Part of getting ready to quit smoking also includes things like setting a specific quit date - whether you go “cold turkey” or engage in a gradual cessation, set a firm date that tells you exactly when you’ll become a non-smoker. Get a calendar and circle the date in red marking pen - or use some other method of setting that goal in your mind. Don’t say “I’m going to quit in 30 days.” Say “I’m going to quit smoking on June 15th.” Make it a specific, measurable goal.
The reasons for all this “nicotine backlash” are obvious - smoking represents such a health hazard, for smokers as well as those around them, that outlawing this habit is an obvious ultimate goal. Tobacco companies that once posed such a powerful threat at the federal government level have been hit by fines totaling billions of dollars over the past 20 years, and are resorting to expanding their overseas markets as the U.S. markets shrink.
Smoking has already been banned in federal offices, and many communities are copying that legislation with bans on local, city and state offices. Some communities are even attempting to pass laws that would forbid smoking in the privacy of one’s own home, although at present most of those laws are meeting with limited success.
Another amazing fact is how swiftly the body begins recovery once you quit smoking. Although quitting smoking after you’ve developed lung cancer or heart disease is a little like closing the barn door after the horses have run away, in reality it’s never to late to quit. Within 20 minutes of your last cigarette, your blood pressure decreases, your pulse rate drops and the temperature in your extremities (hands and feet) returns to normal levels. (Within 20 minutes!)
Added to the bad news is that nicotine is as addictive for some people as heroin or cocaine. Hence the reasons it can be so difficult to quit smoking - you’re actually kicking a drug habit - you can expect relapses and withdrawal symptoms just as when trying to kick a heroin addiction.
The bottom line? Smoking is bad for you. Is that a surprise to anyone? I don’t think so.
When you quit smoking, you need to change your daily routine that included cigarettes. For example, if you normally had a cup of coffee and a cigarette for breakfast, change that to a cup of tea and read the paper. Or check your email. Or have a healthy breakfast and a quick walk before you begin your daily tasks. Change the environment around you so that it doesn’t include time for smoking.
If you can address the stress in your life, it can help remove the reasons, or excuses, of why you feel the need to smoke. Perhaps you work at a job you really don’t like. Start making plans to change careers if that’s what it will take - investigate new employment options or educational opportunities that will have the ultimate goal of getting you into a position or job that appeals to you.