Download: Stop Smoking 1. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Stop Smoking

We are all aware of the dangers of smoking ... and how difficult it can be to stop. You want to quit, but you’ve tried before and failed. Now you fear that this habit is stronger than you are. It frequently seems that this addiction is overpowering—dominating your thoughts, sapping your willpower, and affecting your health. You feel the negative effect smoking has on your body; the wheezing in your lungs when you walk up a flight of stairs; the tiny lines that appear on your upper lip and around your mouth; your lack of energy. Smoking is a psychological and physiological addiction that ruins the quality of your life while cutting it short. It’s dangerous, expensive, turns off friends and strangers alike, and threatens not only your own life, but the health of those around you. You are well aware that you must stop, but how? 1. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Most smokers, when deciding to quit, do not give much thought as to how to accomplish it. Consequently, most try to quit with overly simplistic approaches. When they fail, due to an inadequate plan, they heap guilt and shame upon themselves. But don’t be discouraged by previous failures to quit. The more times you begin the quitting process, the more energy you put toward the goal of becoming a nonsmoker and the more likely you are to eventually achieve that goal. If a person really wants to stop, he or she will usually succeed sooner or later; if not this time, then the next time or the next after that. 2. Choose the right method. Though there are many different approaches to quitting, we’ll cover the two basic methods—cold turkey and gradual withdrawal. The others are merely variations of these two. Read each one carefully and decide which one will work best for you. Each method has its pros and cons but the one you select can be a determining factor in your success.

Cold Turkey Method

The cold turkey method requires you to simply stop smoking. You choose which cigarette will be your last, and then follow through, no matter how uncomfortable it gets. Advantages: The sooner you quit, the sooner the cravings for a cigarette go away. Instead of giving your body continued doses of nicotine, you force it to begin healing right away. The psychological need for cigarettes goes away quickly because nicotine is completely eliminated from the body within a few days and most of the craving will be gone within a few weeks. The cold turkey method allows you to experience immediate physical and psychological rewards. It’s an easy method to implement because you, simply stop—completely and at once. It reduces the opportunity for excuses by eliminating the physiological need as quickly as possible, while the rapid removal of the conflict provides less time to escape. In other words, you can no longer justify your smoking today by telling yourself that you will quit, someday. You just don’t ever allow yourself another cigarette—EVER! Disadvantages: The main advantage, its suddenness, can also be a disadvantage. Its greater visibility puts everyone’s eye on you. Your colleagues at work who smoke notice instantly that you’ve quit. They bring attention to it and then you begin to focus on your cravings and discomfort from withdrawal as well. High levels of discomfort can undermine your resolve, while the all-or-nothing nature of the cold turkey method means that a single cigarette can ruin the entire effort. Who should use the cold turkey method?: If you suffer from extreme withdrawal symptoms, such as irritability, impatience, tension, and insomnia; if your mind works overtime coming up with rationales to continue smoking; if you procrastinate, tend to avoid problems, or have difficulty controlling your behavior without a direct challenge or explicit command, you would benefit most from the cold turkey method.

The Gradual Withdrawal Method

The gradual withdrawal method calls for regulated and decreased nicotine consumption over a specific period of time. You slowly decrease the amount of cigarettes you smoke and eventually, you stop. Advantages: It avoids the abruptness of the cold turkey method and the possibly severe withdrawal symptoms accompanying it. Less social pressure is involved as others won’t be as aware of a cutback as they would of a cutoff. A slip won’t destroy your entire quitting effort; it will only make the process longer. It minimizes the withdrawal symptoms because it still provides a small amount of nicotine. It also lessons the motivation to generate excuses—the quitter is more likely to continue the effort and less likely to engage in escapist behaviors. Disadvantages: It demands more time, effort and commitment than cold turkey. Taking longer to eliminate the nicotine from your system delays the physical and psychological rewards of not smoking. Drawing out the process may make it more difficult to maintain your resolution to quit. Who should use gradual withdrawal?: If you suffer from extreme anxiety, feel stressed out and overwhelmed at the thought of quitting; if conflict or motives exist, such as health versus personal appearance because you fear gaining weight; if you believe that pressure from others is responsible for you beginning or continuing smoking; if you rationalize your smoking or engage in wishful thinking, denial or take a fatalistic attitude toward smoking, you would benefit most from the gradual withdrawal method. 3. Choose the right starting time. Smokers usually quit when they feel like it, but poor preparation and haphazard timing can otherwise ruin a well-motivated effort. Improve your chances by thoughtfully selecting a starting time that can help you avoid or reduce potential barriers, particularly during the crucial early days. There are three types of starting times: 1) extended breaks;, 2) special events; and 3) specific target dates. An extended break, such as a vacation, a long weekend or holiday is an extremely good time to begin. The extended break assists you to establish a number of non-smoking days and to get past the worst part of withdrawal while in a non-stressful atmosphere. The social pressure to smoke and the sights and smells of others smoking are temporarily gone. Having committed yourself to quit during this break, procrastination and other escapist behavior become much more difficult to rationalize. A special event, such as graduation from school, marriage, birth of a child, job promotion or retirement, can provide you with enough extra motivation to sustain the desire to quit over the desire to smoke. Specific target dates such as birthdays, New Year’s or another holiday, or any other specific date, help increase motivation, filter out excuses and control escapist behavior. 4. Be prepared for the tough stuff– the pleasure/pain cycle, erroneous rationales, and escapist behavior. Learn to recognize the three key factors that make quitting harder and you may be able to avoid a relapse.

