Getting Started

First, let’s both realize that this is going to be REALLY DIFFICULT!  It may be one of the most difficult undertakings we’ve ever started.

 
We’re getting ready to bombard with all sorts of tips, tricks, and advice that we have collected from experts and people who’ve already quit.  Take what you need, but read all of it, and then refer back to it as often as you need to.  We’re pretty sure you’ll need to quite a bit.

The first thing you need to commit to is that you will S-T-A-R-T:
S = Set a stop / quit date.
T = Tell family, friends, and co-workers that you plan to quit and stop smoking.
A = Anticipate and plan for the challenges you'll face while quitting and stop smoking.
R = Remove cigarettes and other tobacco products from your home, car, and work.
T = Talk to your doctor about getting help to quit and stop smoking.

When you TELL people you are quitting, they will become your support system when you feel weak.  Most people don’t like to disappoint those close to them.  If everyone around you knows you’re committing to becoming a non-smoker, chances are very good that if they see you light up, they’ll be there to remind you of your commitment.

ANTICIPATING the obstacles will give you more tools to combat the difficulties that you will face.  For some people, giving up cigarettes means just not smoking.  For most smokers, however, that just isn’t possible.  When you make a plan as to how you will deal with the cravings and/or psychological hurdles, you can employ the methods you’ve thought about and put them into play.

Physically, it’s going to be tough.  Expect one or more of the following symptoms:

• restlessness 
• irritability 
• tiredness 
• trouble sleeping 
• difficulty concentrating
• feelings of frustration and anger  
• dizziness (may only last 1-2 days in the beginning) 
• depression and moodiness 
• headache 
• increased appetite

You should not keep anything around you that will remind you of your previous life.  REMOVE all ashtrays, lighters, matches, cigarettes, etc. from anyplace you frequent.  This means your home, car, and office.  When those mementos of your smoking are gone, you’re more likely to forget you were a smoker.  At least that’s the idea!

There are all types of medical advice your doctor can give you when it comes to stopping smoking.  When you TALK to a doctor, he or she can give you all sorts of help on your journey.
There are even some anti-depressants that contribute to helping the smoker quit and stop smoking.  While you may be hesitant to taking this type of help, it might be effective for you, and you will probably feel a heck of a lot better in the long run!

Here are some other tips for you to consider when deciding not to smoke anymore:

• Be realistic.  Quitting is not an easy undertaking. It requires effort, determination and commitment. 

• Accept the fact that you need to stop smoking. Do not deny the adverse health effects that you are unnecessarily putting yourself (and those around you) through.

• Be prepared for anxious and resistant feelings.  Since nicotine is habit-forming, just thinking about to stop smoking  may make you feel anxious – this is quite common. Give yourself a specified amount of time to identify and move beyond these feelings.

• Work on developing the attitude that you are doing yourself a favor by not smoking. Do not dwell on the idea that you are depriving yourself of a cigarette. You are ridding yourself full fledged smoking because you care enough about yourself to want to.

• Be proud that you are not smoking.

• Be aware that many routine situations will trigger the urge for a cigarette. Situations which will trigger a response include: drinking coffee, alcohol, sitting in a bar, social events with smoking friends, card games, the end of meals.

• Try to maintain your normal routine while quitting. If any event seems too tough, leave it and go back to it later. Do not feel you must give up any activity forever. Everything you did as a smoker, you will learn to do at least as well, and maybe better, as an ex-smoker.

• Make a list of all the reasons you want to stop smoking. Keep this list with you, preferably where you used to carry your cigarettes. When you find yourself reaching for a cigarette, take out your list and read it.

• Consider yourself a “smoke-a-holic.” One puff and you can become hooked again. No matter how long you have been off, don’t think you can safely take a puff! 

• Don’t debate with yourself how much you want a cigarette. Ask yourself how you feel about going back to your old level of consumption. Smoking is an all or nothing proposition. 

• Save the money you usually spend on cigarettes and buy yourself something you really want after a week or a month. Save for a year and you can treat yourself to a vacation.

