Tips for creating your personal stop smoking plan

Designing your personal game plan
Tailoring a personal game plan to your specific needs and desires can be a big help. A good place to start is with the online guide from smokefree.gov. They recommend thinking about why you want to quit and then writing down all your reasons. The site goes on to give you helpful tips and options. Some of your choices include: quitting smoking cold turkey, systematically decreasing the number of cigarettes you smoke, reducing your intake of nicotine gradually over time, using nicotine replacement therapy or non-nicotine medications to reduce withdrawal symptoms, utilizing nicotine support groups, trying hypnosis, acupuncture, or counseling using cognitive behavioral techniques.
Questions to ask yourself
To successfully detach from smoking, you will need to identify and address your smoking habits, the true nature of your dependency, and the techniques that work for you. These types of questions can help:
· Do you feel the need to smoke at every meal?
· Are you more of a social smoker?
· Is it a very bad addiction (more than a pack a day)? Or would a simple nicotine patch do the job?
· Is your cigarette smoking linked to other addictions?
· Are you open to hypnosis therapy and acupuncture?
· Are you someone who is open to talking about your addiction?
· Are you interested in getting into a fitness program?
Take the time to think of what kind of smoker you are, which moments of your life call for a cigarette, and why. This will help you to identify which tips, techniques or therapies may be most beneficial for you.
Stop smoking plan (START)
S = Set a quit date.
T = Tell family, friends, and co-workers that you plan to quit.
A = Anticipate and plan for the challenges you'll face while quitting.
R = Remove cigarettes and other tobacco products from your home, car, and work.
T = Talk to your doctor about getting help to quit.
For a more info see the Surgeon General’s Tobacco Cessation Help Pages
How Jerry quit
Jerry kicked a 1/2 pack a day habit by reducing his intake, one cigarette at a time. First he cut out the morning cigarette that he always had with his coffee by substituting a warm cinnamon bun. After two weeks he dropped the mid-morning cigarette break. Then every other week he dropped another scheduled smoke time until he was totally smoke-free. Because he weaned himself off the nicotine so slowly he was able to quit without feeling any severe withdrawal symptoms.
Laura’s motivation to stop smoking
Laura smoked more than a pack a day for 10 years. She had tried quitting a few times over the years but always ended up retrieving the crumpled cigarette pack from the wastepaper basket. Nothing seemed to work until the day she got the jolt of her life; her doctor told her she had cancer. This event forced her to take stock of her life and started her on the path to quitting again. That was three years ago and she hasn’t lit up since. When you ask her how she did it, she’ll tell you it was sheer willpower and the support of family and friends.
Fear is a powerful motivator but you don’t have to wait until something frightening happens to stop smoking.