by Lee VanAmee

Created on: December 23, 2009   Last Updated: December 24, 2009

When I was able to quit for good the last time, yes, it took me over 7 tries, I came up with the following ideas:

After you have made it 3 to 6 months, you will be able to see easily what a difference it has made in your life by quitting. The reason I say 3 to 6 months is because I tried so many times before I actually quit and each time I kept cheating here and there because it didn't seem like it would be a big deal as I had already gone a month in; but each time I went right back to smoking again because I didn't realize how easy it was to sneak up on me if I didn't set this timeline. 

You need to reverse some of your thinking about smoking so that you can reasonably see that quitting is the better option; here is some disillusionment I had to get over when I quit:

Cigarettes are not your BFF. You are your cigarette's BFF: You are the one who kept the relationship going with them, if you didn't go after them they would not have automatically come to you; you are the one who keeps this dysfunction going. 

You can get through this. And once you do, you will be one of the millions of people who did and are happier to be on the other side of this challenge. 

You do not look cool smoking, the smell of a smoker is like a bad sewer gas, it permeates a whole room, no matter how many showers you take, or cologne you wear, it just smells like sewer gas + cologne. 

Standing outside shivering in the cold or burning up in the heat or standing in the middle of a wind storm is not a way to "take a break". 

Here are some things I had to do when I initially quit: 

Sign up for any support program out there, online, friends, 12 steps, any of them that you think will work for you and your personality.

Have 3 to 6 weeks of activities planned. This way you know you will be distracted when your mind is going to try to play tricks on you. Whatever you are interested in plan it out, or find some new interests; this is a great time to retrain your brain because that is exactly what you are doing. 

Make sure that the people around you know what you are going through and have 100% supporters around, not any fakers who are going to trip you up. 

See if any of the medications work for you. 

Find out what works for you as far as substitutions, don't go to the same spot you and the gang smoked at for your breaks at work, find new better places.  Even if you have to suck on candy initially and not carrot sticks, don't berate yourself, you have to get over one thing at a time and this one is huge.

Good luck and God Speed to You

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