The problem with smoking is not quitting the first time: It is staying off cigarettes once you have decided to quit. Because a "relapse" occurs at the exact moment in which you make a mistake and pick up a cigarette again, quitting can be daunting. There are, however, many tried-and-true methods that can help you get through the daily grind of changing your habits until you no longer desire a cigarette. Below are four great ways to avoid a smoking relapse.
- Change your social circle - If you hang out with people who smoke, or even people who you were around when you were smoking, your mind will always be unconsciously reminded of a cigarette when they are around. Change your social circle and include nonsmokers. These people will have new habits that will shake your brain out of its old ways. Once you have gone long enough without forming a habit that include cigarettes, your brain will assume that's your normal state of being.
- Increase your physical activity - The more strenuous the physical activity, the more that you will be able to avoid a smoking relapse. The body tends to relax itself after a focused physical effort; this is the same effect that you would receive from smoking a cigarette. This means that you do not have to smoke in order to achieve that relaxed effect. Physical activity, however, has an added benefit: It releases chemicals that naturally raise the state of the body into a much happier state. If you smoke cigarettes in order to relieve the stress of the day, you can replace smoking with exercise.
- Invest in nicotine replacement products - These products include everything from nicotine patches all the way to electronic cigarettes. Electronic cigarettes are a much healthier alternative if you do not feel that you can give up the action of smoking. They are, however, addictive in their own right and should not be considered a perfect alternative.
- Reward yourself for success - Most people begin to view life as a drag because they no longer have the crutch of a cigarette to lean on. The cigarette was the reward in their lives. If you simply remove all of the rewards and do not replace them with new rewards, there is not much of an incentive to continue along that path for very long. Give yourself new rewards so you can still have something to look forward to every day.
