Take The First Step To Quitting SmokingWhat's the first step to quitting smoking? You have to know the difference between wanting and deciding. And wanting something is very different from deciding to make it so. They may seem like the same thing but really they are not. There is a sea of difference between wanting to quit and actually deciding to quit. You have probably wanted to quit the very day that you started smoking, but as you know very well, it just didn't happen. On the other hand, deciding is a very serious issue. It is something that can affect our self esteem and our dignity because once we decide then we have to stick to the decision right? And that is not going to be easy. Any decision that one takes must be based on sound common sense and in the case of smoking too, this holds true. I would support any smokers decision to quit; but my request to every such prospective quitter is that they should get their facts right. The problem is that if the prospective quitter is not proceeding in the right track, there is a greater tendency to fail. And once a person tries and fails, it is going to be all the more difficult to break the habit. Before we come to the real decision, we might have to do some serious thinking. The decision to quit smoking is not something that can hit your mind in the middle of some other task. You need to feel composed and have all your strength about you. You need to sit and think about it for at least ten minutes. Oh yes, ten minutes is more than enough time. You have to remember what the odds are against it. You have to work really hard to think of a reason to go on smoking, and keep in mind that “the feel-good” thing is not enough of an argument. Obviously you are going to end up feeling terrible, maybe within the next couple of months, if you do not break the habit right now. So there is absolutely no point in dwelling on temporary pleasures. What I would suggest would be to take a walk around the block, an exercise that would hardly take you ten to fifteen minutes, and then sit and think about it for another ten minutes and then hit the right button (which means take the right decision). Hey, come on, we're just talking about half an hour of your time. Surely any one can spare such a small amount of time for a matter of life and death--their own life and death to be precise. Right, so now that we've done the serious thinking, all we have to do is make up our minds. Please remember that it is not the decision of quitting smoking that is difficult. It is sticking to the decision that is going to be the difficult part. So go ahead and make up your mind. |