How to Quit Smoking - for Real This Time

If you've tried to quit smoking and given up trying, or if you've given up smoking and started again, there is still hope. If you've tried methods your friends used successfully, only to find they didn't work for you, there are plenty more to try.

Quitting cold turkey does work for some people. It has a tendency to make other people want to avoid their company for a while, but it can still work. If this is the method you choose, keep in mind that you might be a little on the grouchy side while you're going through it, and try not to take your frustrations out on friends and relatives.

Patches and gums work for a lot of people, and if you've tried one kind and it didn't work, that doesn't mean you shouldn't try another. They don't all have exactly the same ingredients.

An important thing to remember is that you should be positive about it. Attitude is everything, as the saying goes. Starting anything with the attitude that you'll fail is a way of making failure a strong possibility. One small slip-up is not a sign that you have failed. While some who break down and smoke one cigarette decide they might as well not even try to quit, it doesn't have to be that way. An occasional cigarette, say a couple times a year, is not a sign to go back to full-time smoking. It's a sign to thank whoever provided it for you, since you probably didn't buy a single cigarette, and ask them not to offer you any more.

When you think about how much it costs to smoke, it's almost mind-boggling. If you cut down on how many packs or cartons of cigarettes you buy, you can put the money you would've spent on them in a jar or somewhere and see how quickly it accumulates. Then buy yourself something nice with it, maybe something to wear or listen to or watch, and remind yourself how you acquired it when you do. Buying some good food is another option, but food doesn't last as long as the other things.

Cutting down on smoking is easier than quitting all of a sudden. It'll take longer, but it'll be easier on you and everyone around you. Cutting down a little bit more each week will make your cigarettes get stale and not taste as good. If you want to know how bad stale cigarettes can be, buy a carton, open every pack in it, and smoke a few a day. Keep them on a shelf or counter or someplace, not in the fridge or freezer. By the time you get to the last couple of packs, the cigarettes will taste so nasty you'll be looking forward to being rid of them. You might even be rid of the desire to smoke any more of them.