How Much Do You Smoke?
The signal to top up your nicotine tank varies in intensity and the more you smoke the stronger the signal, or craving will be. Although it's counter-intuitive this fact can actually help you through the fitQuit process with greater confidence. The stronger the craving, the easier it is to recognize and focus upon. People who have smoked for some decades and who have a pack a day or more habit will not find it significantly tougher to beat the addiction than a light smoker.
What Do You Enjoy About Smoking?
In my first blog I reflected a bit about the pleasure I got from smoking. After all the feeling of relief when the nicotine hits your circulatory system is the point of the exercise.It just plain feels good.
In "The Debt to Pleasure," John Lanchester has his hero say, " There is no more powerful emotion." This can be disputed but there's no doubt that the rush of relief exceeds the tactile, taste and olfactory pleasure that accompany the busy-ness of smoking.Take some time to reflect on your enjoyment and pleasure because we'll need to reflect on it later.
What Do You Dislike About Smoking?
You'll have to come up with some answers for this one. For me it was the difference between the the lifestyle of my more active friends and my diminished capacity to run, bike or swim without having to fight for each lungful of air. I was annoyed with myself for spending money that could have been spent more pleasurably elsewhere. I was also getting tired of being shooed out of doors to indulge myself in solitude.
Why Do You Think You Should Quit?
I was concerned with the health implications. These are too well known for me to repeat here. Mostly I wanted to participate in a range of physical activities rather than spend my life as a volunteer or a spectator on the sidelines. Your reasons for wanting to end your addiction may be different but it's a good idea to set some expectations for yourself beyond just the absence of tobacco in your life.
What Worries You About Quitting?
Lots of smokers fear that the time that was dedicated to the act of smoking will weigh heavily on them. I know it did with me on my earlier attempts and I looked for distractions. The problem was that the substitutes gum, candy, a bag of chips don't give you the rush of relief that you get from the 'nic' hit. FitQuit gives you this sense of relief when the craving disappears and gives it to you at the same regular rate. It's the same sense of relief after all and appears for the same reason. The craving is satisfied for the time being.
A lot of smokers are attracted to heavily sauced and salted foods. According to the author of " French Women Don't Get Fat"," Smoking wreaks havoc on the olfactory mucous membranes and these are slow to repair themselves after we quit. Since aromas are more soluble in fatty dishes, smokers taste buds naturally find such fare more satisfying when the smelling component of taste has been a a bit incapacitated." One trick is to cut back on fatty foods which can sometimes act as a trigger for the habitual part of your addiction. Cook with spices, reduce your salt and ketchup intake and look forward to the day when the real flavor of food can be enjoyed.
Do You Have A Couple of Days To Dedicate Exclusively To The Process?
Quiting with the fitQuit method is a short term process but you need to give this serious, life-changing work the time and attention it deserves. " Attention is the number one tool we have for improving the quality of our lives" says psychologist Mihaly Czickszentmihalyi in "Flow."
If you try to end your tobacco addiction while trying to meet the demands of the work place or other high stressors you're making the task more difficult than it needs to be and not giving it the time and full attention it deserves.
My successful encounter with the method took place during two weeks between work assignments when I made the decision to dedicate a week to ending smoking.It didn't seem like much of a sacrifice given that I'd spent thirty-five years training myself to be a hard core smoker. In my case I could see by mid-afternoon on the day I gave up tobacco that the method I'd stumbled upon was really working. Four days later I was absolutely certain that I was kicking the habit with ease and I was right.
Negotiate with yourself and those close to you for the time and space to work the technique.
