If you or someone you love is trying to quit smoking, you’re in good company. Smoking is a difficult habit to kick, but rest assured, it is completely possible! Researching how to eliminate smoking from your life for good is the first step, so congratulations! You’re well on your way to accomplishing your goal. To help you in your journey to a healthier lifestyle, here are 5 tips to quit smoking for good!
1. Seek Out a Support System
Having a support system in place to help motivate you to refrain from smoking is one of the best things that you can do for yourself. Consider telling at least one family member or friend that you’re quitting. If they are smokers themselves, you can also politely ask them not to smoke around you. There are even hotlines that you can call, as well as online communities that you can join that offer encouragement, advice, and answers to any questions you might have.
2. Set Short Term Goals
Quitting cold turkey is an amazing thing if you’re mentally equipped to handle and sustain that choice long term. However, for many people, it’s more effective to set short term goals that gradually reduce how much you smoke from day to day. This breaks your ultimate goal into more achievable steps and doesn’t seem as daunting. You should also celebrate your milestones like smoking 50% less in a day, and eventually, not smoking at all in a day! This will give you something to look forward to and will help you to stay motivated as well.
3. Identify Your Triggers
Another one of the best tips to quit smoking is to identify your triggers. It’s important to know what parts of your daily routine contain triggers that may cause smoking cravings to occur. When this happens, take note of what you’re doing or feeling at the time and think about what you can do instead of smoking. For example, a common trigger for a lot of smokers is stress. So, instead of reaching for a cigarette when you feel tense, you can try one of the many other ways to relieve stress.
4. Adopt Replacement Habits
Not everyone has the sheer willpower or energy to withstand cravings every single time they occur. If this sounds like you, don’t worry! There are other habits that you can put in place where your smoking habit once stood. These new habits will be a great help when your cravings are at their strongest when you first quit smoking. So, instead of taking a puff, you can chew some gum, eat a healthy snack or exercise to keep your mind occupied.
5. Be Patient and Kind to Yourself
Nobody is perfect and slip-ups are likely to happen along your path to stop smoking. If you have a small lapse, that does not mean that you have failed. Just be sure to take the necessary steps to prevent it from happening again. Remember why you decided to quit smoking in the first place and continue to move forward with your journey. Above all, be patient and kind with yourself, and keep trying your best every day.
We hope that these tips to quit smoking will help you to kick the habit for good! At Mac’s Pharmacy, we are dedicated to improving your well-being. So, learn more about how we can assist you with all of your health-related needs.
