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Freedom from Quit Smoking Relapse
Staying Quit? What is the way out if you are on the razor edge of relapsing into the old nasty habit? Difficult questions, in fact questions whose answers can decide the degree of success or failure in your quit smoking endeavor.
There is no point in crying over spilt milk, if you have either slipped or relapsed into your smoking ways. Always bear in mind that smokers can kick off their nicotine addiction for good only after a number of relentless efforts. They keep trying, again and again, in spite of repeated failures to quit smoking. Smiling at the face of failure, a few determined smokers have the knack and the aptitude to turn the relapse into a rebound by learning from their past mistakes.
To stay quit, free from the tangles and shackles of smoking that have interwoven you in its complex web, you need to have a sharp analytical mind to dissect and scrutinize where you have gone wrong. Keep your cool, identify and classify the triggers that have landed you in the soup, and set up new plans to quit smoking forever on a war footing. You can surely eliminate the trouble maker, called nicotine.
Sometimes smokers mistake a slip for a relapse. But there is a thin line of difference between a slip up and a relapse. Slip up is minor, the single cigarette, and the first fall to temptation after you quit smoking for a while; you can easily pull yourself up from the slip if you have the motivation, before the slip up transforms to a full-blown relapse, where the way back is just up and up, that can take a lot of sweat.
Well, if you have a slip up at all, you can take up the following steps to quit smoking and stay quit:
Acknowledge the slip, it is just a small hurdle and it doesn't make you a smoker
- Don't be discouraged, the slip doesn't mean failure, you can still come back
- Don't be too optimistic at the same time, pull up your sleeves, you need to fight back, a puff can play spoilsport
- Try new methods to stop smoking, and feel good about the times you have remained smoke-free
- Zero down on the trigger, devise ways to cope up with it
- Learn from your mistakes and experiences
- Continue taking the medicine if you are on any anti-smoking medication
- Consult a doctor or a psychologist, they can be of immense help
Ignoring the slip up to quit smoking can lead you to relapse. When you are in such dire straits, where you need to devote your maximum effort to stay free of nicotine addiction, stick to the golden tips:
- Avoid alcohol; it increases your craving for a smoke
- Keep away from friends who smoke; temptations are at the peak when you are with them
- Find out ways and means to cope up with depression
- Learn novel ways to relax
- Try to get full emotional support from your near and dear ones
Staying quit, free from the tangle of nicotine addiction without falling into a relapse can become a possibility if you adhere to the simple tips given above. |
