Tag: cessation

Go around your house, car, workplace, and other places you have stored tobacco products. Gather all your tobacco, lighters, matches, and other items related to your habit. Don’t forget to check your coats, purses, and drawers.

If you have quit, throw these products away. Seeing these items will not be helpful to staying quit. If you are still working on quitting, having all these items out of sight will also reduce the unhelpful reminders of your habits. You will be more ready for the day you quit completely.

It can be easy to stay in the day-to-day of our lives. Looking ahead can help you see further down the road at where you are headed. Think about how you picture the next year of your life and answer the questions below:

*  Who are the important people in your life?

*  Where do you live?

*  What are you working on?

*  What is the most important thing in your life?

*  At the end of one year, will you be using tobacco/nicotine?

Now, jump ahead 10 years. Ask yourself the same questions. Imagine how you want your life to be. Be realistic and think about where the things you are working on now may take you.

*  Who are the important people in your life?

*  Where do you live?

*  What are you working on?

*  What is the most important thing in your life?

*  In 10 years, how will you think of tobacco/nicotine?

This section gave you more strategies to add to your quitting toolbox. By knowing more about yourself and what may trip you up, you can be more prepared to succeed when challenges arise. Taking a whole-body approach to quitting by adding exercise and healthy eating to your quit plan can also help you quit for good.

*  Answer these questions as you review this section.

*  What are your top 3 relapse triggers you will prepare for?

*  What other lifestyle changes are you making to help improve your success with quitting?

Deciding to make a change and taking the steps to succeed will take some of your time. It’s an investment that will pay off down the road-it is worth it to take the time to plan and execute change.

First, think of “time” management as “me” management. Time continues on, no matter how much we want it to slow down or speed up sometimes. The one thing you can work on is how you manage yourself given the time that you have.

Look at how you currently spend your time. Get a piece of paper and write down how you spend each half hour of your day. A lot of this time may be sleeping or working, but there are probably blocks of time you have some flexibility (even if they are small).

Think of quitting as a high-priority project that you would schedule into your day. Identify two 15-minute blocks of time that you could spend planning your day and what you are going to do when you have an urge. Try to make at least one of these blocks of time early in the day, as this will set the tone for the rest of your day.

If you are having trouble finding a 15-minute block of time, look for the ‘low-hanging fruit’ in your day- time you spend doing things that are relatively mindless and don’t take a lot of thought. This could be when you are usually looking at your phone, watching TV, or walking the dog. Your dog will still need a walk, but this could be time you think through what you want the rest of your day to look like.

Think about tomorrow-when can you spend 15 minutes reviewing the guide or thinking through your goals?

Start with changing how you react to minor annoyances, like traffic or a chatty co-worker. Work to reduce the number of things that push your buttons. It is not the event itself that determines your feelings-it is what you tell yourself about it. You may have some truly big, serious stressors in your life. Avoid piling the little things on top.

“Men are not disturbed by things, but by the views they take of them.”  – Epictetus

Let’s pretend you got stuck in a traffic jam on the way to work today. You feel angry and upset. But it is not the traffic jam that makes you upset. It is what you tell yourself that upsets you: “I’m going to be late for work.” “I have so much to do.” “This is such a waste of time.”

You cannot change the fact that you are stuck in traffic. Getting angry serves no purpose. If you can look at the delay as a minor problem that you can’t control, rather than a major event, you will feel much better. When your mind stays calm, you may even see ways around the issue, like taking another route or using hands-free calling to join a meeting you’re running late for.

Your outlook on quitting is also very important. If you tell yourself that quitting will be awful, chances are the process will be as bad as you think. If you accept the fact that you will have urges, but nothing you can’t handle, you will have an easier time quitting. Focus on what is gained from quitting, not on what is being lost or the minor discomfort along the way.

Thinking Differently

You can change how you think, feel, and react to any event. The ABCDE model can help you do this.

Activating Event:An event that triggers thoughts and feelings. Example – “I am trying to quit smoking and this event is making me anxious.”

