Making a quit smoking plan

At the moment Internet is full of various methods and recommendations on how to quit smoking. Thousands of web-sites offer different programs with a guarantee that you will quit smoking in one month, one week or even one day. In order not to get lost in this variety, experts advise to develop an individual quit smoking plan for yourself, which should be based on your own experience as well as on positive experiences of others. This plan shouldn’t be considered as a dogma, quite the opposite, some flexibility in the content is the must. As Confucius once said: When it becomes obvious that the target cannot be reached, do not change the target but do change your practical steps. So, in case if planned activities aimed at quitting smoking don’t work for you for whatever reason, they can be either cancelled or replaced with something new.

So what should be there at the head of your plan? There has to be your target and your reason for quitting. Try to formulate the answers for yourself: what do I want to get from this and why? Try to find such answers which carry a great deal of positive attitude and motivation: I want to live a healthy life! I want to win a contest! I want to see my grandson getting married! Write down your targets and reasons and look through them each time when you feel a strong temptation to have a smoke.

Consistency is the next important point in your plan. However, not consistency of the plan content, but consistency of your intention to quit smoking. Even if you relapse once – do not get upset. Just analyze the situation calmly, find the reason which, as you suppose, has caused the failure and think of a way to avoid such situations in the future. Then, make some adjustments to your plan and give it another try. Having lost a battle you need to realize that the victory in this war is going to be yours.
Another essential point of your plan should be seeing a doctor. It might seem useless to you; however I’m not encouraging you to keep consulting one and the same doctor. Spend some time and find a qualified specialist with good references, someone who has already helped many people quit smoking. If there’s no result after some time you can start searching for another doctor. Something that I definitely don’t recommend is taking any medications without getting a prescription from a specialist. For instance, Chantix has a lot of side-effects and therefore should be prescribed by a doctor who has a full picture of your health condition.

In the next section of the quit smoking plan, the way you are going to quit should be stated. There are not so many possible options here: you either quit cold turkey, or you set a deadline for yourself and move towards it cutting down your daily amount of smoke. Both ways have some pros and cons. The advantage of quitting cold turkey is that you actually are not smoking, so your body immediately starts to get rid of all toxins. However, it’s a great stress for the body, especially for those people who are used to smoking more than one pack a day. In case of step-by-step quitting you decrease your daily dosage of nicotine and prepare your body for the change. But since you are still smoking it’s very likely that you will violate the plan. A failure after quitting cold turkey is painful, and you learn a certain lesson from it; in the meanwhile, after having just one extra cigarette, even though you don’t get so frustrated, you are actually very likely to destroy the whole system.

The next big question is what is going to help you quit smoking. The most available though not the simplest way is to rely on your willpower only. This option definitely should be number one on your list, but it turns out not to be possible for everybody. If you are not so confident or have a strong and painful reaction to some new unpleasant symptoms which appear after quitting, you can make it easier for yourself. First of all, read the book by Allen Carr. I personally know many people who found it very helpful. But don’t drag the reading process – try to fit into 1-2 days. Then, it’s a good idea to use some natural herbal or homeopathic treatments. They will not only ease your cravings and fight the bad symptoms but also bring down the stress level. You can also try various programs offered in Internet, such as audio hypnosis. Also, the good idea will be to assure extensive support from your family and friends. And even hotline number can help when you have acute craving, but all your folks are too busy to give attention to your problem – so keep it handy.

If you realize that you’re unable to deal with smoking on your own don’t rush for pills and nicotine patches. Start with a consultation of a hypnotherapist or an acupuncture specialist. At first approximation these methods might seem exotic, and their effectiveness looks questionable; but they’re actually not new and many people managed to quit using these ways. If you haven’t been able to quit smoking after trying hypnosis and acupuncture, then switch to the nicotine replacement therapy and medical treatment. However, once again, keep in mind the importance of being supervised by your doctor.

Described methods can help you quit smoking, but you also have to be the first person to help yourself. Smoking plays such a global role in your life that in order to quit you have to make some adjustments to your lifestyle which has to be reflected in the next point of your plan. Fitness, healthy diet, increased consumption of water, no alcohol or coffee – these are key points you’ll have to think about. You can implement all of them or choose at least a few. Something will surely be hard to do, but after the smoking is not a problem for you anymore you’ll be able to return to your usual lifestyle, if you want of course.

The last section that should be present in your plan for quitting smoking is craving control. This desire appears suddenly and you might follow the impulse and ruin all achieved results. Sometimes, when you have a strong temptation to smoke, you might not even remember that there are ways to fight this desire. That’s why I recommend you to find some craving control ways which would be suitable for you personally. Write them down on a piece of paper of save them in your smartphone; when the temptation to smoke becomes irresistible look through your list and pick a method which suits the present moment best of all. It can be seeds, dried fruit, mints, small drinks of water, deep breathing, a telephone conversation. There’re lots of methods, you can make a list of only those that actually help you.

As a result, your plan will include practically all spheres connected with quitting smoking. The value of the plan is in its ability to develop a complex approach to quitting smoking which is better than separate one-time actions.