How to Quit Smoking Naturally Part II: Preparation

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“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning” – Colin Powell 

Attempts to quit smoking

In those last few years I made several attempts to quit smoking but they all ‘failed’ or so I believed at the time. In fact in hindsight I realized that those attempts were not failures. Each attempt was a practice attempt that taught me something new about what I needed to do to be successful at quitting this habit.

Many people will advise you to smoke up a storm in order to get ready for the next quit attempt. Definitely not! When you fall off the wagon, it is essential that you get back on as soon as possible. And learn from each unsuccessful attempt. In each case figure out exactly what incident precipitated your return to smoking. What prompted you to give up and find a cigarette and smoke it? Is it that you usually smoke after you eat? Is it that you usually smoke before you can fall asleep? Is it that the way that you celebrate a victory is to smoke? Is it that the way you relax is to smoke? Is it that the way you deal with anger is to smoke? Once you know what caused you to smoke again, you can plan a strategy for dealing with that situation without a cigarette.

It is essential that for each attempted quit, you note what event triggered you to return to smoking. Whether it is that you felt like smoking in response to stress, anger, celebration, or routine, you must make a plan to deal with each circumstance that triggered you to give up your ‘quit smoking attempt’. So that the next time you quit, you will be able to deal with that situation successfully without reaching for a cigarette. Learn from your ‘failed’ attempts to quit smoking.

Motivation to quit

So how did I finally quit smoking? And how can you? The first thing you need to do is figure out all the reasons why you want to quit. Make a list of every single reason you want to be smoke-free. Include in this quit smoking list, every single benefit you can imagine receiving from living a smoke-free life; the large monumental benefits as well as the seemingly simple and shallow ones.

My list included the following:
• I do not want to get throat cancer.
• I do not want to get lung cancer.
• I want my hair to smell clean.
• I do not want to be judged as a ‘bad’ girl.
• I want to have a healthy reproductive system.
• I want to have white teeth.
• I do not want to get premature wrinkles.
• I want to live to ripe old age to play with my grandchildren.

Formulating your list of reasons to quit smoking

My list included originally some 33 items.  I made sure to list every single type of cancer that I could get from smoking because I wanted to make sure that I really internalized the fact that my action of smoking could cause me to get cancer. I researched the cancers and saw horrifying pictures of people who had gotten those types of cancer and read their accounts of how they now desperately wished that they could turn the clock back and quit smoking. This form of aversion therapy is surprisingly successful.

Add to your list as soon as items come to mind. It is likely that as you go through the first few days of your quit you will notice new previously un-thought-of benefits of being smoke free. Add these to your list to increase your motivation to remain smoke free. For me, one of the great discoveries I made in my first week of being smoke-free was all the great smells and tastes of food that I had not even realized that I was missing. I added to my list my desire to keep enjoying those smells and tastes.

If you are having difficulty coming up with this quit smoking list, separate the reasons into categories – health benefits, social benefits, financial benefits, future benefits, and even moral benefits.

The purpose of this list is to remind yourself in your weakest moments of temptation why you are quitting smoking, and why you want to be smoke-free. The more items you have listed the better, because chances are greater that some item on this list will be your motivation at those moments. At different moments, different items will serve as your motivation.

This list of reasons why you want to quit smoking and remain smoke free must be kept with you always and perused every time you have a craving and you need some incentive to stay smoke free.

One craving at a time

Before you move onto the next action item in the process of quitting smoking, it is very important that you understand the strategy that will be used to enable success. Once you have decided to quit smoking, you will start getting cravings to smoke at various times. The secret to successfully quitting smoking is to overcome those cravings ONE at a time. All you need to do is to get through the current craving without smoking.

Do not think into the future. Do not worry about never having another cigarette for the rest of your life. Do not consider how you will feel this afternoon, or tonight or tomorrow. Your focus must remain in the present. Get yourself through one craving at a time. Eventually this will add up to one smoke-free day, then two, then three, then a week, then two weeks, then a month and so on. Get through this current craving without smoking and you will be on the road to success. So your goal is to successfully make it through the current craving without smoking.

Look out for the next article in this How to Quit Smoking Series: Part III: Identify & Prepare for Your Triggers

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Related Articles:

• How to Quit Smoking Part I
• How to Quit Smoking Part III: Identify & Prepare for Your Triggers
• How to Quit Smoking Part IV: Quit Smoking Strategies
• How to Quit Smoking Part V: The Time to Quit is Now!
• How to Fight Depression Naturally
• How to become an Optimist – Part I
• Coping with Stress – Part I

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 4th, 2006 at 12:24 pm and is filed under A New Start, Choices, Goals, Self Discipline . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.