Quitting Smoking

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Author:
Vic Bilson

There is a wide range of ages for smokers today and about as wide a range of reasons they smoke. However, smoking is increasingly becoming more unpopular in our culture and as more and more smokers experience the discrimination perpetrated by the anti-smoking movement, they might begin seeking help to quit smoking. As those numbers have increased, more alternatives for quit smoking help have also become available.

It seems many people are looking for some easy way to quit smoking or some magical stop smoking aid. If that describes you, I hate to burst your bubble... but it's not going to be easy! You likely developed your smoking habit over many years and it will take time to learn the new habit of not smoking.

Your journey to quit smoking will likely require a multi-faceted approach, and if you want to succeed you'll need to...

Help Yourself
First and foremost you are the only one who can choose to quit smoking. You must have a strong will and you also have to be very motivated. Dig deep into yourself to find that motivation and you'll take a huge step to quit smoking. Nobody else knows or wants what is best for yourself but you. Begin by making a list of the advantages and disadvantages of giving up smoking and you may discover some powerful reasons to support your decision to quit smoking.

Ask for Help
If you think you're not strong enough to quit smoking on your own, then you must ask others to help you. Ask your family and friends to provide assistance - to be around when you feel the need to smoke, especially during the first days after quitting.

Besides the help of the friends and family, there are other alternatives that are more organized. There is the option for asking stop smoking help from professionals. Don’t hesitate to rely on the valuable advice a psychologist or a counselor can provide. It is their job and they are the most qualified persons in such situations. A correct behavioral therapy can help you change your habits and lifestyle that excludes smoking.

Remember too, you're not the only one who struggles to give up smoking. You can join a self-support group of ex-smokers who are also wanting to quit smoking. There you can not only empathize with one another but also have the opportunity in group discussions to find a variety of solutions from which you can choose to help you quit smoking.

Quit Smoking Aids
There are numerous products and therapies available to help you quit smoking. For example, you can begin a nicotine replacement therapy or get a stop smoking injection. The nicotine replacement therapy replaces the cigarette nicotine with nicotine delivered though another source such as gums, patches or nasal sprays. An even more radical approach is the stop smoking injection where the ingredients simply block the nicotine receptors in your brain so it cannot recognize the substance and helps stop the cravings.

It is not as important which method you choose to quit smoking as much as it is to make the choice to quit smoking. If you decide to combine all the above forms of stop smoking help then your chances will be greatly improved that you can quit smoking.

Whatever kind of quit smoking approach or therapy you decide on, you should always seek professional advice from your doctor who will be able to prescribe for you the best medical treatment in accordance with your health conditions.

Vic Bilson is a home-based entrepreneur helping people around the world improve their personal, family, and professional lives. The Quit Smoking Support web site will not insult you with the normal propaganda you find on most stop smoking web sites. Smoking is a choice. If you choose not to smoke, you'll find some ideas and resources here to support you in your choice to quit smoking. Visit http://quitsmoking.smokingaloud.com

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Smoking... Debunking the Glamour of Smoking The anti-smoking lobby often make a crucial mistake in their campaigning.: they lose sight of their target audience - children - and go after established smokers instead. Let me tell you right now that attempting to turn the screw on a smoker is the most counter-productive attitude you can adopt. As a former smoker, I can fully empathise with the average smoker’s feeling towards their habit, and I can assure you that an aggressive, scare mongering, lecturing tone is entirely redundant. The smoker needs to be understood, to be accepted and to be humanised. I’ve always found it very curious that individuals, who have never smoked in their life, see themselves fit to take smokers to task on the habit. It’s exactly the same problem we face when it comes to tackling obesity in the population, namely that we are better off empathising and understanding where the obesity problem stems from, rather than just telling an individual to get off their butt and exercise. The smoker has spent years developing a habit that extends far beyond a physical addiction - it is a powerful emotional and psychological addiction too. Yet despite this fact, the anti-smoking lobby only seem to focus from the non-smoker’s viewpoint (e.g. “They have no willpower”, “Don’t you know what it’s doing to your health?”, “It’s not cool”) Understand this - smokers started the habit for a reason. Some smokers wanted to look cool, to look edgy, to develop an attitude. Other smokers simply wanted to experiment. Others may just have had a fearless and carefree attitude towards life. Over time, the smoker glamorises the habit, and these strong neurological bonds will remain in place for years to come. When I smoked, I associated many wonderful times in my life with smoking: socialising on foreign holiday...