Cigarettes aren’t easy to quit. Tobacco is a powerful addiction both physically and psychologically. It can take a great deal of time and during this time, you’re beset by withdrawal symptoms and cravings. It’s easy to fall off the wagon and relapse.

But it’s much harder to fall off the wagon is you know how to keep yourself motivated in the face of adversity. Let’s look at a few ways to do this.

Your Reasons for Quitting

The minute you decide to quit smoking, make a list. Write down all of your own personal reasons for quitting. Think hard and be honest with yourself. Write the most important reason at the top. Whenever things get rough, review this list. You might want to post it somewhere you’ll see it every day or carry it around in your pocket.

Seek Support

You don’t have to quit smoking all by yourself. Your friends and family want to see you succeed, so enlist their help. How can they help you? By simply being there watching, making you accountable for your actions. It’s much harder to start smoking again when you know you’ll be letting everyone down. Continue reading →

Quitting smoking is hard but you’ll see progress fast. You’ll feel like you’re really getting there, but then one day you’ll get blindsided by a hard day or a bout of depression, and then it’s really tempting to reach for a smoke.

Your unpleasant thoughts and feelings are a major trigger that can lead you to break your promise and start smoking again, but there are ways to cope with negative thoughts without smoking.

Identifying Your Negative Thoughts

The first step in dealing with negative thoughts and feelings is to identify them. These nagging thoughts could be related to stress, depression, loneliness, fear or anxiety. When you feel your most intense craving for a cigarette, try to identify what mental pattern is leading you there.

Keep in mind that your addiction keeps bad feelings at bay, but only for a little while. Later, they’ll be back with a vengeance. What you’re actually doing is putting off dealing with these stresses and you never get to the root of the problem. Continue reading →