You quit smoking a few months ago and you feel better. The cravings are no longer that strong but sometimes, you still miss your cigarettes and the urge to light is intense. Now, you’re wondering if you’ll be truly free from the habit or you’ll be missing smoking forever.
The relationship you have built with cigarette is closely woven to the things you do. But you can completely undo it. Here’s how:
quit Practice, practice, and practice.
Quitting smoking is a gradual process of letting go. Each day without cigarette teaches you how to live a smoke-free life. Piece by piece, you try to reprogram your reactions – your responses to day-to-day events that triggers your cravings to smoke. The more you practice, the less cravings you experience. Over the years, you’ll learn how to handle and stay smoke free on every situations.
Deal with seasonal triggers.
Thoughts of lighting a cigarette can hit you with great intensity that you haven’t experienced in months. But don’t worry, if you make it through without smoking, staying smoke-free will be much easier.
Change how you see cigarettes.
If you want lasting freedom from nicotine, you need to change how you see and the way you think of cigarettes. This is as important as time and practice. Maybe you have heard of people still missing their cigarettes 25 years after quitting. That’s frightening, but don’t be discouraged. The problem here is, they didn’t changed their attitude towards cigarettes. For these people smoking is still part of their life.
If you want to completely free yourself from nicotine addiction, you need to change the relationship you have with cigarettes. You need to have a mental shift. How? By educating yourself.
Educate yourself.
Arm yourself with knowledge. Read everything you can come across about smoking and how tobacco damages your body and your overall health. It will enlighten you, and more importantly, it will aid you in changing how you see and think about cigarettes.
Once you have learned everything you need, there will be no doubt in your mind – cigarette is now one and the same as death, cancer, and addiction. Smoking will completely lost its appeal.
Don’t rush yourself. Be patient. Give it time as much as you need to heal and recover from nicotine addiction. There is no single formula. One might be effective to anther but not to you. Every experience is unique, how you get through the whole process depends on you. Educate yourself about nicotine dependence and work it out how to change the way you see and think about cigarettes.
Don’t pity yourself or feel bad because you can’t smoke. Don’t consider quitting smoking as a sacrifice. In fact, you’re not losing anything here, instead you’re giving yourself a chance to live a happier and healthier life.
Quitting smoking is never impossible. The benefits you get from quitting is worth all the hard work. If you want to stay quit for good, you need to be patient, and you need to change your mind.
