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Stop The Cigarette Habit.
I never thought I would be able to end my smoking habit. It seemed like I was continually waiting until the anxiety in my life was at a low point to begin to quit and of course that just never seemed to happen.I used my smoking habit as anxiety reliever and I just didn't know what smoking control could do. Please note that "Smoking Control" is a branded product of the NOXO company. I was afraid of gaining weight and it seemed like every time I stopped smoking I replaced eating with my smoking and as soon as I saw a weight gain over ten pound I was once again smoking.
So, I was convinced I was going to have to find a behavior to replace my smoking or other ways of dealing with stress. At home instead of taking a smoke break I would use some smoking control. In the mornings instead of a cigarette with my hot chocolate I ate a healthy breakfast instead of my usual morning meal of a cigarette and coffee. After eating instead of a smoking I took a walk or exercised or read a book. In the car I listened to books on tape or music that took my mind off normal times in the car when I would smoke.
It was not an easy thing but I started replacing other activities and habits for times when I would usually smoke and I started using smoking control. When I decided that I had to crack the smoking habit I began with a list of pros and cons for my decision to smoke or to quit. In other words what I was getting out of smoking and then the cons to keeping with my smoking habit. Obviously the pros far outweighed the cons. The financial and health cost of a smoking habit makes the decision to carry on with one you can't really condone in any sense except for the fact that as a smoker this is a habit that you delight in.
After I made my checklist I hung this list up on my bedroom door and also on my refrigerator door. I wanted everyday to see my motivation for changing my behavior this helped a little since quitting smoking is a resolution one has to make daily day by day. When you quit smoking you have to assume some times when you may make a mistake but in the past when I messed up I just accepted the fact that I had failed and started smoking full steam ahead but this time if I back slid and purchased a pack of cigarettes or smoked just one I begged from a friend I allowed myself forgiveness for not being perfect and started right back up.
Each time I saw the scales go up I made sure to exercise more and not to replace eating with smoking. I also rewarded myself by pampering myself with something I generally would not do for myself. Maybe by a splurge on shopping or a videotape I wanted to see a nice dinner and an after dinner drink just something I enjoyed to remind myself that smoking wasn't the only agreeable thing for me. I can not say I still don't think about having a cigarette from time to time and quite possibly always will but I also remind myself that what you save is bucks your health and generally just feeling better. Your clothes don't smell like smoke your hair does not stink of smoke you can taste the food you eat. You can also put the cash you would have used for buying smokes into a saving account and watch it build.
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