Some Unusual Quit Tips...Interesting

The first 72 hours of quitting smoking are most important.

Law of Addiction - Giving drugs to an addict causes addiction to return. This means that just one puff of nicotine can bring back your addiction

Set Rewards - Set goals for yourself and reward yourself often. In quitting, I set goals for each week, then each month and so on. I made a point to plan my rewards ahead of time, and spent lots of time researching and window shopping. It changed my focus and I quickly forgot about quitting.

Mood Swings - Chemical dependency from cigarettes is very intense and ongoing. It changes almost every area of your life and thinking. Understand that there is a feeling of emotional loss when quitting smoking. It helps to try not to think about loosing a habit, but instead, gaining health and well-being.

Eat Often- Smoking allowed you to skip meals without swings in blood sugar levels. Eating regular, healthy snacks will keep your blood sugar stabilized. Also, drink plenty of fruit juices - Orange or Cranberry juice work well. It will help to deal with the first 3 days needed to flush the nicotine from your body and stabilize blood sugar levels.

Keep Busy - Reading a book, texting friends, surfing the net or playing a video game can help keep your mind and your hands busy and your mind distracted and reduce cravings.

Drink Tons of Water - Another good way to quickly get the nicotine out of your system is to drink lots of water. This will also help take care of the hand-to-mouth habit you developed while smoking.

Breathe Deep - As with hypnosis or meditation, deep breathing helps clear your mind and create a sense of relaxation. The more relaxed you are, the futher away you will be from your smoking "triggers".

The Smoking Dream - You may have a number of smoking dreams when you first quit smoking. I personally see this as a dream of wishful thinking, and a way to get you through the next phase of quitting smoking.

Slip-ups -If you had a ciagarette during the time in which you quit smoking, don't be too hard on yourself. See it as a slip-up and not a sign that you have picked the habit back up again. The downside to a slip-up is that you have to start over a bit to get back to where you were before you smoked. Which leads me to my next point...

Quitting takes practice!!

Good luck to you all, and keep in touch.