Methods for Quitting Smoking

As a smoker of 7 years, I recently quit around 9 months ago. Smoking is very bad for your health, and having been smoke-free for this length of time I can tell you that it's definitely worth the effort. Here are some methods that I personally used to break this nasty habit.

Change your daily routine

A common approach is to alter your daily routine. There are all sorts of things you can change, like taking on a hobby or eating meals at different times. It's important to mix up your daily activities, since it keeps you away from old habits and falling back into smoking. Staying busy is also a great strategy in this regard. If you have a lot of extra time in your day, it's easy to give in to temptations. For someone who is already busy who smokes to alleviate stress, they should seek out other ways of stress reduction.

Convince yourself that you don't like smoking or cigarettes

Now, this is a method I invented myself. It consisted of "brainwashing" myself not to like smoking and buying brands of cigarettes that I didn't like. This may sound strange, but what I would do is think of foods/drinks that I don't like or bad things while smoking and reminding myself of how bad the smoke smells and how it makes my lungs feel. Eventually, you believe it and the act of smoking becomes an unpleasant activity.

Keep a log the money you save by not smoking

An acquaintance of mine advised that I use this tactic. Estimate the monthly or weekly cost of your cigarette consumption and take heed of the money you're saving by not smoking. You can also keep the money itself in a container to emphasize your savings as a visual presentation. Depending on where you live and the costs of cigarettes there, you can tally up your annual savings. As a former pack per day smoker, it would cost me around 5 dollars per day to continue smoking. A year's worth for me is over $1,800 dollars.

These are just a couple of methods that can be used to quit smoking that worked well for me. Clean lungs, more energy and a bigger wallet certainly make up for the brief but dangerous benefits of a little stress release or fleeting pleasure. After having been smokeless for almost a year now, I often wonder why I waited so long to quit considering the potentially deadly results that smoking can bring.