• Practice deep breathing exercises when you have a craving.

• Go places where you normally can’t smoke, such as movies, libraries and no smoking sections of restaurants. 

• Remember that there are only two good reasons to take a puff once you quit and stop smoking. You decide you want to go back to your old level of consumption until smoking cripples and then kills you, or, you decide you really enjoy withdrawal and you want to make it last forever. 

• Take quitting one day at a time, even one minute at a time—whatever you need to succeed and find support!
  
  If someone told you to smoke 7,300 cigarettes today, you'd call them crazy. But if they told you to smoke a pack a day for one year, then you'd say "no problem."
  
  Likewise, if you worry about not being able to smoke tomorrow because you quit today, you may find yourself panicked and unable to quit. Deal with today, and let tomorrow take care of itself.

• Develop a stop plan that works best for your needs.

• Talk to your doctor or health professional to help develop a plan to stop smoking.

• Enlist the help of family and friends by telling them about your plans to stop smoking.

• Ask others who have quit and stop smoking how they handled withdrawal symptoms – both psychological and physical.

• Learn new behaviors. If you’ve tried quitting and stop smoking before, identify what did and didn’t work for you.  Build on your strengths and discover new techniques.

• Keep a journal or log before you quit and stop smoking. Identify places or situations where you smoke most often, when you smoke, with whom and why. Review your diary after four or five days to identify patterns of particular feelings and circumstances that trigger your cravings for a cigarette.

• Begin with an ending.  Before you start a trip you'd better know where you're going. In Stephen Covey's book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", one of the seven habits is "begin with the end in mind."
  
  In other words, get a clear vision in your mind (and on paper) of what you want, and where you want to be. This may seem contradictory to our previous advice to not worry about tomorrow, but these two principles work hand-in-hand. By knowing clearly what you want to achieve, you can relax in the day-to-day details of accomplishing your goal.

• Realize that there will never be a perfect time to quit and stop smoking.  Don't wait for "perfect" because it will never come. Do the best you can with what you know today.
  
  Great achievers don't magically know all the answers when they begin some new undertaking. The process, the action, the investigation that they experience brings the answers and the achievement. You need to begin the process of quitting and stop smoking today whether or not you know how.
  
  You'll learn by doing. You may not quit permanently the first time you try to stop smoking. That's okay! You will learn what YOU need to know to stop smoking permanently next time. Great achievers take massive action. Take action!

• Plan some distractions for yourself. When you stop smoking, you are dramatically altering your normal daily activities.
  
  You’ll have extra time that you used to spend smoking. Make sure you have something to occupy the former smoking periods. If you normally smoke after meals, plan to do something else like work on a puzzle, walk for 10 minutes, read a book, etc.

• Get plenty of rest. You may feel tired after you stop. That’s normal for many people who stop smoking. Don’t fight it. Get extra sleep and allow your body to do the work it needs to begin rebuilding itself.

• Drink lots of water. Water is essential to life. Water flushes and cleans the body. Make sure your body has plenty of water to get the nicotine and toxins flushed from your system. Drinking water can also help satisfy oral cravings you may have after you cut out the cigarettes.

• Stay away from other smokers – at least until you’re strong enough to be around them. Your smoking buddies at work probably don’t want you to stop smoking because they may miss your company, and they will probably feel guilty about their own smoking weakness.
  
  They’ll try to pull you back in to smoking, if you give them a chance. Don’t. Make a clean break from other smokers. Stay away from bars, smoking sections in restaurants, and other places you could be exposed to smoke and other smokers.

Above everything else – do it now!  Don’t put it off any longer.  Do you really want to be sitting in a doctor’s office and hear the word “cancer” and know that it’s because you couldn’t quit and stop smoking.  The reality is that you can!  If you do it now before your body rebels, you’ll be better for it.

Most smokers are afraid of some specific things during this journey.  First, they don’t know what they’ll do when a craving occurs.  Here are a few tips. (next post)