Quitting smoking can be challenging.
If you're not ready to quit yet but are leading up to it there are a few things you can do to make the transition from smoker to ex smoker a little easier.
1.
Leave your cigarettes at home.
If they are not in your bag or pocket your won't be able to casually reach for them without thinking.
2.
Buy your cigarettes only once a week, allotting so many a day.
Decrease the amount of cigarettes you will smoke by one or two a day.
It doesn't seem like a lot but at the end of the week you will have smoked 7-14 less cigarettes a week.
3.
Have something else to do when you get the urge to smoke.
Keep your hands busy, roll marbles in your palms, play with a myachi; that's popular with younger wannbe ex smokers.
Squeeze hand cream on and massage your hands, hold or flip coins.
The point is to do something mindless to keep you from thinking about lighting up and smoking.
4.
When you do smoke keep your butts, don't throw them out.
Seeing them in an ashtray does two things.
It is another way of keeping track of how many cigarettes you smoke and it looks disgusting, reinforcing to yourself that smoking is gross.
5.
Have mints, celery sticks or tooth picks available for you to put in your mouth when the craving for shoving a cigarette between your lips comes over you.
You will yearn for a cigarette and knowing ahead of time how you're going to handle it will help you get past your desire.