It can be extremely difficult to quit smoking, but as a parent, it is a great idea to stop. This will ensure you are a good role model to your children and can better help them overcome the peer pressure they will inevitably receive at school and deter them from smoking. More often than not, children are more likely to pick up smoking when they have friends or family around them that smoke.
If you can quit smoking, you will also ensure that you can be the happiest and healthiest version of yourself, enjoy more time with your family and save yourself a lot of money.
Smoking is a particularly hard habit to stop, due to the addictiveness of the nicotine that you consume. It can also be difficult due to the length that big corporations will go to market their products to you. Many people are mentally, emotionally, and physically addicted to cigarettes. Not only is nicotine addictive and craved by your body, but people tend to become reliant on it for stress and anxiety relief.
This means it is important to take your time and set realistic expectations. This will ensure you give yourself the best chances of quitting for good. If you started smoking when you were younger and have been smoking for a long time, it is going to be a difficult habit to quit. This is because as you start to reduce your consumption, your body will begin to go into nicotine withdrawal. Your mind and body are also used to having something to turn to.
To help you on your journey to quitting smoking, here are some top tips.
Understand why you smoke
It is important to gain awareness of your smoking habit. You can start by identifying why you smoke. To do this, you may want to keep a journal and make a note about the times that you smoke, what you are doing, and how you are feeling. After a few days or weeks, you will have gathered enough information on your smoking habits so you can start to look for patterns. Do you tend to smoke when you are feeling a certain way, for example, stressed? Or do you smoke every time you eat? Understanding why you smoke will become helpful when you look for alternatives to fill the void that you are currently filling with smoking. You should also make a note of the things or situations that trigger you and drive you to smoke more.
Understand why you want to quit
It is also important to understand why you want to quit smoking. When you have a strong and meaningful reason, it can help you when you are having a tough time trying to resist smoking. Make a list of all your reasons, and keep it somewhere you can refer to regularly. There are hundreds of reasons to quit smoking, for example, to improve your:
- Health
- Quality of life
- Longevity of life
- Time with your children
- Oral health and hygiene
The health benefits of quitting smoking are overwhelming, and a great source of information to help you stay motivated while you try to quit. There are many facts online, for example, how your body changes with every day that you don’t smoke. This visual can be effective on your journey.
Set realistic expectations
Quitting smoking is not going to be quick or easy. Make sure you set realistic expectations. Avoid setting a short-term goal, for example, to quit within a week. This kind of goal is too unrealistic and you will only be setting yourself up to fail. When realistic expectations are set, it is going to make it a long and difficult process to endure, which is the last thing you want to do when you are fighting a habit. Habits are a challenge to break, but not impossible.
Be patient
Patience is key. You need to understand right from the start that you cannot just quit smoking and be fine the next day. If you want to quit smoking, you are going to have to be patient with yourself and keep trying. It can take a few days to a few weeks for the withdrawal symptoms to start easing. It can also take longer to try and break the habit that you have embedded in your brain. When you know this, you can learn to be patient with yourself and take it a day at a time.
Avoid your triggers
Avoiding your triggers can be difficult, but is an important step in the process. When you are triggered, you are more likely to bypass your reasons to quit and indulge in a cigarette. Make a plan that will help you avoid your triggers. In some cases, you might not be able to avoid them completely. Instead, you should make a plan on how you can better deal with those situations.
Use delay tactics
If you feel a strong urge to smoke, you should try using delay tactics. Whenever you feel like you want to smoke and give in to your plan to stop smoking, you should tell yourself to wait 5-10 more minutes, and do something during that time. This will enable you to sit with the urge and learn to let it pass. The more you can do this, the weaker your urges will feel.
Find an alternative
You must use the information about your triggers, to give yourself a suitable alternative. This is particularly important if you turn to smoking because you are stressed, anxious, or unable to relax. A good alternative can be vapes, with Delta 8 THC Vape Carts. Vapes are harmless, cheaper than smoking, and have been shown to help people quit nasty cigarettes. Instead, you can soothe yourself with a safe alternative.
Some people also choose to eat sunflower seeds or chew gum.
Smoking is a habit that is hard to break. When you have a habit embedded in your brain, it is not easy to just stop and never think of it again. To help you on your journey to quit smoking, follow these top tips.
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