How To Quit Smoking In 5 Steps

Quitting smoking is a very personal decision that most smokers have considered at some time. But many do not see themselves capable, and have even tried it, but have not been successful, especially if they have been smoking for a long time.

The avoidance of short-term suffering is what characterizes today’s society and in drugs the parallel to this dynamic is found in doing everything possible to avoid withdrawal symptoms, which in tobacco are physical and psychological. Therefore, different strategies are necessary when facing the process of quitting smoking.

The steps that you are going to read next set up a guide so that quitting smoking is a more accessible process.  However, do not forget that quitting a drug is a very complicated process and that you may need more help to achieve it. In this way, you have to welcome any resources that you have around you and that can help you in the process.

There are no magic recipes to help you get off a drug effortlessly, and if they are selling it that way, surely what they offer you is a scam. Therefore, I know that leaving it costs, it costs a lot, but it is not impossible and if you put everything on your side by following the following steps, it will be easier for you to achieve it:

Step 1. Motivation is essential

I know that saying you want to quit smoking is easier than doing it, because like everything else, it takes a lot of effort. Therefore, before starting the process of quitting smoking, I recommend that you make a list with two columns in which you include the reasons for and against this decision.

Then assign weights to each ratio in each column according to the order of importance they have for you, for example from 1 to 10, obtaining what we call a decisional balance. If it is balanced and the reasons that make you quit smoking are stronger and stronger than those that make you continue, you are prepared to succeed.

If not, review the reasons and make sure there is a true intrinsic motivation before starting the process. This is an essential step.

It is also advisable that for the moments in which motivation may falter you have a resource prepared that reminds you why you decided to start the process of quitting smoking, in this case being a letter addressed to the person you love the most. You should always carry this letter with you and thus resort to it whenever you need it.

The letter should begin like this: “Dear son, today I have decided that I am going to stop killing myself slowly, today I have decided that I am going to stop smoking …” and continues to state the reasons reflected in the column of the pros that you have written before.

Step 3. Quitting is an individual process

We must never forget that each of us has our own circumstances, so that the best treatment will always be the one that is adapted to our particular conditions. Thus, a good idea is for a psychologist to adapt any general treatment for you.

There are people who look more capable if they end the habit radically and others who look more powerful if they have to face a gradual process. One way or another, biological withdrawal will always be less harsh if nicotine consumption is gradually reduced.

The dynamics of this gradual process would consist of  progressively reducing the body’s nicotine, so that withdrawal and anxiety are less. Once the process has started, you leave the cigarettes that are less important to you day by day, until you finish eliminating the one that is most essential for you.

Step 4. If you don’t have weapons, don’t go to war.

If you do not have weapons, do not go to war because without them you will not achieve victory. In the case of tobacco, when you start to stop smoking you must get rid of everything that is related to tobacco. This means that there are no ashtrays at home or lighters in your bag.

In addition, it is convenient that as much as possible you avoid those situations in which you are extremely prone to smoking a cigarette. Thus, if you are prone to smoking while resting after meals, eliminating the habit temporarily eliminates this break.

Step 5. No cigarette has solved my problems

From my experience I can tell you that no cigarette has solved my problems. When we stop smoking, and because of anxiety, we usually notice a disordered mind. A lack of order that in turn prevents concentration and makes us more dispersed in the first days after stopping the habit.

Nothing is further from the truth, smoking is the problem not the solution. Smoking poisons our brains and makes us perform worse. Given this, learning problem solving techniques will give us resources that are really effective to face our day to day.