Controlling the Urge to Smoke

After quitting smoking the urge to smoke can be very strong and at times persistent. Stress, anxiety, and negative moods are common triggers for smoking. You know this, you have experienced it first hand. If you can, what is the first thing you do when someone upsets you? You are outside lighting up a smoke, pacing, and cursing them. For so long you have conditioned your mind to use smoking and nicotine to affect and control your moods. Obviously this wasn’t done on purpose but if you smoke long enough this is what will happen.

When it comes to controlling the urge to smoke you have to have another way to deal with the triggers. Not only do you have to wait out the urge but you should come up with alternate methods of dealing with stress, anxiety, and negative moods. If you have time to smoke you have time to take a quick walk. Focus on your breathing and release the tension in your body by stretching. Turn your mind from negative thoughts and from thoughts of smoking to pleasant thoughts. Never believe that if you smoke this one time to get through a tough situation you will be able to quit again. The results won’t be pleasant because all you’re doing is solidifying a false belief that there is a benefit in smoking.

Use self-talk to remind yourself why you are quitting and that quitting is the best thing that you can do for you and your family. View yourself gaining not losing anything. If you view quitting smoking as a loss your subconscious may try to find ways to find it.

Quitting smoking has its challenges and over time the urges will occur less and less. Even after years of not smoking you may encounter a sudden urge but it is easy to dismiss. The key is to never give in to the thought of “just this once.”