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6 Things You Can Do If You’re Determined To Quit Smoking
More from Pranjal Begwani
By Pranjal Begwani:
1. Make the process gradual
Don’t give up smoking all of a sudden, in a spurt of emotion. It’s not going to last too long, and for all you might know, you’ll be back at puffing. Start gradually; come down from buying packs of cigarettes a day, to just a single pack and then probably just one or two cigarettes a day. So, the next time you get that urge to smoke and you put your hand in your pocket, you’ll find that there are none there. This would slowly bring down your desire to smoke. This process of slow but sure renunciation is scientifically effective.
2. Set some deadlines and follow them strictly
Set some deadlines, (even better if you write them down) and follow these to the tee. If you break one deadline, you’ll break another and it’ll set off a chain. You’ll soon be off the hook and back at what you do best i.e. romancing with that Marlboro in hand. So don’t break that deadline.
3. Divert yourself
When the urge hits, divert yourself and take your mind off the desire to smoke by doing something else. Sip on a cup of herbal tea, brush your teeth or do some other important chores which are waiting to be done, but delay and put off that urge.
4. Gulp down H2O
You may detest chemical formulae, but make an exception for this one.
5. Replace cigarettes with harmless substitutes
Chew on mints and suck on cinnamon flavoured toothpicks instead. Sucking on flavoured toothpicks can be an effective way to replace the physical act of smoking which your body and mind has got used to, at the same time being harmless when compared to nicotine. It, in effect would ease your psychological transition to a smoke-free future.
6. Be determined
But nothing is more important than being determined and having the will to not touch that lighter again. With a steely will and a dose of other psychological techniques, I dare say, the path to a permanent cigarette free future will be a lot easier.
And last but not the least, no matter how gory, repulsive and hilariously repetitive it is, the gruesome advert preceding movie screenings in India portray some real people and some very real side effects of smoking, which you must not forget at the end of the day.
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R
The slow renunciation was not an effective process. The slower you make it, the more there are chances that you will come back to the same number. It will have to be one determined day. Just one day you wake up and you suddenly decide no more smoking! And once you’ve stopped yourself for a week, it’ll become a matter of pride to not smoke ever again. Of course you’ll find your occasional excuses once in 3 months, but you won’t smoke again. And to make this long lasting, move to an environment where smoking is prohibited. Spend more time with family, with a lot of work in office/class, in a no-smoking cafeteria/restaurant. One year of prohibition and you would never smoke again.
Ridhi Murari
I think more than the process of implementing renunciation, a cleansing of attitudes needs to be initiated to begin a new way of life which needs to go hand in hand with the above mentioned steps.