A lot of research has been done to help people quit the smoking habit. Stop smoking, that’s right. No matter how much research, how many products to help, how many aids etc, the decision is yours, you have to make that decision, you decide to stop smoking.

Tip #1 Plan, set a date to quit. By making your plan to stop smoking you will have something to work to. Decide what you need to do, things like when do you enjoy smoking the most, with coffee, with a glass of wine or a cold beer. Talking on the phone, do you reach for a cigarette? List out your habit of when and where you smoke most, when and where you enjoy a cigarette most.

Tip #2 Co-operation, getting that from your friends and family who smoke. Change your habits, if you had your coffee and a cigarette in the mornings, then try tea instead of coffee or whatever you can enjoy without having a cigarette. The way you start your day will have a great bearing on how the day will go.

Tip #3 Learn something new, keep your hands busy. The first few months could find you doing something else to replace having a cigarette in your hand. Learn something new, go for walks, do things that you normally didn’t smoke doing. Think about all the things you did without smoking and concentrate on these.

Tip #4 Water is good. Whenever you feel the need to light up, take a drink from your water bottle. It will help. Reduce your talking time on the phone. Do anything that you used to do without the need to have a cigarette. Water is very important, it has something to do with the nicotine that your body has stored. Drink plenty of water even if you aren’t really a water drinker.

Tip #5 Be confident. Confidence is a wonderful thing. Having the confidence in yourself that you know you can stop smoking and not for just a couple of days but long enough to feel so much better in yourself, smell much better in yourself and your clothes and be so much nicer to be around.

These tips all helped me when I made the decision to stop smoking. I had a great incentive, a heart attack. The medical staff in CCU were so wonderful that if I had left their care and went off and continued smoking, then if I suffered another heart attack, they would have every right to refuse to nurse me and that would be fair too.

The tips above were what I used, I didn’t drink coffee for a long time, drank lots of water, if I felt like a cigarette, I would take a sip of water, it worked. I could enjoy a glass of wine with my meal at night but it took a while for me to be able to enjoy a beer without a cigarette. I didn’t smoke in the street, the car, while taking my walks or while gardening so these things I did often.

I smoked for about 35 years, I smoked at my job because in those days it was acceptable. So that was hard to do my job without having a cigarette. During those 35 years, I had never even thought about quitting the smoking habit, I had cut down from time to time but never tried to kick the habit.

I didn’t want to use any aids to quit, like the patches or gum. If you feel you need something to help with your decision then by all means seek out what will work for you.

When I made my decision to quit smoking, I still had a packet and a half. I kept these in the back of my pantry. I did this because I knew that if I didn’t have a cigarette at hand, I would want one all the more and would probably go to the store, buy a packet and I would be hooked again. I didn’t want that. I left those cigarettes there for about 10 years, I had actually forgotten they were there.

Today I am so glad I don’t smoke, so pleased I was given a second chance because today I would hate to be a smoker. I don’t miss it and can be in a room of smokers and not even think about lighting up. I can tell you it is a wonderful feeling.

Seek support if you need it, when it comes right down to it, no one can quit your smoking habit but you. It is your decision to stop, make sure you are prepared to follow through with that decision. Do it now before you too, finish up in the Coronary Care Unit or worse, no longer with us. I was fortunate, I sincerely hope you will be too. Your body will thank you for it.