to stop smoking for your own good can be very helpful.

The nest question you need to ask yourself is what is it that you like about smoking? Again, list all the reasons that you feel are things you like about smoking? Do you like taste and flavor of the cigarette? Do you like to have it after a meal, with coffee or by itself? Or do you like the way cigarettes make you feel or not feel? Does smoking lessen your stress levels or numb your feelings? Does it make you less fearful or less lonely or perhaps less bored? Write down whatever you think is the way you feel.

Now think of the different things that can be used to replace that cigarette. The withdrawal symptoms can be controlled by using one of the many nicotine substitutes that are available, but the emotional sensations associated with stopping smoking are not so easy to control or prevent. That’s where the previous list will come in handy. You’ve already written down the reasons why you like smoking. Next to each reason, write down alternate activities that would bring about the sane feelings within you.

Here are a few suggestions to help you atop smoking:

* Always stay surrounded by positive people who will support you and make you feel good about yourself.

* A new hobby is sure to keep your hands busy and your mind off cigarettes. Any hobby will do, whether it is model airplanes, puzzles, knitting or scrapbooking.

* Increase your daily physical activity.