Quitting a Bad Habit and Starting a Good Habit

When I originally decided I was going to give up smoking cigarettes I thought this would be my new year's resolution (no points for originality I know); but new years came and went and I was still puffing away. This article explains what I did to conquer my smoking addiction.

I really felt bad that I didn't keep my promise knowing my loved ones where secretly disappointed in me. I was disappointed in myself but the addiction I had was far stronger than the feelings of guilt and shame I had. When you have an addiction it controls all aspects of your life, as everything you do revolves around your addiction. In a lot of ways an addiction can separate you and seclude you from your loved ones. We try to shield our loved ones from seeing us abusing our drug of choice so we tend to stay away from them. We see them less and less and for shorter periods of time all because we need to leave to get our next fix.

When I was visiting with friends and family who didn't smoke I know my visits with them did become less frequent and shorter. I would start getting this feeling of agitation and jumpiness and before I knew it all I could think of was I got to go I need a smoke.

It is not an easy road quitting smoking but I can tell you the rewards you will get back are so wonderful it will be well worth going through the withdrawal period. You will be able to spend more carefree time with your loved ones without that nagging voice in your head telling you "I need a smoke" you will enjoy your visits stress free and let me tell you that is a great feeling.

Breaking the chains that have had you chained to your addiction is such a freeing experience or a natural high. I was chained to cigarette tobacco (said to be a more brutal addiction than heroine) for more than half my life; not only was I chained to the addiction but I was a chain smoker (the worst kind).

I finally decided that when the carton of smokes I had was done I would be done with smoking. Setting yourself some kind of target like setting a quitting date etc. I think it is a good idea in helping you to prepare yourself. It is also about making a commitment of sorts when you are quitting. If you don't give yourself a quitting date it is too easy to say "I will quit tomorrow" and then tomorrow comes and goes ;and your still smoking. When I finally finished my last carton it was on Jan 31st 2011 and that was the day I quit smoking for good; it was such a bad habit for me I am glad I quit. Another thing you can do to help you when quitting is to get rid of triggers. When I first quit I sent emails around to friends and family explaining that I would be taking a bit of a sabbatical I continued to keep in contact with them through emails. This worked really well for me as I knew if I was around a friend that smoked it would be too easy for me to start smoking again. I decided to stay away from temptation for awhile until I got to a point where it wasn't a problem being around smokers. I also gave up drinking alcohol and coffee these where also two big triggers of mine.

A big part of my success so far is the fact that I traded my bad habit in for some good ones; one of which I am doing right now if you haven't guessed it is writing. I also play a lot of card games like solitaire on line as well. These things have helped in keeping my fingers busy making it a little easier for me going through the withdrawals.

I also found a few other things to help me on the road to recovery. I started doing the "Tibetan Monk's Five Step Rejuvenation Ritual". This is five different exercises that Tibetan Monks have been doing for thousands of years. I was intrigued by the story behind it and thus decided to give it a try.

I do my "Tibetan Ritual" throughout the weekdays Mon-Friday and on weekends I enjoy going for walks with my fiancee and our dog. During the weekdays my dog and I go for walks every night; I call her my four-legged coach. Some days I feel lazy and don't want to go for a walk but my four-legged coach head butts me until I get up on my feet and out the door.

If you are like I was and you want to quit smoking my advice would be to find a good habit to replace your smoking with. For me keeping my fingers busy on the keyboard to my computer was such a blessing in helping me overcome my addiction. I hope you may find some of my suggestions useful to you in helping you quit smoking too.

I know old habits and bad habits are hard to break but with the right support system they can be broken. If we have a fall along the way we need to support one another and help each other onto our feet again. Then we can dust ourselves off and continue on that walk to bigger and better habits!

Signed: Ex-Smoker