By: George Ngigi
Smoking is not inborn, it is a habit like any other. Just like it has a beginning so does it have an end. It is not so easy though to quit smoking because of the addiction it causes to the smoker who needless to say, is a prisoner of war to the habit.
There are several ways someone who wants to quit smoking can use to manage his or her craving for smoking. Your dose for countering the urge to smoke is to have more than one reason to stop it. But before exploring them think of why someone would like to stop smoking.
Could be you want to quit smoking in order to save your family from inhaling a second hand smoke you know very well is a health hazard. It could be you want to save yourself from the enslaving habit of having to wake up in the middle of the night just to take a puff. Or it could be you realise that smoking is obnoxious to those around you and does no good to yourself either.
Feeling Humiliated
You are travelling from point A to point B in a public transport vehicle and unlike in a private car, you feel uncomfortable when your smoking habit forces you to disembark. Just to be away from non-smokers.
That is, if you are lucky to get a chance to relieve yourself of a much persevered urge to smoke, after a long spell of waiting for the vehicle to make a stopover. Or it could be a case where the ingrained habit makes you feel like someone in a compulsory isolation center. Not because you are likely to infect the person next to you with Covid-19, but because those around you must be protected from nicotine and other disease causing chemical substances.
You feel humiliated to be consigned in a designated smoking zone as the law requires, which lowers your dignity when passers-by look at you scornfully like if you are a criminal. Or it could be you realize that smoking is a foreign cultural lifestyle that does not add any value to your life in general and to your health in particular.
So for those reasons and others, you want to do away with it. In other words, if the set of reasons you are armed with is not a sub-set of other people’s reasons, but your own, then you are more likely to own the quit smoking program to your advantage.
If your reasons are so strong that they outweigh the pleasure derived from smoking, your urge to light up a cigarette goes down and you are halfway on the road to success.
Determination to win against addiction
Like any other addiction, smoking is a habit that gets the brain hooked up. So consider enlisting the services of a professional who can walk you out of the habit through medication, counselling, and attending anti-smoking classes or hypnosis.
Let us face it. Nicotine and other related addictive substances are the number one culprits behind smoking habit. You will therefore, find it hard to do without them.
Acknowledging that it is going to be a tough choice, is but a surefire guarantee of succeeding in kicking out your smoking temptations. It is not going to be easy or a case of hoping for the best but one of preparing for the worst. There is a big fight ahead of you. And this is why many who are victims of cigarette smoking addiction give up the fight.
Expect to face challenges but do not follow the route of failures, that can be the cause of you going cold turkey.
With that in mind, once the program for stopping smoking is up and running, do not backslide. You will have to find methods you can apply to get around withdrawal effects such as headaches, mood-changes or feeling of loss of energy.
A health caregiver can choose to prescribe drugs meant to fight withdrawal symptoms such as depression, loss of concentration, anxiety and related problems just to make you get less and less of the satisfaction you derive from smoking in case you light up.
In particular, nicotine withdrawal can be replaced with nicotine gum, lozenges and other suitable substitutes to “keep your mug full” and curb the urge for nicotine intake. In actual fact, nicotine-replacement therapy is top priority in a quit-smoking program.
Having said that, if you suffer a setback in your spirited effort to win the battle against smoking by lighting up, do not for one moment get discouraged. It is not the many times you slip up and fall that matters but it is the many attempts you make to get up after each fall that makes a difference. Eventually, you will be on your feet.
Remember you are in a liberation struggle for yourself and no liberation struggle is won easily. Find out what went wrong and address the relapse. Up your game by making renewed commitment to the deserved goal of quitting smoking. Because you are not a chimney or an exhaust pipe to emit smoke. It is your right to keep your body free of contaminants.
Support system
Withdrawal symptoms are noticeable. So getting people close to you like your friends and family members or your colleagues at work aware, as your support system, of your resolve to quit smoking, is not a sign of weakness.
These people are your safety net to fall back on when things go wrong. They are the ones to look up to for encouragement whenever the temptation to smoke proves hard to resist.
They will help out by reminding you that you have an obligation to keep off smoking. And they will assist you in every possible manner in your endeavor to beat the odds that come with trying to stop smoking. Similarly, you will remind yourself that you made a promise not just to yourself but also to those around you, that you want to quit smoking and you do not want to get ashamed of yourself or even to let them down.
Your kids, if you have them, are part of your source of motivation. You will be surprised at how your wife and children will be of help to you. Testimonies about the success of fathers and mothers who quit smoking because of their children abound all around the world. And what more do you need.
Make time to unwind
Find new ways to unwind which have the potential to replace the relaxation you get from smoking. During your free times, make the most of what you love doing. Engaging in sports and/or activities you enjoy most is your best bet. Your hobbies come in handy.
Go jogging or skating or even walk your dog. Treat yourself to a massage, go to a gym, tune in to your favorite music, watch your favorite movie or get an interesting book to read. When you work out, make sure you do not have any possibility for reaching for a cigarette.
Wear a track suit or sports attire to remind yourself that you are in serious business. Never go in the field in the wrong clothes. Equally important, when you do all these things make sure they are aligned with the times you know your craving for smoking is high. Leisure times are some of the most trying moments for people working to stop smoking.
Psychologically, you should know better what works best for you especially when you make time to manage your smoking. For enhanced concentration, find conducive environments to ward off detractors. This is a healing process that seeks your personal intervention; so do not confuse it with a faith healing one which requires divine intervention.
Do you take alcohol? If you do, and you often smoke when taking it, please avoid it by all means and so are the places where it is sold and served to patrons.
Look for alternatives. If the temptation to smoke is associated with a hot drink like coffee or tea, go crazy with other drinks like soda, yoghurt, or juice which are cold drinks, by nature.
Again, if the temptation is high when you come across things like ashtrays, remember what they say, out of sight out of mind. If your clothes or the house or even your car in general smell smoke and are the reasons you want to smoke, get them washed clean and applying air fresheners to your house and car helps to get rid of the familiar scents of smoke.
A person who is trying to stop smoking is, with all due respect, a patient like any other. He or she is a person who suffers from addiction and addiction is a disease. They should be helped to avoid anything and everything that can trigger the urge to smoke.
However, it is good to remember that the primary responsibility for ensuring you succeed in quitting smoking is yours.
A Work of Faith Ministries, Inc. 