5 Ways to Get Over Your Smoking Addiction

Smoking is bad for your health. According to Cancer Research UK, smoking causes around 7 in 10 lung cancer cases in the United Kingdom. Nicotine, a primary component of cigarettes, also has serious effects on your heart, reproductive system, lung and kidney, and is highly addictive.

Everyone knows all about these things. The thing is, though, smokers will tell you it’s very hard to quit, especially when you’ve gotten into the habit for years. But don’t lose all hope. There are, after all, success stories. Kicking the habit, while difficult, in short, is not at all impossible. In this article, let’s look at five ways you can get over that smoking addiction.

Try Vaping

Vaping may be the first baby steps to quitting smoking. You might ask, is vaping addictive? It depends. If you’re vaping nicotine, then that’s obviously addictive. But if yours is a non-nicotine vape, then all is well.

However, if you’re going to start vaping it’s important that you choose a recommended vape shop and buy a good vape. To help you transition, here is a list of the best starter vape kits.

Make sure you regulate yourself still, though, and keep your vaping sessions to a minimum. Your ultimate goal is this: to kick that smoking habit but without acquiring another habit, if you know what I mean. 

Take it One Day at a Time

If you’re a chain smoker and you’ve resolved to kick the habit, don’t even try to quit smoking in its entirety the day after. If you do this, you might just feel anxious and end up smoking even more for the day. The key is to take things in stride.

For instance, if you smoked 10 cigarettes per day when you were a chain smoker, then try smoking only 8 on the day you make your pledge to quit. The day after, reduce that number to 6, the day after that to four, and so on until you reach zero per day.

You can set the number of cigarettes you’re allowed to smoke daily. Just make sure you make some progress every day.

Involve Your Loved Ones in the Process

Let’s face it. Sometimes, sheer willpower is just not enough. A habit is a habit, and forcing yourself on your own to stop doing what you’ve been so used to doing can be quite the impossible task. 

This is where your loved ones can come in. You can involve them in your process so they’ll know how to deal with you once you get the urge to go back to the “dark side” (trust me, you will get that urge).

Gather all of them in a place (or use Skype, whichever works for you) and make a pledge to quit smoking in front of them. After your plea for help, you can be assured every time you’re with them and you feel the urge to whip out that cigarette and take a puff, they’ll do everything in their power to stop you.

Remember, no man is an island, especially when you’re trying to quit a habit you love. 

Talk to Smokers Who Made It

Quitting smoking can be hard for you if you think you’re alone in your fight, even if you’re transitioning through vaping because vaping tobacco can be addictive. That’s why talking to people who have gone through the same difficult process but have made it can help.

You can talk to friends you know were chain smokers but have been nicotine-free since. Or join support groups, chat rooms and clubs online. When you talk to people who have been there and done that, the process of quitting can be made much easier.

Consider this encouraging stat. According to Health.com, group counselling can actually increase your chance of quitting smoking by a whopping 30 percent. 

Keep Yourself Busy

Sometimes, smokers smoke because, well, they have nothing else to do. So, to prevent you from taking a puff of that cigarette, never let yourself have some idle time.

If you’re done with work for the office, why not try cleaning the entire house or cooking? How about binge watching your favourite series on Netflix, or getting a hobby such as drawing, knitting or painting? 

The goal is to keep yourself occupied, you end up forgetting you want to smoke. You can never run out of things to do, trust me. It’s just a matter of really, really looking.

Wrapping Up

Although quitting smoking is really hard, it’s not impossible. Just look at the number of success stories out there. It may have taken them years, but they’ve reached the point of no return.

You can do that, too. Just have that resolve to quit, create your own plan and stick to it. Remember that the ultimate goal is to live a healthy, productive and successful life. And if you make this your reason for being every single day, there’s no reason you can’t have that inspiration to kick that bad habit once and for all.