The pleasure/pain cycle

Take a look at the benefits and pleasure you believe you get from smoking. In virtually every case, the perceived pleasure or benefit derives primarily from relieving and reducing your acquired physiological need for nicotine. In other words, you smoke the cigarette to relieve the discomfort caused by your addiction to cigarettes. You smoke the cigarette to fix what the cigarette has caused. It is important to break this cycle. Smoking is a very real and treacherous addiction—it is critically important to recognize and acknowledge this. Enduring the short-term discomfort of quitting is far better than prolonging the constant pleasure/pain cycle of nicotine addiction.

Erroneous rationales

When caught in the throes of a nicotine craving, it can be very easy to forget why you wanted to stop in the first place. We must recognize how—at those moments—we ignore certain truths. We easily intellectualize, justify, explain away and make allowances for behavior that is detrimental to our well-being. It is important to understand how we rationalize our negative behaviors. Otherwise we continue those negative behaviors and never change them. Here are the key ways in which we justify smoking: • A lack of knowledge or misconceptions about smoking, including denying or diminishing the dangers of smoking • Denying the personal relevance or ability to quit • Denying the necessity of quitting • Philosophizing, intellectualizing, and advancing irrelevant arguments.,

Escapist behavior

Escapist behavior encompasses five patterns: procrastination, wishful thinking, regression, blaming others and repression. Procrastination is a very effective escape route. A clever smoker can come up with enough excuses to put off quitting for years, even forever, fooling himself into believing that he is going to quit ... tomorrow. Smokers indulging in wishful thinking live in a fantasy world where none of nicotine’s adverse effects will happen to them, or if it does, those effects will be minimal or easily reversed. While that’s always possible, it’s not likely. Wishful thinking is unrealistic and escapist in nature, like the ostrich refusing to see things as they are by sticking its head in the sand. Regression enables the smoker to get around the inconsistency between his knowledge of the dangers of smoking and his continued smoking by simply refusing to deal with it. This is accomplished by regression to childish or inappropriate behavior and attitudes, such as becoming overly emotional, swearing, and screaming at people who raise the smoking issue. Blaming others is an avoidance tactic. Many people began smoking not as a result of an informed decision but as a consequence of interpersonal relationships and peer pressure. Quitting is frequently made even more difficult because of lack of support from other people. Blaming others enables the smoker to disclaim responsibility while clouding the issue of a solution to the problem. Repression is quite simply not viewing smoking as a problem. This deliberate behavior enables the smoker to avoid conflict and the necessity of making excuses, blaming others, or indulging in wishful thinking. 5. Start a smoking log. Buy a small notebook, approximately the size of a pack of cigarettes. This will be your daily smoking log. Keep this log with your cigarettes and begin immediately to keep an accurate record of your smoking behavior—this means every cigarette you smoke. Note the time you smoke of each one and the situation. For example, “7AM cigarette with morning coffee, 7:30 cigarette while getting dressed.” And so on. For the first week, do not change your present smoking behavior; an accurate record will create awareness about the way you smoke and what each cigarette means to you. Later, the log will provide feedback about your progress. 6. Use a journal. In addition to your daily smoking log, buy a larger notebook to use as a journal. This is a personal record of your goals, rules, accomplishments and observations of events occurring in your quitting program. Write your reasons for quitting in your journal for later reference when you have the urge to smoke. If you notice yourself feeling deprived and becoming angry, blow off steam in the journal, but be sure to work the anger through and turn it around to positive thought. 7. Identify your conditioned smoking triggers., Use your daily smoking log to identify your conditioned smoking triggers. Many people begin smoking again because they succumb to a conditioned trigger that has caught them unawares, bringing the craving and urge back in full force. This can happen after months or even years of not smoking if the person has not learned to identify and eliminate the conditioned triggers from his life. As you break each trigger, remain at that level for a few days until you have incorporated the new behavior into your life and feel comfortable with it. You won’t feel overwhelming craving and anxiety because you know you’ll have a cigarette soon, but don’t compensate by smoking an additional cigarette later. Be careful not to establish new triggers while eliminating the old ones. Do not avoid the trigger situation; you must encounter the trigger and render it ineffective by not smoking. Making gradual changes in your behavior and consolidating them at each step before moving on to another step, can painlessly eliminate these triggers.

