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Trying to quit smoking? Here's how to deal with smokers

Trying to quit smoking? Here's how to deal with smokers

An ex-smoker explains how he dealt with his smoker friends while quitting.

Written by Sameer Jha |Updated : December 26, 2014 8:48 PM IST

I have really tried to quit smoking, but almost all of my friends are smokers and sooner than later, I give in to the temptation. Because they are my friends, when I am with them, I lose my self-restraint and end up smoking. How do I deal with this?

First things first. Your lungs (and the rest of your body parts) are way more important and precious than a few conversations with friends.

In the initial few days, when you'll be ravenously hungry for nicotine, watching your friends smoke can be like watching a man eat chickenbiryani after being hungry for a whole day. It intensifies the agony, which is already so high.

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However, there is another way to look at it. Cigarettes are not inherently enjoyableand are filled with poisonous substances that are bad for you. When you look at a person who is smoking a cigarette as someone who is harming his/her lungs - there's no chance you'll feel envious of him/her. Get one thing straight into your head, other smokers aren't lucky to be enjoying cigarettes, they are smoking because they are addicted.

In my case, I cut myself off from most social interactions in my first month and focussed singularly on not smoking. All the decisions I took revolved around preventing myself from smoking.

The first 20 days, I avoided interaction with smokers. If I met one, my topic of discussion would be how I was quitting and how bloody difficult it was. Barring one person, everybody supported and gave their best wishes for my endeavor. That one person told me to relax, and smoke! All in good humour, of course.

Despite my decision while wanting to quit smoking, I do not think it is a must for everyone to cut themselves off in such a way. You may have roommates who are smokers or perhaps loneliness will have a more negative impact on you. After all, what are smoker friends, but just another trigger that you have to conquer?

Resist enough and it'll start coming naturally to you. There will come a time when you can come out of a movie theatre with a friend, who will light up a cigarette immediately after exiting the premises, and you do nothing but discuss the flaws (or strengths) of the movie and ignore the stick in his hand, that you were dependent on once. Sounds unreal now, but it will seem all too easy when you get there.

Here are a few tips that you can use:

  • Avoid being around smokers for the first 20 days.
  • Most of the times, just telling them that you want to quit smoking seriously can help.
  • If you still feel people around you won't co-operate, maybe it's time for a change in environment for three to four weeks. Take a vacation, visit your relatives, lock yourself up and watch a whole TV series or all of the movies you have been hoarding for a while. Even a Vipassana break could help.
  • Keep yourself busy. Take up something you are passionate about. When your mind is engaged positively, it won't need cigarettes!
  • Spend more time with non-smoker friends and family.

Sameer Jha was a regular smoker 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. In a series of posts, he shares his experience about how he was able to silence the beast that nicotine addiction is.


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