Aids To Will Power

Carry Your Smokes

That doesn't sound too smart when you first think about it. What a temptation to carry around! Usually when someone tries to quit, the first thing you think about seems to be throwing away all of your smokes. Didn't work did it? All Of a sudden you realized that you were out there all alone with all of that stress and no smokes on hand.

Your first thought is how can I get a smoke? It strikes terror in your heart and leaves a deep longing in your lungs. Well stop here for now and you can go have a smoke and we'll talk about that a bit more when you come back.

Back already? The unopened pack of smokes is a weapon you can use to overcome your habit. You will always know that you do have a smoke at hand. If you are overcome with the need for a smoke, you can whip out that pack, rip off the top and fire up a smoke. Anytime. At the start you have to talk yourself out of doing that an hour at a time. After a couple of days that temptation won't arise so often.

You just have to tell yourself that you have it covered if things get desparate enough, but you are not going to weaken and do that. Get a new pack of your usual brand, and a pack of matches. Put that pack and the matches where you usually keep your smokes, in your shirt pocket, purse, or coat.

If one of your friends should happen to ask for a light oblige him, and keep mum. If they ask for a smoke you are going to have to tell them about your pack of smokes. Whatever you do don't rip off the top of that pack of smokes or they will be gone in a flash.

They will no longer be your weapon, but ammunition for the enemy, your habit. You will find that although that pack of smokes you carry around is a temptation, it is also a comfort. Imagine walking along a steel beam high in the air. You are wearing a safety harness but the harness does nothing for your balance. You have rely on the same skill you would rely on without the harness, but you know that if you should fall the harness will catch you. Your pack of smokes is your safety harness. With care you will never need them, but if you happen to fall they are there.

When you have a desire for a smoke suck on a hard candy, or chew a piece of gum until the urge passes. For the first 3 days or so you will have an urge to smoke pretty often, so stock up on plenty of hard candy and gum. You will find that after 3 or 4 days that the urge for a smoke will become less urgent, and they will come less often. That is because after 3 days most of the nicotine has been flushed out of your body. The remaining urge is just from the habit. After 3 weeks or so the habit will begin to fade as well.

Click here to return to the previous page | Quit Smoking Directory