There are endless reasons to quit smoking, and if you finally do manage to kick this habit then you’ll find that a great number of areas of your life improve – everything from your finances, to the look and smell of your property and your cars, to your relationships – not to mention your health. For all or any of these reasons you’ve probably already tried to quit smoking a couple of times by now, and as you’re reading this chances are that they haven’t been successful.
At this point then you might be at your wit’s end struggling to get cigarettes out of your life and willing to try anything. You may even be considering giving up the whole idea of quitting, but of course if you do that then you will never stand a chance of getting better and chances are that there is a solution out there for you somewhere.
The point is that each of us is different, and just as there are a million reasons to give up smoking there are similarly any number of reasons that many of us can’t give up. What works for one person isn’t necessarily what works for another and the secret to successfully quitting is simply to find whatever it is that really works for you. Keep trying different things and eventually you’ll find the answer.
And to get you started, here are just a few different things for you to try…
Vaping: Vaping is one of the most effective methods for quitting smoking and this has been demonstrated by numerous studies as well as numerous anecdotal reports. When you vape, you avoid inhaling the most dangerous and toxic elements that you get from cigarettes, such as the tar. Nevertheless, you get the same benefits: the nicotine hit that your body is craving (which you can easily control), the rewarding sensation of filling the lungs with warm air, the social benefits, and more!
Countless people who have been unable to quit find that choosing vape or vaping makes all the difference.
Try CBT: CBT is cognitive behavioral therapy. This is a psychotherapeutic approach that focusses on changing the thought process in order to change behavior and the way people feel. This begins by looking at the contents of the mind (through a process called mindfulness) and then reflecting on those. From there, you look at the thoughts that are leading to negative behaviors and find ways to remove those triggers or to change your way of thinking.
Perhaps you notice that the trigger is something in your environment and so you spend some time away (an important tip for kicking any habit). Maybe you notice that feelings of unhappiness lead you to want to smoke. Can you find more positive ways to deal with those?
Change Your Health and Lifestyle: When people come to me wanting to get into better shape and build strong muscles I will always tell them that it’s folly to hope to stick to a new training routine when that’s the only thing they’re changing. If they’ve struggled to get into shape in the past then chances are that this is a result of their overall lifestyle and that they generally lack either the time or the energy to get into shape. To be successful in any new endeavour then, quitting smoking included, you need to address multiple areas of your life by eating more healthily, finding ways to reduce stress and free up time, and altering your way of thinking so that your whole lifestyle is conducive to being a success. If you smoke when you drink – stop drinking. If your work makes you stressed which leads to smoking – change your job.
Hypnosis: When we pick up a cigarette this is a result of many unconscious urges that have become programmed into us. Likewise, then it’s possible to override these impulses with new unconscious drives that tell us that we don’t want to smoke which is what hypnotherapy is good for. See a hypnotherapist and they will use a range of techniques in order to bypass your conscious mind and plant suggestions into your psyche that alter your behavior and this can be very effective for the right person.
Over Exposure: This one is a nasty thought, but can be very effective. Overexposure essentially means that you are going to take 10 cigarettes and then smoke them in a row, back-to-back. That sounds extreme and that’s the idea – it becomes distinctly unpleasant even for the most avid nicotine addict. The result is that you create a very powerful negative association and for at least a while, the very thought of cigarettes will be enough to make you cringe!
These are just a few of the methods for quitting smoking that you may not have
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