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If quitting smoking is your No. 1 agenda for self-development in the coming year, then now is the time to start preparing. As someone who has successfully kicked the butt, I can assure you the road is tough, but when you reach the end, you feel liberated and empowered. It may take a month or a couple of months, but it'll happen if you have the desire.
Here are some things that you should know in order to increase your chances.
1. Do NOT binge on cigarettes during your final days: It is only normal to think, 'I am going to quit smoking on 1st, so let's smoke as much as possible in the last few days.' But beware, such an attitude will make quitting extremely difficult for you. To quit successfully from 1st, you should start resisting from now itself. Reduce your intake as much as possible and smoke only if things get too tough. This will get you in the habit of resisting.
2. You will not miss smoking for your entire life: Never think that your life will be incomplete without smoking. In fact, it will be much much better - you will feel better, breathe better and think better. As time passes, you will forget that cigarettes were something you needed to get through some basic things in life.
3. Don't consider using Nicotine Replacement Therapy: A lot of health magazines and websites advise using NRT to help the process of quitting smoking. However, in my opinion (which is inspired from Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking), anyone addicted to cigarettes is addicted to nicotine. And the only way to kill the addiction is to stop its supply. When I quit smoking, I did use substitutes like cardamom, clove, tea and cola - but not something which put nicotine in my bloodstream.
4. Try to appreciate the quit smoking process: Smokers develop an emotional connect with the act of smoking and quitting feels as bad as a break-up, if not more. However, despite the pain suffered, one should see the process as something that is healing your body. Accept the pain, don't try to fight it and realise that the tough moments will pass by one day. Allen Carr even goes as far as asking you to rejoice while you are suffering the cravings, as they are a sign that you are escaping.
5. Smoking doesn't just shorten your lifespan, it also affects your life: I was a smoker for 5 years and know about every possible joy smoking can give. Yet, if I was told that I had just 5 years to live come what may - I'd still not resume smoking. After all, this existence is a gift and I wouldn't want to spoil it by breathing badly and having a dry mouth, leave alone the nagging cough. Read about the 25 things that happen to your body when you smoke.
6. It's tougher to remain a smoker, than quit: Have you ever seen a man who would prefer being in jail than being free? Maybe you have, but he must have been a mad man. Staying addicted to cigarettes is like being in a prison, as smoking isn't enjoyable but you still need it to get through. If it was enjoyable, then you would have enjoyed the very first cigarette you ever smoked. It's just poison which starts seeming tasty with enough use.
Think about it. Do you want 'quit smoking' to be on your list of new year's resolutions every year? Or do you want to have newer resolutions in 2016?
Sameer Jha was a regular smoker for five years, and would smoke 10-20 cigarettes a day. He was extremely addicted and struggled to go an hour without a cigarette, let alone a day and believed that only death could make him quit smoking. In a series of posts, he shares his experience about how he was able to silence the beast that nicotine addiction is.
Image source: Getty Images
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