A couple of days ago I met a friend of mine at a local cafeteria for a chat. At one point we started talking about habits. My friend confessed that he smokes 30 cigarettes a day and has tried several times to quit smoking but every time he failed. I shared with him the tips that helped me quit smoking. Like him I had tried several times to quit smoking and finally I succeeded.
We agreed that since I have first hand experience I will be his coach to quit smoking. The following are the tips that I shared with my friend.
1. Believe that you can do it
Saying things like “I will try to quit smoking” will never make you quit. You first of all have to decide with yourself that you really want to quit. I believe that 90% of the people who try to quit smoking and fail is because they in the first place did not mean to quit.
2. Get to know how harmful cigarettes are
Spend a week browsing the internet and gather some content about how harmful cigarettes are. Find pictures of lungs of people who smoke. Get to know what effects cigarettes have on you and the people around you. This will help you convince yourself that quitting the bad habit of smoking makes real sense.
3. Make a plan
Plan how you are going to quit over a period of time. Be aware don’t make it easy for yourself. If you smoke 30 cigarettes a day, you can completely quit smoking in less than a month. Yes, I am not joking.
4. Make it public
Don’t keep the news for yourself. Make other people pressure you. If you say to your family, friends and colleagues that you are quitting, then you have no chance of smoking at least when you are in their presence. Also by making it public, you will stop being offered cigarettes by friends who still think that you are a smoker. This was the most difficult part for me.
5. Replace cigarettes
One of the most difficult things at first when you quit smoking is what to do to replace smoking. I used to find myself mimicking the movement I used to do while smoking, even though it had been months since I quitted. The only solution to this is to replace a cigarette with a non alcoholic drink. Every now and then instead of taking a puff, you take a sip.
6. Start exercising
This is the best tip. I was going to put it the first one but I know that if I had done that, most of the people would not have read the rest of the article. Even when I was giving tips to my friend, I didn’t tell him this tip as the first one. But I am a strong believer that exercises helped me to quit. I went to a gym and subscribed for 6 months. Then I started to do some basic cardio. It was then when I realized how harmful smoking is.
I challenged myself to improve my stamina by completely quitting smoking and exercise daily. The challenge to increase my stamina made it easier to throw away all the packets of cigarettes that I had in my office desk.
7. Be rootless
Unfortunately there are people (I don’t call them friends) who even though you tell them that you are trying very hard to quit smoking, they still insist that you should take a cigarette. They start this nonsense that one cigarette will not harm you. The point is not harm; the point is that you start smoking again by taking a single puff. Be rootless, be ready to even avoid the company of such people since they will make it extremely hard for you to quit. Spare me some words:
A true friends respects your opinion and if you tell him that you are trying to quit smoking, he will help you achieve that goal rather than making your challenge more difficult.