Lets look at this exercise like a recipe, any good cook will tell you that a recipe can be completed without some of the ingredients called for, however the quality of the finished dish may not be up to par. With that in mind, lets explore what is needed to finally be successful at quitting smoking. The first and quit likely the most important ingredient is personal commitment, if you are not completely convinced that you want to quit smoking, your chances of complete and total success are limited, however if you are completely committed, your chances for success are greatly enhanced. You will need a full measure of self-discipline. - According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Self-discipline is defined as: Training and control of oneself and one's conduct, usually for personal improvement.
- Or according to WordNet 2.0, 2003 Princeton University it could be n 1: the trait of practicing self discipline [syn: self-denial] 2: the act of denying yourself; controlling your impulses [syn: self-denial, self-control]
Let's examine some of the parts of those descriptive terms a little more closely. - Is there training involved? You bet, you need to train yourself to not give in to the urge to light up, some will need to train themselves to do something with their hands.
- Is this really personal improvement? You decide, your overall health will be better, your risk of heart disease, cancer, and any number of other maladies is lowered, your senses of smell and taste will be greatly improved, and you wont look un-natural and ridiculous with a cigarette hanging from your mouth.
- How about self-denial? This is one of the toughest, actually being strong enough to deny and overcome the physical need for nicotine.
Next we will need a bushel of information. With all of the information available today, it really amazes me that people are still starting to smoke, but that is a different issue, we are cooking up a way to quit. The Internet is loaded with information on quitting smoking, it ranges from expert to downright false, and from free to expensive, Be sure to do plenty of research, quitting smoking for anyone does not have to involve spending money, however there are people who think they need help, so if you want to spend money to quit, the end result is what counts. Look around there are ebooks and reports, software, support groups, phone support, email support, and complete programs, some of these items are available at no cost other than your investment of time to find them. Now that we have all of the ingredients we can start to assemble the finished product, and just in case you forgot, the finished product is a smoke free you! So the plan or method is how we are going to get there. Pick a plan or method that you think you can succeed with, many smokers try and fail, try and fail, and then try and fail some more, before they finally taste the fruits of their labor. If they do the up front research, their chances of success are much greater. According to recent current research the most successful method of quitting for good is going Cold Turkey. Sounds really hard, this method does not cost anything, all you do to start is throw your cigarettes away. This is the method I choose, and believe me that last sentence made it sound way to easy, however I have not had a cigarette in over 20 years, so I guess it works. Lets review, our recipe is as follows. - Personal Commitment this is the most important part, if you do not truly want to quit your chances of success are diminished.
- Self Discipline Without the self-discipline to change old habits, deny yourself what you think is pleasure, and look forward to a much more rewarding life, this will be a really hard journey.
- Information You really cant have too much information, just be careful not get bogged down looking for info and not starting.
- Pick your Plan or Method Commit to the idea of finally quitting for good, be sure you keep the self-discipline handy; to overcome the temptations, and you will succeed.
What is the finished product, a smoke free, healthier you, who is more fun to be around! To Your Health Jim Newell |
