People say now is the best time to quit smoking because of unnecessary expense in an unsteady economy, risk of ill-health (and therefore, medical expenses) and a smell that puts off nonsmokers and former smokers-at a time when you need all the friends you can get.
Others say it is the worst time to quit with today's financial pressures and the need to stay close to associates who may bond with you via smoke breaks.
What's the truth?
Simple: you and only you make it the best time or the worst.
Fortunately, there are sneaky tricks to help smooth the road and ultimately triumph:
1-Design your routine to make quitting easy and smoking difficult
Let's not pretend that it's all left up to fate, circumstance and whether a foolish friend lights a cigarette in front of you. You are ultimately in control. Stop telling yourself it will be hard. Tell yourself how it will be easy, rewarding, ultimately pleasant.
Prove those reasons with facts from your own life. Recall a beneficial change you made that you have maintained for years. Assume quitting smoking will be similar.
Remove smoking, cigarettes, pipes, chewing tobacco, and ashtrays from your home, car, and mind.
Cozy up with your nonsmoking friends. Hang out in inviting places where smoking is not allowed. Use imagination and creativity to plot against your former smoking self.
2-Give yourself every advantage
Get help from professionals, family, and friends, including smokers. Don't ask them to quit themselves-merely request that they support your quitting. Time your quit date well.
Don't sabotage yourself by quitting during especially-difficult periods (unless all quit times are difficult to you).
Reward yourself with nonfattening, inexpensive inducements. One client gave herself the gift of a manicure for every two weeks she didn't smoke.
Now she has beautiful nails and is celebrating three years without a single cigarette.
3-Consider smoking part of a quest for something big, important, and inviting.
How about improved health; a better body; prep for a marathon; a new dating quest? If these don't entice you, customize your own.
4-Hang out with nonsmokers
People who want to be successful get there faster when they socialize with successful people. Nonsmokers encourage not-smoking.
You won't want to risk missing a great conversation by slipping outside for a smoke.
And nonsmokers don't want to smell smoker's stale breath or smoky clothes.
Let your desire to be with interesting, fun, nonsmoking people be so-o-o much more desirable than hanging with those other folks who have helped you keep smoking.
5-Make no exceptions
Pick your quit date judiciously and keep it. Don't excuse yourself for long workdays, difficult projects, friends' visits, vacations, crises, free cigarettes, or curiosity about whether the cigarette will still taste the same (it will).
Once the date is set, make it rock solid-no excuses allowed. Adjust your world around quitting, not the reverse.
Layoffs at work? Romantic breakup? If you use quitting smoking as an opportunity to stick to your word no matter what, and you give yourself a priceless gift.
6-Stubbornly refuse to play mind tricks on yourself. Same for anyone else who tries.
The fastest way for an ex-smoker to become a current smoker is to smoke a cigarette.
Frankly, it can't happen any other way.
All that's required is one cigarette. One. Because one won't stay one forever. Maybe it will become a pack that same day. Maybe a month later. Maybe it'll take a few months and the right blend of emotional stresses.
The only way to be a nonsmoker is not to smoke. Period. If you choose to be a nonsmoker, choose it for every minute of every day. Be exuberantly proud. ©2009 by Wendy Lapidus-Saltz. All rights reserved.
Wendy Lapidus-Saltz is an NGH-certified hypnotist with over 10 years of experience. One of her special joys is assisting lifelong smokers quit for good. To schedule a phone consult about kicking this habit to the curb, contact Wendy at 312-640-1584. Check out her smoking-cessation website, including some smart and useful articles, at http://www.nonsmoker4life.com
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