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So, You Want To Quit Smoking.

© De Williams

If you are quitting because of your mother, spouse or kids, don’t expect to stay quit. I had to quit a dozen times before it finally stuck. (I quit the first time in 1983 and started again in 1994. Quit the second time in 1998. Twice in one lifetime is more than enough, thank you very much!) Some where during my last quit, while exploring the net, I read that nicotine is as addictive as heroin or cocaine. AND twice as hard to kick.

The most comprehensive site I found during my search was SilkQuit.com Here you can find over 1,000 links to Tobacco Abuse. When I quit (hopefully for the LAST time!) in July of 1998, I used one of their quit meters. It is a really fun way to track your success. Mine lists days "smober", dollars saved since I quit and the days I have added to my life.

Another full service site I found is at QuitNet.org. Here you can find quitting guides, a quitting calendar, directory to smoking cessation programs, a pharmaceutical overview and daily news.

At Self Help Magazines Coping with Urges you will find some useful advice. Berating yourself for having cravings is counter productive. "Remember that urges, in and of themselves, are normal. We all experience craving in varying degrees every day. Because your habit has been important to you for a long time, it is unreasonable to expect urges to vanish completely. If they do, don't be surprised if they occur a month or two down the road." Author, Robert Westermeyer, Ph.D., goes on to talk about the "three D’s", Decatastrophizing, Disputing expectancies, and Distracting. From this page you can jump to an anonymous forum for discussing the process of quitting.

At HabitSmarts Smoking Reduction Tips another article by Westermeyer offers alternatives to quitting "cold turkey."

Unhooked.com (LifeRing Secular Recovery) has The Sober Alcoholic’s and Addict’s Stop-Smoking Support Page. Here you will find lots of facts about smoking along with other links to medical and scientific information about tobacco’s relationship to other addictions. They have an e-mail support group dedicated solely to quitting.

At "As A Matter of Fact…"Cigarette Smoking presents lots of facts and figures about the dangers of smoking IF you still need to be convinced that the habit is deadly. Can you believe that "nine out of ten smokers say they want to quit?" The fact sheet on Smokeless Tobacco states that chew is "used more often in the rural areas than in the urban areas" and of the students that have tried chew, "the majority first tried it in grade school." Not to mention the health risk of cancers in the "oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, and esophagus."

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