Quit smoking 101 - lesson II

Start writing.

A quit smoking journal is a tool that's worth its weight in gold. Your reasons to quit are a great way to get your diary underway. Use it also to answer some questions:

• If you've quit smoking before, what worked well for you and what didn't? I have quit before but I don’t know what helped me then. Candy? Water? Liquorice? I guess it was pure willpower and strength. And the people around me helped and supported me a lot. Nowadays a lot of people don’t even know I smoke again so I will not get their support. I’ve to do this more or less on my own. Maybe I just have to rely on my own willpower. I know it is strong enough to overcome the worst shit.
• What improvements and changes can you make? I don’t want to eat and snack so much. The last time I gained 20 kilo’s and I did not like that. It has taken me along time to get that weight off and I want to keep it off. So this time candy as little as possible and exercise more… so I have to increase my exercise schedule.
• What will be your most challenging situations, and how do you plan to handle them?
Because a lot of people don’t know that I smoke, I’m used to not smoke on a lot of occasions. Most challenging will be when I meet one of my ex b- friends. He and I used to smoke a lot when I we where together. We still meet on a regular basis and last time he already noticed I smoked less then I used to. I can expect some comments from him. I probably won’t see him for a while. When I’m more confident as a non-smoker I’ll meet him again and explain what my reasons for quitting are. I know he will understand :)
• What can you do to change your environment to promote breaking the associations you have to smoking? Get rid of ashtrays, lighters, everything that has to do with smoking cigarettes, tobacco.
• What do you like about smoking? Nothing!
• What do you hate about your addiction? The addiction, the dependencies, the feeling that I must smoke, get tobacco, light up.
• What benefits do you envison in your smoke free life? I will smell nicer, have more energy, breath more easily, like food more, smell and taste more, enjoy life more, feel better, feel free, stop coughing, save money, don’t feel so stressed all the time, be relaxed, healthier, prettier (my skin will improve).

Set your quit smoking date: September 1, 2005 That is within 2 days. So I took the advice. I didn’t pick a quitting date weeks from now!