A Beginners List for Smoking Cessation
- Journal your habits for at least 2 weeks
- Learn when you get hungry, angry, lonely, tired
- Keep track of when you crave the most & why
- Before stopping completely, avoid cigarettes during the most difficult times when your cravings are the worst
- Make a plan; set a date to stop
- Use more than one approach at a time
- See your physician for assistance/guidance
- Tell all your friends & family and get their support
- Get a support team lined up and start using them
- Learn to identify and express your feelings
- Exercise under direction of your physician
- Check out Martial Arts, Yoga, or Belly Dancing!
- Join a sports team
- Use humor and laugh a lot (raises serotonin)
- Auricular (ear) acupuncture
- Reward yourself for accomplished goals
- Learn to breathe – diaphragmatic breathing
- Get to know the out-of-doors
- Volunteer and give to the community
- Begin new rituals that bring you peace, joy, & comfort
- Avoid caffeine, alcohol, stimulants
- Walk after meals
- Keep ginger or cinnamon around and use for cravings
- Practice anger management skills
- Avoid stores that sell cigarettes
- Hang out with non-smokers
- Save your cigarette money in a visual form so you can see it grow
- Give yourself a new non-smoking identity
- Have a burial ceremony for your cigarettes, lighter, ashtrays, etc
- Write a good-bye letter to cigarettes and process the change
- Use prayer, such as asking for the desire to smoke to be removed
- Ask others how they have stopped smoking and follow suggestions that you think will work!
- Find a way to reframe your day so you can live it one breath at a time - smoke free!!!