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Smoking and Your Social Life
Stop Smoking for the Benefit of Your Social Life
Smoking affects your social life as well as your physical well being. How often have you avoided going places because they were non-smoking, or ducked out of a party at the height of the action to satisfy your nicotine cravings?
When you stop smoking, you can also increase your confidence, meet new people, and join new activities. An improved social life is just one more reason to stop smoking!
As we all know, smokers are addicted to the nicotine in cigarettes and tobacco. Cigarettes, cigars, and pipes all emit smoke that holds thousands of other chemicals, in addition to the nicotine. When a person’s body becomes addicted to nicotine, the chemical temporarily creates pleasant physical and mental effects, which keeps the smoker coming back over and over again.
Successfully stopping smoking overcomes this physical and mental addiction. Overcoming such a powerful addiction is no easy task. Once you’ve accomplished it, you’ll have more confidence to face other difficult tasks in your life, armed with the knowledge that you have succeeded at one of the most challenging hurdles many people encounter. If you can stop smoking, what is there that you can’t accomplish?
Hopefully your family and friends will be supportive of your efforts to stop smoking. However, non one can truly empathize with you except someone that is going through the same trials and tribulations. Perhaps consider joining an online or local community that offers support to people who are quitting smoking.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) offers phone counseling at 1-800-QUIT-NOW. WhyQuit offers discussion groups for both first-time quitters and ones that have tried before. WhyQuit focuses on abrupt nicotine cessation (as opposed to smoking cessation with a gradual decrease in nicotine intake).
Many forums are geared toward quitting with the aid of a specific medication. However, forums that are more general include:
American Lung Association’s Freedom from Smoking® offers modules to walk a quitter through the process and associated message boards.
The Quit Smoking Company’s message boards are visually sparse, but offer visitors many opportunities for discussion with others trying to quit.
Quit Smoking Support has been helping smokers quit for over nine years through peer-to-peer support and encouragement.
To meet people in your local area and have a face-to-face discussion on quitting smoking, visit Nicotine Anonymous, Smart Recovery, or check with your insurance and health providers. Get more support for your efforts, and make new friends!
Many experts recommend taking up new activities and hobbies to fill your time and keep you from thinking about smoking. As your health improves, you can join a local gym, recreational sports league, or take fitness classes.
Some people take up hobbies like knitting, crocheting, or doing puzzles, in order to keep their fingers busy and away from the cigarettes. What will you do with your new energy and time? The possibilities are endless!
When first quitting, smokers are often advised to spend time in public places where smoking is prohibited, such as libraries, malls, theatres, or museums. Revel in the fact that you can stay inside as long as you like - no need to run outside and satisfy a nicotine craving!
Make a point of meeting friends and families for dinner at non-smoking restaurants that you may have avoided in the past. As the amount of time since your last cigarette increases, your sense of taste will improve and you can enjoy the food more.
A big part of stopping smoking is giving yourself rewards when you reach an important goal, whether it’s going a day without smoking or six months. How can you reward yourself?
Tally up all of the money that you would be spending on cigarettes and think of ways to spend it. You can save up for a big trip or larger purchase, or spend it on weekly social activities like dining out, going to the theatre, or taking hobby or fitness classes. Use your extra money to improve your social life and reward yourself for resisting the temptation to buy another pack of cigarettes.
When someone stops smoking, their physical, mental, and emotional well-being all improve dramatically. Stopping smoking can take your social life to new heights since you’ll have time and money for new hobbies, and will be able to venture out in public without fear of finding someplace to smoke your next cigarette. Once you’ve stopped smoking, your social life will very likely improve. Be prepared for it!
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