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How to Stop Smoking

There are many ways to stop smoking, but knowing how to stop smoking is not the same as actually doing it.

The old joke, "quitting smoking is easy, I've done it hundreds of times", is unfortunately very true. How many times have you quit smoking, only to start again when under stress or having a night out with friends who smoke? So before reading the section on Ways to Stop Smoking, let's take a look at motivation. It's hard to stop smoking and you need all the help you can get if you are going to succeed.

How to Stop Smoking – Find Your Own Motivation

One of he most important factors involved in stopping smoking is motivation. Health concerns should be a major motivating factor. Years ago, it was considered cool to smoke and the majority of people were unaware of the potential dangers of cigarettes.

Smokers have an increased risk cancer – not just lung cancer but also cancer of the mouth and throat. And that's not all – smoking also plays a part in unexpected illnesses, such as cancer of the liver and of the pancreas.

Other serious conditions caused by smoking are emphysema as well as other chronic lung diseases. All of these can kill.

Smokers are also more likely to suffer from heart disease and circulatory conditions such as blocked arteries.

So a painful, early and possibly protracted death is one of the potential results of smoking.

However, knowing that smoking is bad for your health and could lead to a painful death is not often sufficient motivation for many smokers
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What else motivates you to stop smoking?

Take a look at some of your goals. You may never have written them down, but there are still things you want to do and would expect to live long enough to achieve. If you are young and single, you may want a great relationship and perhaps to settle down and have a family.

You probably also have career goals – skills you want to learn and develop so that you can become successful in your chosen field. Or you may dream of doing something great, of becoming famous, making a great discovery, becoming a celebrity or making a huge contribution to mankind, science, medicine or the arts.

You may also wish to travel, to see new parts of the world and meet new people.

And you probably have all sorts of new challenges that you are looking forward to, whether it's learning another language, moving to another town or country, taking up a sport or mastering something you really enjoy, such as dancing, playing an instrument, or even climbing Mt Everest. Perhaps you want to write a novel, shoot your own movie or knit a sweater. You may just want to watch a load of good movies and read all the best novels and buy some great sweaters.

Whatever your goals, the small ones as well as the big ones, write them down. To achieve all of our goals we need good health and a long life. No-one can guarantee those to anybody, but you can increase your chances dramatically if you quit smoking.

If you have children, your personal goals could include seeing them graduate from college, get married and have children of their own.

If you already have grandchildren you want to be able to enjoy time with them and that means being able to play with them and enjoy their company.

Smokers tend to think “it won't happen to me” or “only old people die of smoking related illnesses.” However, this just isn't true. There are some horrific stories of young people – even some who were in their teens or twenties who died of illnesses related to tobacco. You can search the internet or look on Youtube if you want to see for yourself. If your own goals aren't sufficient motivation, take a look at some of the people who died young and didn't achieve many of the goals most of us take for granted.