Avoiding the Temptation to Smoke

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Avoiding the Temptation to Smoke

Avoiding the Temptation to Smoke

You have finally quit your smoking habit! Congratulations on a great accomplishment! You have gone through the physical withdrawals, the psychological temptations, and all the anxiety, mood swings, as well as the minefield of rationalizations as to why just one more cigarette could not possibly hurt you.

But you are not yet out of the woods. How can you go about avoiding temptation to smoke again?

While there is no easy answer to this question, there are several suggestions that will make the temptation to smoke more avoidable or at least manageable if avoidance if impossible.

Avoid people who seek to entice you to smoke. For some reason, once in a while you will encounter a friend or family member who will treat your smoking cessation as a big joke, and who will either make a point of lighting up in your presence or in the alternative will wave a pack of cigarettes under your nose, all but lighting one up for you.

She or he might even postulate that just one for old times’ sake will hardly hurt and that you have proven you could quit any time. Avoid this person like the plague, for as long as your confidence in your ability to stop smoking permanently is still at all shaky. If it is a friend who does this to you, perhaps you will need to reevaluate your friendship with this person.

Naturally, the longer you have been smoke-free, the easier it will get to handle this temptation to smoke, and at some point you can just laugh in the person’s face and get on with the social situation you are in. Until you get to that level of confidence in your ability to stop smoking permanently, however, it is best to avoid the person.

Avoid situations and locations that tempt you to smoke. Your favorite watering hole may have a wonderful ambience, but if it the smoke inside is so thick that you can cut it with a knife, it may not be conducive to your effort to remain smoke-free. Stay at home more, go for a walk, or if you must, find a new haunt that doesn't remind you too much of your old one! You will also be able to make new friends, and pretty soon you will no longer associate going down to watch the game on Monday night with smoking.

Once you reach that point in your smoking cessation program, even a visit to the old watering hole should present only a minor temptation that you should be able to resist without too much difficulty.

Although locations are easy to avoid, situations may not be. If you work for a company where smoking on the premises or on the job is permitted, you will need to employ all of your willpower to overcome the temptation to smoke when you are faced with smoking co-workers. If this situation cannot be avoided, be sure to come prepared with hard candy, sunflower seeds, peanuts or pistachios in the shell, or some sugarless gum.

Always avoid rationalizations such as “one cigarette won’t kill me.” It may not kill you, but the slippery slope will lead to further lapses in your resolve to remain smoke-free for life.

You would never suggest to an alcoholic to have just one drink for old times’ sake or for the road, and likewise you should not rationalize that just one cigarette for yourself is a good idea. It will make turning down the second and third cigarette just that much harder. Another more insidious rationalization is the idea that smoking while not buying cigarettes is different from being a smoker. Whether you buy the cigarettes yourself, or bum them from someone else, if you stick those cancer sticks in your mouth and light them, you are a smoker.

It is hard to quit, and it is hard to remain smoke-free for life. No reformed smoker could truthfully tell you otherwise. Yet while it may be difficult, it can be done, and if you continue on the strength of your convictions, you will be able to remain smoke free through even rough times.

If you do give in to the temptation to smoke, remember that a slip or lapse in judgment does not mean you have permanently fallen off the wagon. As a matter of fact, this is a good time to review the reasons why you quit smoking in the first place, revisit the benefits of smoking cessation, and reward yourself for success!

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