How to prevent a slip after you have quit smoking
Slip- a term for having one or two cigarettes after you have quit.
Carvings are the most reported reason for starting smoking again. When you are faced with a strong temptation to smoke
- Recognize the many health benefits you enjoy since you quit smoking.
- Avoid thinking that ‘one cigarette won’t heart me.’ It is highly unlikely that one cigarette will be enough. Usually it only ‘primes the pump’ and makes you want more.
- Remember how hard it was to quit, and realize that you don’t want to face that struggle again.
Avoiding slips is best, but if you do slip, it’s important to respond to your actions carefully. A slip is not a replace. After a slip, consider the following:
- Recognize the slip for what it is – a brief return to an old behaviour, an action that says nothing about future behaviour. You do not become a person who smokes again after one or several slips.
- Slips are not sign of failure. Make sure that you don’t give up completely on your efforts to quit.
- Talk with one of your support people, such as a family member, another person who has quit, or your doctor.
- Make cigarette hard to get. Don’t buy a pack.
- Don’t go places where it is easy to get one from someone else.
- Don’t let yourself have another cigarette for at least 2 hours. Then decide if you really need it.
- Review your smoking journal or your list of reasons to quit, and then decide to take control again. Remember past situation in which you showed strength, and see yourself as a strong capable person who has already come far.
