Not Yet Ready to Quit?

Home

Written by Tom Ferguson

Wednesday, 24 October 2007

After reviewing the key ingredients in successfully quitting smoking—your confidence, commitment, gains and losses, and timing — you may have decided that you’re not yet ready to quit. Here are suggested activities for each stage — healthy steps you can take to smoke less... After reviewing the key ingredients in successfully quitting smoking—your confidence, commitment, gains and losses, and timing — you may have decided that you’re not yet ready to quit. Here are suggested activities for each stage — healthy steps you can take to smoke less.
1 Stage One
You are concerned about your health.
• Pay attention to the role smoking plays in your life.
• Seek out opportunities to talk about smoking with others.
• Observe the ways nonsmokers respond to situations to which you respond by smoking.
• Observe other people who smoke carefully, paying special attention to the negative aspects of the habit.
• Smoke in front of a mirror, watching yourself closely from the fi rst puff to the last. What exactly is it that goes on when you smoke a cigarette?
2 Stage Two
You have decided that you will seek information about healthier alternatives.
• Read through one of the books in this booklet’s resource section, marking sections that seem especially useful to you and making notes in the blank pages at the back of the book or in a separate notebook.
• Seek out friends who have recently quit smoking. Ask them to describe how they did it.

Several times each day:
Think of yourself as a nonsmoker. Use the “Good Reasons” below to develop a clear image of yourself as a nonsmoker. Close your eyes. Imagine
how you will look, feel, smell, and taste as a nonsmoker.
• You’ll have fewer colds.
• Your shortness of breath and cough will decrease.
• You’ll have more spending money.
• You’ll have more energy and stamina.
• You and your house, hair, clothes, breath, and car will smell better.
• You’ll look better and healthier.
• You’ll have a new sense of control over your life.

Share this Article!