Stick With It When Trying to Quit Smoking

Nicotine, as most people know, is a drug with highly addictive properties. It takes very little time for the body to get addicted to it, and the addiction is very difficult break, as any smoker will tell you. For this reason alone it can be very difficult to quit smoking, but to complicate matters, smoking also has a social element that other addictions lack. Because smoking is both legal and in many situations socially acceptable, it is an extremely hard thing to get away from completely, and many smokers have a very difficult time trying to quit smoking.

One of the reasons that quitting smoking is such a difficult task is that many studies show that the average smoker requires multiple attempts before they quit for good. Almost any smoker will tell you of times where they've quit for a period before taking the habit up again. Usually there is an excuse associated with beginning again: "I quit for 3 months" the smoker will say "but then I broke up with my girlfriend and started again."

The problem is that when you try and quit smoking, you are playing with your own sense of self-esteem. When you honestly say to yourself that you want to quit, and then you fail, it's hard not to think of yourself as a failure, and that much harder to try quitting again. This is why it's extremely important that you don't give up if you have a lapse while trying to quit smoking. Remind yourself that this is normal - that this is nothing to be ashamed of - and immediately try to quit again.

You do, however, have to be somewhat careful with this concept: taken to its extreme, it becomes easy to justify a lapse in your non-smoking whenever you choose. Be careful, therefore, to avoid this line of thinking: "all smokers need a few tries to quit, so I should start again now because I really want to."

Instead, you have to strike the right balance between understanding that a lapse in your attempt to quit smoking is all too common, while at the same time doing everything in your power to avoid this. You should never, ever, think of a lapse as part of the overall plan: don't think when you quit smoking that you're just going to quit "for a little while."

If and when you do break down and have a drag or a cigarette after you've quit, don't give up, and make sure that you immediately quit again. Far too many smokers quit for some time, have a bad night where they smoke some cigarettes, and then give up completely and start smoking again in earnest. Instead, if you lapse, remind yourself that it is normal, and is not an indication of overall failure. Stick with your plan to quit smoking, and most importantly: you should still think of yourself as non-smoker.

By understanding that an attempt to quit smoking is a long term process that requires a healthy dose of stick-to-itiveness, your chances for success are raised considerably.