Stop Smoking With Electronic Cigarettes
It is highly advisable to designate a quit day in advance. People who do not choose a specific quit day have a tendency to keep on postponing their choice of stopping. This postponement can go on indefinitely. In deciding your quit date, make sure that you enunciate your reasons for wanting to quit, such as wanting a long, healthy and prosperous life. Or, you may have other personal reasons for wanting to quit. You may want to focus on your benefits for quitting. Recall that quitting can be viewed analogously to climbing a steep mountain. At the end of that trek, there has to be a pot of valuables, so that you can remain motivated to acquire to those benefits.
Also, make sure that you bought your medications beforehand. If you plan to use them, have them ready by the bedside for the day that you have chosen as your quit day. It is recommended that you choose a day that is not filled with other major commitments, so that you can focus primarily on stopping smoking. Therefore, you might want to choose an unstressful day prior to you having your last cigarette.
Once you've decided the day to have your last cigarette, you might want to write a goodbye letter to cigarettes stating your reasons for wanting to terminate that relationship. I say this, because for some smokers, cigarettes are perceived as "their best friend". Such individuals might want to write their reasons for cessation of that relationship. As an example, the letter can refer to the abusive and costly nature of that relationship and its ending. Some people find this exercise particularly emotional, but also empowering to fully appreciate the meaning cigarettes had for them, and how that meaning had to have been altered due to additional and compelling considerations.
Once you have had your last cigarette, make sure that you get rid off all cigarettes and cigarette butts that you may still have in your possession. Make sure that you do not throw those in the garbage bin, since people have a tendency the following morning to pick up cigarettes that may be still lying around. The best thing to do would be to flush all remaining tobacco down the toilet before you go to bed. When you wake up the following day, you will not be tempted to smoke the cigarettes that may still be lying around or wet in the garbage bin.
If you are using the patch, have it by the bedside with a pair of scissors to open the enclosing pouch. Even before getting out of bed, put on the patch, as it can take several hours before it achieves its maximum effectiveness.
If you're using either the gum, lozenge, inhaler or nasal spray, you might want to drink something before using any of these, as you are probably dehydrated upon waking up, and with the exception of the nasal spray, you will be required to use these medications for an extended period of time.
Also, it might be beneficial to change your daily routine somewhat on your quit date. Smokers often associate their smoking with regular daily events, situations or routines. For example, smokers might have one or two cigarettes with their morning tea or coffee. Or, smokers may connect smoking with driving to work. As well, smokers may link their smoking with relaxing and socializing with other smokers.
Those events, which are connected with smoking, might trigger or cause smokers to want to smoke once they quit. One way to avoid wanting to smoke on your quit date is to change your routine, or to simply avoid those events, people or situations that have been associated with your past smoking pattern. This is recommended, if possible, just for the first day or so, as it is practically certain that you could not avoid all such events, people or situations indefinitely. But it might be possible to do so on the first day that you quit, or until such time that you feel confident that you can handle those potential triggers.
Once you develop confidence in your capacity not to smoke over a period of time, even if it is just for a few days, you will gradually learn to handle those events and situations which, in the past, have been linked with your smoking, but which you can now manage without cigarettes. It will take practice though.
I cannot re-iterate often enough that when cravings for a cigarette occur, it is important not to go back to smoking. Going back to smoking is a way smokers deal with their cravings. As a person who is quitting, keep in mind that cravings to smoke only last 5 to 10 minutes. During that period of time you might want to use any one of the medications that you are already using as a first response. This will increase the nicotine level and mitigate the craving for a cigarette. As well, you might want to do some deep breathing for 5 to 10 minutes. To find out more, you can check out Stop Smoking With Electronic Cigarettes.
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