Stopping Smoking Is Easier Than You Think

If you smoke, you might well often find yourself wanting to stop, but you might feel as though it is not going to be that easy to do so. The way that people speak about it certainly seems to throw doubt of the possibility of it being something that you can easily do, and it is no surprise that so many people try to do it and fail because of this basic underlying belief. This is not to downplay how much of an addiction it is, and how powerful it can be, but the truth is that mostly what you need to change is the way that you approach it psychologically. If you can do that, you will find that it is surprisingly easy to stop smoking, and that you should be able to improve your health in no time at all by doing so. Let’s look at this in a little more detail.

Cold Turkey Or Not?

One of the first decisions you will need to make when you are planning how you are going to do this is whether or not you are going to go cold turkey. This is entirely up to you, of course, but you will need to make sure that you are going to know straight off the bat so that you can make it official – otherwise you might later adopt the cold turkey approach merely as an excuse to have some nicotine. If you want to go cold turkey, that is one of the most effective methods, but for many people the most challenging. It is however often the best way. If you don’t think you can do that, consider finding an alternative to smoking which will deliver the nicotine you crave in a slightly healthier way – whether that means reading up on common vaping myths or just using gum or patches.

The Withdrawal

One of the most persistent myths is that nicotine withdrawal is an awful experience. What is actually awful is the psychological process that most people go through where they tell themselves that they are going to be missing out on a crutch that they need. That is what makes it difficult. If you strip all those beliefs away, the actual physical withdrawal from nicotine is really not that bad. What’s more, it lasts a mere four or five days, and then is cleared from your system. After that point, the only thing stopping you is the way that you are thinking about it. That is what will always get in your way unless you do something profound to change it for the better.

Your Thoughts

In order to change your thoughts, you need to appreciate that you are not losing out on anything. You are not losing a crutch which you need in difficult moments. When you have a cigarette and it seems to calm you, all that is really happening is that your craving is being satisfied, so you appear to be calm. But you will be even calmer generally once you no longer need nicotine to feel normal. You are not losing anything, but you are gaining a lot.

Tags: quit smoking

Category: Health