Giving Up Smoking
Giving up smoking is never easy: it requires desire to quit, strong will and lots of emotional and psychological balance. There are a few courageous ones who’ve managed to quit smoking cold turkey. But the battle against the physical addiction and the smoking habit pretty much resembles a long war rather than a battle. Why? Because even if you overcome the withdrawal symptoms, you face a ‘void’ in your life that you don’t know how to fill.
Lots of people who’ve given up smoking describe the absence of cigarettes as frustrating because they had to fill so many gaps in their day. The habit actually defines the reason why you smoke. Every person who tries to quit, ought to understand why he or she smokes in the first place. Here are some examples of frequent situations.
Why do people smoke?
The social environment is most often to blame. Teenagers start smoking not because they like it or because they are ‘nicotine addicted’ (which is not possible in the beginning) but due to the social pressure of the entourage. They smoke because it feels cool or because a cigarette makes them more mature. It’s very much about attitude, and the confusion of adolescence…
Stressful situations also make people find refuge in cigarettes. Whenever a smoker wants to take a break from work or family pressure, he or she will definitely get a cigarette. It’s a way of consuming frustration, of eliminating nervousness or simply a crutch in dealing with stressful moments and negative emotions. There is not a single person who would smoke because he/she felt elated by admiring a sunset.
Some foods and drinks seem to be associated with smoking, at least at a psychological level. Such mental links need to be broken when giving up smoking.
The major problem is that even if you try to break the addiction and the bad habit, what do you put instead?
Giving up smoking through therapy
A professional approach to quitting smoking increases your chances of success in the fight against the psychological addiction. As part of personal counseling, you have the opportunity to self-explore and discover why you smoke. What’s the mechanism? Even if you are disappointed in you, and you feel like your self-confidence is broken down, you should know that such emotions are specific to the quitting smoking problem. It’s bad when you’re in denial or when you keep postponing to quit smoking…
Once you acknowledge the problems, chances to break the addiction increase. A therapist will teach you how to relax in stressful situations, how to deal with emotional problems, how to achieve balance by cultivating a positive mind set and so on.
A balanced diet and exercising are of great help for tension release and for lifestyle balancing. In fact, if you manage to include them successfully in your life, physical activity and healthy food could be your password to a more fulfilled existence, with fewer problems and headaches.