The most important thing you can do right now is to educate yourself on what nicotine does to your body and mind. To that end, I highly recommend Allen Carr's “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking.” This is an easy and entertaining read. Here is a link to a free PDF version of it:
As well, read the sections on this site, and read the blogs, responses and pages of folks you think might be helpful. You might visit whyquit.com and quitsmokingonline.com for the good information contained there. You should also do the tracking and separation exercises suggested on this site
After you have completed the recommended reading, it will be time to make an informed choice of the quit aid, if any, you will use. If you go that route, I personally recommend the aids that don't let the addict control the dose such as the available prescription drugs or the patch. But – any method that you think will work well for you will be best for you.
The idea is to change up your routines so the smoking associations are reduced. Drink your coffee with your OTHER hand. If you always had that first smoke with your coffee, try putting your tennies on right out of bed, going for a quick walk, then taking your shower and THEN your coffee! Rearrange the furniture in the areas you used to smoke so the view is different.
You need to distract yourself through any craves. You can take a bite out of a lemon (yup - rind and all), put your head in the freezer and take a deep breath of cold air, do a few jumping jacks, go for a brisk walk or march in place, play a computer game. Don't let that smoking thought rattle around in your brain unchallenged. Sometimes you need to quit a minute or an hour at a time. You will need to be disciplined in the early days to distract yourself when a crave hits. Don't let that smoking thought rattle around your head alone. Get busy! Here is a link to a list of things to do instead of smoke if you need some fresh ideas:
The conversation in your head in response to the "I want a cigarette" thought needs to be, "Well, since I have decided not to do that anymore, what shall I do instead for the three minutes this crave will last?" Then DO it. You will need to put some effort into this in the early days, but it gets easier and easier to do.
Stay close to us here and ask questions when you have them and for support when you need it. We will be with you every step of the way!
WELCOME to EX! You’re here because, like us, you want to be rid of the addiction to nicotine and the habit of using cigarettes. We can help you with that, yes.
There is plenty of useful information and activities right here at EX, and there’s plenty more information at other websites that many of our most successful quitters will mention to you. Explore every resource made available to you, and keep the ones that work best for you.
Please, do all the exercises here, in the time required, especially those that ask you to PRACTICE quitting BEFORE you actually quit. You’ll be asked to skip that "after-lunch smoke", for example, in order to figure out how you feel about that and what you’ll do instead to make it better. Then, you’ll skip a "bored smoke" and a "stressed smoke" and other smokes to PRACTICE being without them, and to PRACTICE doing something in place of them. The last thing you want to do is quit without having any skills under your belt.
Finally, you don’t have to do this alone. We're your support group, so communicate with us, be sure to leave comments of support for other people (it‘s a two-way street around here), report your progress, and let us help you.
Here is something else you might think about: make a list of things that you want to do but haven't because you were, well, busy with your nicotine addiction. You will definitely have more money and time, so enjoy your life.
Welcome to EX site, listen to the advice you have been given, go through the steps in the program and get your quit "kit" ready. Things to distract you when a crave hit as it will be over in a few minutes when you distract yourself. Never doubt your decision to quit and you are not losing anything but the addiction that has you in its grip.
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