Trying to quit smoking? -
I know all the reasons to quit of course. But I have been smoking for a very long time. Tips on not starting again? Been 3 days for me now. YEAH!!!! I am very proud right now...but I know I wil be tested again soon....please give me some stories, tips, thoughts to keep me motivated. I need help.
Try to find as much positive support as I did. Try to stop as long as it takes like I did. And try to be grateful for every moment you are tempted to smoke, but don-t. I am happy to tell you my story but it is more important that you get the help and support you need to stay off the rag weed. I-ll try to inspire you. Try to find some good books, people and support. Many people fail because it is too hard to do alone. And many people fail because of peer pressure to stop. Don-t listen to people who think they know what is best. You need to make your own decisions. Try to just work out this craving and don-t worry about the previous or next one. Remember to break the habit it takes about 21 days. But the most important thing is stick with what is working for you. Sometimes it is better to try and suffer on time off for the first week. I really appreciate your interest in stopping, but you deserve all the credit and I thank all your support like family and friends. Best wishes and keep trying if you slip.
Failure is a stone that will drag you down time and time again. Each failure just sets up the next one and makes it easier to fail.
Quitting is hard to do and I-m sure you know that by now. Truthfully, cold turkey is the only way to it, in my opinion. Try to do other things like chewing gum, tic-tacs, etc. Once you make it one year, you-ll feel much better and you-ll not want one. One thing I did was take all the money that I would use to buy smokes and save it in an account. At the end of the year, you-ll be surprised at how much money you-ve saved. Take that money and go on a nice vacation or buy something to reward yourself.
If you backslide, don-t beat yourself up. Put them down again. Most people fail at LEAST a few times before it sticks.
The biggest thing is you have to want to quit for you. If you really don-t want to quit, you-ll smoke out of spite. I know its corny, but it is true. There are a lot of reasons to quit (health problems, smell, etc.), but if you don-t want to, you-ll never be able to do it forever. At lease that-s how it was for me. I wanted to smoke, so I smoked, then I wanted to quit and I did. It really is mind over matter. Nothing more, nothing less.
Good luck, its a habit you will not miss at all in time. I actually can-t stand to be around smoke now and its been a little over a year since I put out my last cigarette.
I can only talk from self experience. I quit cold turkey - I was a pack a day, everyday for 27 years smoker. I set Bastille Day as my day to quit - and that was back in in 1990.
My husband that night took me to a bar where everyone was smoking - and I wasn-t.
I lived on orange Tic-Tacs. They were a god send. I realized all the times I would reach for a cigarette (before a meal, after a meal, during a phonecall) and reach for the Tic Tac instead.
For three months I watched my personality become nasty -- and then, the old me emerged, sense of humor and all.
And I haven-t had a cigarette since - and I have the weight to prove it.
Good luck to you. Just don-t think about it -- keep busy with stuff that is good for you.