Who’s Keeping Score ?

One of the best ways to find out how to change a habit is to learn how much of a habit we have. In other words what type of a smoker are you. Most of you already know, but keeping track of it and actually seeing it in black and white will give you a better idea of what you are really dealing with and how to effectively stop smoking. I think you will be surprised of your findings.

First off there are several types of cigarettes we smoke each day. See how many of these fit your smoking style. There are :

# 1. Cigarettes we must have. These are the cigarettes that our body physically aches . We would do anything to have one. Get up in the middle of the night and go to the liquor store, smoke old butts, and smoke one after another if need be. You might even feel panicky if you don’t have a cigarette. These are the hardest to quit and many times why we go through withdrawal symptoms. But once resolved to quit we get through the withdrawals and this is one reason why I know I will never pick up not even one cigarette again, I simply do not want to go through the withdrawals again.

#2. Smoke out of habit. These are cigarettes we light up out of habit and do not even think about it. Sometimes we may have two cigarettes going at once. These cigarettes will be easy to give up, because we really don’t even have a need for them, it is purely out of habit. To create a new habit you only have to change your will (mind) and repeat for 30 days. Just think 30 days to a whole new lifestyle!

# 3 The Stress Cigarette. Every time I was under stress, the first thing I would reach for was a cigarette. The fact is taking deep breaths or going for a walk would of relaxed me more. Many times reaching for the stress cigarette was just another excuse for having another cigarette. Now, when I am under stress I often take a deep breath and every once in a while if I do get a cigarette urge I push it aside and the thought goes away in 5 minutes or less. (there is light at the end of the tunnel).

#4 The Pairing Cigarette. You’ve heard of pairing wines with food? Well many (most, including myself) smokers “pair” smoking with a pleasurable experience such as drinking coffee, after dinner cigarette, after sex cigarette, going out for drinks etc. Because most smokers do associate smoking with pleasurable events it makes it harder to quit those types of cigarettes, but not impossible . Think about it that would be like saying non-smokers cannot enjoy dinner, sex coffee or drinks. We simply have to acknowledge those times when we smoke and train our mind to find the same or more pleasure without the cigarette. Again, one day at a time, with the 30 day rule you will be able to conquer this one too!

#5 Looking Good Cigarette : Some people, mostly younger people like the way cigarettes make them look and feel. They like to lean over and have their friend light their cigarette, it feels romantic. They also like the feel of the cigarette, matches, lighter etc. This type of smoker can easily over come these habits with replacement romantic gestures or things to hold in their hands.

Now that we have identified the types of cigarettes we smoke each day, the next step is to keep track of the time of day you smoke , the type of cigarette it is (#1 – 5) and how important it is to you scoring it One – Three. One being least important, Three being most important. Do this for one week. By the end of a week you will have a pretty good idea of what type of smoker you are and where you can start cutting back.