Tips 8 through 13 deal specifically with the cold

turkey method but people who have chosen the gradual withdrawal program will find them useful as well. 8. Create contingency plans– don’t be caught off guard. Contingency plans help you deal with the factors that make quitting harder: the pleasure/pain cycle, erroneous rationales, escapist behavior and conditioned smoking triggers. Before you quit, know how you will act in certain situations, personal and social: how you handle obsessive cravings when they strike; what your personal quitting schedule calls for. Choose those strategies you will integrate with your method and write them in your journal. Decide to stick to them, and when these difficulties strike, follow your contingency plan. 9. Educate yourself about the psychological effects of nicotine. Educate yourself about the psychological effects of nicotine on the body. The more familiar you are with what nicotine is and what it does, the better equipped you will be to withstand its wiles and the better your chance of success. Many public health organizations, such as the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association, offer free educational materials. Do some research at your public library. Ask your doctor for additional information. Talk to friends who have successfully quit. 10. Begin taking megadoses of vitamin C. Large amounts of vitamin C will quickly detoxify your body during the nicotine elimination period. You may prefer to use the crystallized form of vitamin C rather than swallowing several tablets. Take 4,000mg every two to four hours; do this for at least one week. If this causes diarrhea, cut dosage in half but continue frequency of doses., 11. Reward your efforts with positive reinforcement. Be kind to yourself during the withdrawal process. Do some of the things you have always wanted to do but never had the time or money for. You’ll have more money now that you don’t smoke, and more time at your disposal, so indulge yourself. Cigarettes cost about $4.50 a pack. If you smoke half a pack a day and you quit, you could save $821.25 a year. If you smoke one pack a day and quit, you could save $1642.50 a year. Two packs: $3285. Reward your efforts with positive reinforcement. Get a massage. Go to the country for the weekend and stay at a bed & breakfast. Purchase that new compact disk, and run a bubble bath. The possibilities are endless. Put the money you would have spent on cigarettes into a savings account. Instead of seeing your money go up in smoke, you will be getting wealthier and enjoying it more while becoming healthier and wiser. 12. Begin to notice how good you feel. With each new day you will be feeling better and better. Notice how much easier breathing has become; smell the scents in the air you couldn’t smell before. Visualize your lungs becoming clearer and pinker each day. Concentrate on the good feelings and congratulate yourself on your new nonsmoking behavior as you revel in your new freedom from cigarettes. 13. Develop a support team. If you know someone who is also in the process of quitting, you can give each other mutual support. Call this person for support when the urge to smoke seems overwhelming. Be available for them to call you; assisting someone else to overcome their craving can help you overcome your own. Explain to those close to you what you are trying to accomplish; those who care about you will be helpful, supportive and happy that you are engaged in such a positive endeavor. But not everyone will be supportive. Nonsmokers who don’t understand what you are going through may wonder why you need extra emotional support. People who have tried to quit and failed may tell you horror stories about their failures. If possible, try to avoid these people. Be prepared to encounter them, but do not use them as an excuse for your own actions. 14. Develop alternative behaviors. When you feel the urge to smoke, try counting down from 100 to 1. Take a shower or go for a walk. Instead of sitting in your favorite chair where you always smoke while reading or watching TV, try sitting in a different chair. Or move your chair to a different location and don’t smoke there. Do not use food as an alternative to smoking, however. Chew some ice; it contains no calories and will keep your mouth busy. Drink a cup of herbal tea. Keep low-calorie nibbles around, like carrot or celery sticks. Take up a hobby, such as knitting—it’ll keep your hands busy. Pay more attention to your hands; massage cream into them and manicure your nails. Or try sketching, doodling or writing in your journal. Be creative in your alternatives. 15. Learn to relax without a cigarette., Many smoke for the sake of relaxation but there are several relaxation strategies available that can relax you without the need of a cigarette. Deep breathing is an easy one that will both relax you and oxygenate your body and mind at the same time. Yoga, progressive body relaxation, and massages are also easy and effective relaxation techniques. It’s hard work, but if you can utilize these relaxation techniques when you feel a craving coming on, it will pass with less discomfort. 16. Exercise! If you don’t already engage in regular daily physical exercise, start now. It’s hard to smoke while you’re exercising. Vigorous daily exercise increases levels of the neurotransmitters as well as endorphins, the body’s natural opiates, and will make it easier for you to relax more completely. The oxygen flooding through your system will help detoxify your system more quickly as well. Also, mood swings will stabilize and you won’t feel as depressed. Your self-image and self-esteem will improve and you won’t want to damage your body with cigarettes any longer. 17. Change your eating habits. Eliminate all sweets from your diet. If you are not accustomed to eating breakfast, begin doing so now. At the very least, begin your day with a protein drink you can make in your blender. Regular, balanced meals with lots of complex carbohydrates, concentrating on whole grains, vegetables and fruits, will level out your blood sugar. Hunger is accompanied by low blood sugar, and can act as a trigger for a cigarette. Smoking a cigarette raises your blood sugar, taking away the hunger. This is why many people gain weight when they quit smoking; they substitute eating, usually sweets, in an effort to keep their blood sugar levels up. Avoid caffeine and alcohol, which are serious triggers. Increase your calcium intake—it will act as a natural relaxant. Take a multiple vitamin and mineral supplement. Increase your water intake; it will help flush the nicotine from your system. Drink at least 64 ounces of water a day. 18. Develop your spirituality. Become more aware of your spiritual nature. This is a technique that has proven very successful in such programs as Alcoholics Anonymous. When your other techniques seem to be not quite enough, turn to your higher power or your higher self for assistance. 19. Switch cigarette brand and types. Change your brand of cigarettes. Decrease the tar and nicotine content by switching to one with lower contents of these agents, but do not increase your overall cigarette consumption. If you currently smoke a cigarette very high in tar and nicotine, acclimate yourself to the next lower level for a few days, then begin eliminating them. Switch down again until you are smoking the lowest tar and nicotine cigarette available while continuing to eliminate them—cigarette by cigarette, trigger by trigger. If you smoke a menthol cigarette, switch to non-menthol and vice versa. If you smoke a non-filter, switch to a filter, but do not switch from a filter to a non-filter. Smoke with the non-, dominant hand. If you use a lighter, switch to using matches, then keep the cigarette and matches in separate locations. 20. Condition an aversion to cigarettes. Each day empty your cigarette butts into a large jar and cover them with water. Do not throw the jar away when you reach the target date. Instead, when you feel like lighting a cigarette, open the jar and take a deep sniff. 21. Finally, eliminate cigarettes. You are now ready to eliminate the last cigarette comfortably. Schedule the following activities for a time immediately after you quit: Clean your house thoroughly or have a cleaning crew come in and do it. Smoke lingers in drapes and carpeting, so have them thoroughly cleaned as well. Clean the inside of your car. Throw away all smoking paraphernalia—matches, lighters, ashtrays. Make an appointment to visit your dentist to have your teeth cleaned. 22. Use self-hypnosis Daily use of self-hypnosis mind programming will support your goal of stopping smoking. The final chapter tells you how.

