Your attitude and quitting smoking

Attitude plays a key part in stopping smoking. And most smokers don't realise that just by taking the wrong approach when they come to stopping smoking, they are taking one step forwards and two steps backwards.

The attitude, or approach, I'm talking about is the one that is taken by 99% of smokers who start off on the wrong foot without even realising it.

The approach can be summarised by the follwoing phrases:

I can't quit smoking or I can't give up smoking.

This is obviously taking a negative approach - beginning with the words - 'I can't.' Instead a more positive approach needs to be taken. But that does not just mean replacing 'I can't' with 'I can', for example, by saying:

I can quit smoking or I can give up smoking.

It means changing the focus of the phrase - the focus is actually ten times more important that the phrase itself. Think about the words:

Quit Give up

What do they imply?

They imply that you as a smoker, are going to have to 'quit' on the one thing that gives you pleasure and that you are going to have to 'give up' or let go or do without the one thing in the world that you have enjoyed for so long!

The result? A negative approach - instead of going from a smoker who wants to be a non-smoker you are going to a non or ex smoker who is upset that he is 'giving up' his pleasure. Instead you should be thinking 'I'm going to stop smoking, and as a result I will get .... better smelling clothes, hair and breath, more money, more time with my children, better health .....etc.

This approach leads to resentment that you are having to lose out on the one thing that you enjoy. Many smokers then think that they should focus on the bad things that will happen to them if they don't stop smoking. This then causes fear and panic and stress. And what do smokers do to relieve or ease these issues? Smoke!

Instead you should focus on the good things you will get when you stop smoking - they are much more useful to you.

A negative approach - the 'Oh God I'm not sure I can do this' or 'such and such tried to give up and they couldn't, so how can I?' or 'how am I going to enjoy my life after cigarettes?' actually makes it ten times harder for you to stop smoking.

Many smokers who take this approach also have the following thoughts running through their mind:

I can't believe after tomorrow I will never be able to smoke another cigarette again

It's been 8 hours and forty five minutes since my last cigarette

(you see a stranger smoking) Oh that cigarett looks sooooo good, I wish I could have one

Just one drag won't hurt

how am I going to cope without cigarettes?

what if I'm stressed or the house burns down?

These thoughts and others like them lead to the many pitfalls of smoking. And they can be summarised by one thing - a constant focus on cigarettes. All of this stems from a negative approach.

When you stop smoking you should want it, really want it. So there is no point in trying to sto pif you are going to constantly beat yourself up, and make your job ten times harder by constantly lusting after cigarettes.

Stopping smoking is about changing your focus and thinking positively about it. Under no circumstances should you give up or quit smoking!

Instead stop smoking and plan on how you are going to enjoy your life free from the hold cigarettes have on you