Certainly Not Made For Each Other- Avoiding Temptation To Smoke Again
You have finally quit your smoking habit!
Congratulations on a Herculean accomplishment! You have weathered the
physical withdrawals, the psychological temptations, and all the
anxiety, mood swings, as well as the minefield of rationalizations why
just one cigarette could not possibly hurt you. Of course, you know that
you are not yet out of the woods, after all, as they saying goes, today
is the first day of the rest of your life, and you are hoping to make it
a smoke-free life. How can you go about avoiding temptation to smoke
again?
While there is no easy answer to this question, there are
a lot of suggestions that will make temptations more
avoidable or at least manageable if avoidance if impossible.
A) Avoid people who seek to entice you to smoke. For some reason, once in a
while you will encounter a friend or family member who will treat your
smoking cessation as a big joke, and who will either make a point of
lighting up in your presence or in the alternative will wave a pack of
cigarettes under your nose, all but lighting one up for you. She or he
will rationalize that just one for old times? sake will hardly hurt and
that you have proven you could quit any time. Avoid this person as much
as you can. Obviously, you should not skip Thanksgiving dinner to avoid
her or him, but it would be good to have a buffer between you and that
person. In case of a friend who does this to you, perhaps you will need
to reevaluate your friendship with this person. Of course, the longer
you have been smoke-free, the easier it gets to handle this temptation,
and at some point you can just laugh in the person?s face and get on
with the social situation you are in. Until you get there, however, it
is best to avoid the person.
B) Avoid situations and locations that tempt you to smoke. The favorite
watering hole down the block may have a wonderful ambience, but if it the
smoke inside is so thick that you can cut it with a knife, it may not be
conducive to your effort to remain smoke-free. Find a new haunt that may
actually be nicer than your old one! You will also be able to make new
friends, and pretty soon you will no longer associate going down to watch
the game on Monday night with smoking. Once you get to that point, even a
visit to the old watering hole will present only a small temptation that
you will be able to resist much easier. While locations may be easy to avoid,
situations may not. If you work for a company where smoking on the premises or on
the job is permitted, you will need to employ all of your willpower to
overcome the temptations when you are faced with smoking coworkers. If
this situation cannot be avoided, be sure to come prepared with hard
candy, sunflower seeds, peanuts or pistachios in the shell, or some
sugarless gum.
C) Avoid rationalizations such as ?one cigarette
won?t kill me.? It may not kill you, but the slippery slope of
rationalization will lead to further lapses in your resolve to remain
smoke-free for life. In the same way that you would not suggest to an
alcoholic to have just one drink for old times? sake or for the road,
you should not rationalize that just one cigarette for yourself is a
good idea. It will make turning down the second and third cigarette just
that much harder. Another more insidious rationalization is the idea
that smoking while not buying cigarettes is different from being a
smoker. Whether you buy or bum, if you stick the cigarettes in your
mouth and light them, you are a smoker.
As you can see, it is hard to quit, and it is hard to remain smoke-free for life.
Yet while it may be hard, it is entirely doable, and if you continue on the strength
of your convictions, you will be able to make it through even the rough
times. Should you, against the odds, give in to temptation, remember
that a slip or lapse in judgment does not mean you have permanently
fallen off the wagon. As a matter of fact, this is a good time to review
the reasons why you quit smoking in the first place, revisit the
benefits of smoking cessation, and reward yourself for success!