Stop Smoking Summary

1. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. 2. Choose the right method: the cold turkey method or the gradual withdrawal method. 3. Choose the right starting time: extended breaks, special events or specific target dates. 4. Be prepared for the tough stuff—the pleasure/pain cycle, erroneous rationales & escapist behavior. 5. Start a smoking log. 6. Use a journal. 7. Identify your conditioned smoking triggers. 8. Create contingency plans—don’t be caught off guard. 9. Educate yourself about the psychological effects of nicotine. 10. Begin taking megadoses of vitamin C. 11. Reward your efforts with positive reinforcement. 12. Begin to notice how good you feel. 13. Develop a support team. 14. Develop alternative behaviors. 15. Learn to relax without a cigarette., 16. Exercise! 17. Change your eating habits. 18. Develop your spirituality. 19. Switch cigarette brand and types. 20. Condition an aversion to cigarettes. 21. Finally, eliminate cigarettes. • Affirmations • The final chapter explains how to use the following affirmations as self-talk and how to include them in a self-hypnosis format for daily mind programming. “I now set a target date and on that date I will stop smoking forever.” “Every day, up to my target date, I smoke fewer and fewer cigarettes.” “Cigarettes disgust me. I no longer want to smoke. Every day, I smoke less and less.” “I now stop smoking.” “By quitting, I feel better mentally and physically.” “I successfully focus on overcoming my smoking habit, replacing it with desirable new behavior patterns.” “I have the willpower to do anything I desire to do.” “I crave cigarettes less and less. The urge to smoke is leaving me... the urge to smoke is now gone.” “I am now a nonsmoker.”]

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