Man is a social animal, always learning things from his surroundings. It can be his elders, friends, mentors, a TV star, or simply an encounter with a stranger. Everyone has something to give and we are always ready to take. However, sometimes the things we grasp are not good for us. Smoking is one such habit.
As boys (and girls) enter adolescence, they come across variety of people and are easily influenced. They are discovering themselves and like to try new things. If they get influenced by the wrong type of crowd they can easily go astray unless someone is there to guide them.
Teenagers start smoking usually for fun and adventure. The idea of breaking the rules excites them, and before they know it, their being is enveloped by the abusive drug known as cigarette. Something that was once a game is now a need.
You like to tell yourself that you ‘need’ to smoke because you feel ‘stressed’. Well surprise, you’re not the only person coping with stress, there are others around you, and they don’t smoke to get rid of it.
You can change your life, your relationships and your attitude if you quit smoking. Smoking does not only affect you lungs, but every single part of your body. Look at it this way, you are breathing poison. What more motivation do you need?
1. Stop Right There!
The moment you decide to quit, QUIT! Don’t wait for the cigarette to finish. Don’t wait for ‘one last cigarette’. Stop right there!
2. Get a Distraction
Don’t let the thought of quitting consume you. Think about all the other things that need to be done in your life. Work harder at work/school. You had to clean your closet remember? This is the right time to do it!
3. Try nicotine replacement therapy
Talk with your doctor about nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to help deal with cravings. The nicotine nasal spray and the nicotine inhaler are available by prescription, as are the stop-smoking medications bupropion (Zyban) and varenicline (Chantix). However, some types of NRT, including patches, gum and lozenges are available over-the-counter (OTC).
After reviewing decades of research, the Food and Drug Administration recently announced that there’s no significant safety concerns associated with using more than one OTC NRT at the same time. So if you’re using nicotine replacement patches, gum or lozenges while trying to quit but you slip up and have a cigarette, you don’t need to stop using the NRT. Instead, keep using the NRT and keep trying to quit.
4. Chew on it
Give your mouth something to do to fight a tobacco craving. Chew on sugarless gum or hard candy, or munch on raw carrots, celery, nuts or sunflower seeds — something crunchy and satisfying.
5. Tell Your Loved Ones
Tell your friends and family that today is your quit day. Ask them for support during these first few days and weeks. They can help you get through the rough spots, but make sure to tell them how they can support you. Be specific; they aren’t mind readers.
6. Avoid the Smokers
Smokers are not bad people but smoking is a bad habit that you need to stay away from. Try planning a dinner or a game night with friends who do not smoke. This will make you forget you needed to smoke in the first place and you will spend a couple of hours smoke free.
7. Don’t have ‘just one’
You might be tempted to have just one cigarette to satisfy a tobacco craving. But don’t fool yourself into believing that you can stop at just one. More often than not, having just one leads to another— and you may end up using tobacco again.
8. Don’t let anger decide for you
Don’t let a bad day at work, exam stress or fight with a friend decide how you take care of your health. You had a bad day? Watch some TV. Go for a run. Talk to an old friend. Don’t use cigarette to make you feel better, because it won’t.
9. Get physical
Physical activity can help distract you from tobacco cravings and reduce the intensity of cravings. Just 30 minutes of moderate physical activity can make a tobacco craving go away.
10. Join a community
If there is a support group in your area, join that. If not, you can join an online support group and talk to people facing problems same as you. Talk to people who have been successful in this journey, this will help you.
11. After a meal craving
Fight your ‘after a meal craving’ by finding a healthy substitute. Have a fruit, green tea, a bakery item to replace.
12. Move on!
Yes! Smoking and you had a toxic relationship, you loved her but she was ruining you so you did the right thing by breaking up. Don’t forget that.
A story on Business Insider about a Psychologist, Walter Mischel tells his experience. He left smoking at the age of 32 when he saw the suffering of a lung cancer patient, caused by smoking. “Even though it feels great at the time, it has delayed consequences that would probably not have me alive at this time if I continue,” says Mischel, now 84 years old, a professor at Columbia University.
Save your life, live for your parents, your loved ones, your children, for yourself. Be that example everyone talks about, ‘the one who quit smoking’. Live to tell the story!