Belief:What you think or say to yourself about the activating event. Examples – “I just can’t quit.” “I don’t have any willpower.”

Consequence:How you feel in response to your beliefs. Examples – “I feel discouraged.” “I feel embarrassed and defeated.”

Dispute:Question your earlier beliefs. Examples – “Wait a minute here, I can do hard things!” “I don’t need to rely on willpower to quit. I can apply skills I’m learning in QuitWell™.”

Effect:How you feel after you dispute your earlier beliefs. Examples – “I can succeed.” “I feel my actions are within my control.” “I can handle this.”

Keeping your motivation and values in mind is a great way to encourage yourself when quitting gets tough. Look for ways to connect your motivation and values to your attitude and actions.

How do your attitudes and actions show what is important to you? If you feel there is a mismatch, it might be time for a new point of view!

Old view:Quitting is going to be horrible. I like to do what I want, when I want.

New view:I value time with my family and want to be a good role model for my kids. It will be awesome to enjoy family time without the interruption of smoke breaks. I can model healthy behavior for my kids.

Anytime you are given a reward for something you do, chances are you will do it again. For example: If a person popped out and handed you a $100 bill each time you walked around the block, you would take a lot of walks.

The more rewards you get for quitting (from yourself and others), the more likely you will be successful.

Ciggy Bank

Take a jar and place it next to your “Butt Bottle.” Each day put the amount of money you would have used to buy tobacco in the jar. Write a reward you might buy with the money. Past QuitWell™ participants have taken vacations with their family, bought tickets to sporting events and concerts, and even bought a boat with the savings from quitting.

The Little Things

Give yourself a reward each day that you are successful. Choose things and activities that bring you joy. They don’t have to cost money.

*  Buy or pick flowers

*  Picnic in the park

*  Call an old friend

*  Take your car to the carwash

*  Rent or stream a movie

Creative imagination is the acting out of an event or activity in your mind before it really happens. It allows you to work through the event or activity ahead of time so that you will be better prepared to deal with it. Many athletes practice an upcoming game in their heads before stepping onto the playing field.

A study was done to compare “creative imagination” to actual practice with a group of basketball players. Three groups of students were used.

*Group 1– Practiced making free throws every day for 20 days.

*Group 2– Threw the ball on the 1st and 20th days, but did not practice in between.

*Group 3– Threw free throws on the first day and then spent 20 minutes a day for the next 20 days imagining that they were throwing the ball. If they missed, they had to imagine changing their aim.

On the 20th day:

*  Group 1 – Improved their scores by 24%

*  Group 2 – No improvement

*  Group 3 – Improved their scores by 23% by using creative imagination

Mental practice can help you change your feelings about day-to-day events. Picture yourself succeeding with your goals and getting through trigger situations. The power of your mind to change what you imagine to be real is vast; all it takes is a little thinking and practice.

What would you like to imagine doing differently? Picture yourself doing things the way you want. Repeat this practice every day for at least 2 weeks.

Start to plan your response to slip-ups even before you have fully quit. Slip-ups are very common, especially in the first few weeks of trying to be tobacco/nicotine free. A slip-up is also called a ‘lapse’. The better you manage a lapse, the easier it will be to avoid full relapse. Relapse refers to going back to a regular habit of using tobacco/nicotine products.

No one is perfect. Try not to view the slip-up as a failure of willpower or strength. Remember, you are so strong.

Become hyper-aware of what just happened. It is important to understand the triggers related to a slip-up.

*  Where are you? Is this place still a trigger for you? If possible, try to avoid this area for now. Or, make sure you have substitutes handy, like NRT gum or cinnamon candies.

*  Who are you with? How can this person support you in the future?

*  How are you feeling? Learn to separate your emotional response from situations and feelings. Smoking/chewing won’t change anything about the situation.

What do you need to work on so that you can respond differently next time? Review the urge tamers, call your support person, or give your mind a quiet moment to really answer the question.

How do you want this situation to go next time? Imagine responding differently to the trigger. Use the creative imagination exercise. See yourself doing what you want to do.