Have quit smoking but still want to smoke? here's how to fix it

When you start quitting smoking, the temptation comes from two sides: physical and mental. The physical symptoms of "withdrawal" smoking are not dangerous, although if you are not ready, they can make you smoke again. But the biggest temptation actually comes from mentally, namely the emergence of a sense of wanting to smoke.

If you have been a smoker for a long time, smoking is usually a habit to do with other activities, such as coffee in the morning, break after lunch, or even with a bowel movement. Even if your body doesn't need it, your mind screams for a cigarette every time you drink coffee, after lunch, or when you go to the toilet. This feeling of wanting to smoke comes from mentally, and will not go away even though you have physically overcome it by using nicotine replacement therapy.

Beware of excuses that make up your own mind

One of the important keys to conquering the craving for smoking that comes from this mental, is by recognizing common reasons that you often make up yourself to justify the urge to smoke. This is usually called rationalization.

This rationalization can be called wrong thinking but seems right at the time, just to satisfy your desires. In fact, this thinking is not based on reality, and if you follow it, it will actually lead you back to being a smoker.

Some of the most commonly used reasons and rationalizations are:

• "Just a stick is fine, deh."
• "Stop not today, please bear. Just starting tomorrow. "
• "I eat healthy, exercise diligently, smoking occasionally is fine."
• "Uncle Hary is also a heavy smoker but has a long life, now he's 80."
• "Pollution in Jakarta is probably more dangerous than cigarette smoke."
• "Smoking is not smoking, everyone must end up dying too."
• "If you don't smoke, you can't bonding with friends."

You may have your own rationalizations that you often use to smoke. Now, when you decide to quit smoking, write down all the rationalizations that come up every time you feel like smoking. The next time that rationalization reappears, you can already recognize it as an unbelievable excuse.

How to fight cravings for smoking

1. Avoid people and places that make you want to smoke

You always smoke when hanging out with Person A? Or, you always feel like smoking every coffee in cafe B? In the first weeks when you quit smoking, avoid going to these places first. Choose a coffee place without smoking area .

What about the people who make you want to smoke? If this is unavoidable, let them know that you are trying to quit smoking, and ask them for help not to "tease" you or not even smoke in your presence.

2. Change the routine that you normally do while smoking

If you always enjoy coffee or alcohol while smoking, avoid drinking these two drinks in the first weeks when you quit smoking. Choose juices or water that are healthier. If you often feel "sour mouth" after eating certain foods, and make you want to smoke, avoid eating these foods first. And after break lunch, instead of smoking a cigarette, just take a walk around, relaxing your mind. Healthier, right?

3. Find a replacement for your mouth

If you can't stand an empty mouth, keep your mouth busy with something other than cigarettes. You can chew sugar-free gum, snack on candy, snack on cakes, snack on fruit, and even some people stop the feeling of wanting to smoke by chewing on a straw.

4. Keep your hands busy

Sometimes when you are stressed, staying still can only make you feel even more stressed. Smoking is usually your escape to calm down. Now, when you feel like smoking because you are stressed, try to find other activities to keep your hands busy, and make your mind focus on other things. Tinkering with a motorcycle or car engine, for example. Or try putting together Lego or coloring in a color book for adults.

5. Breathe deeply

It may seem like a cliché, but the reason smoking can calm you down is because you have to take a deep breath while smoking a cigarette. So when you feel the urge to smoke, close your eyes, then take a deep, slow breath. Feel the clean air without nicotine enter your lungs and spread throughout your body. While doing that, think back to why you quit smoking.

6. Delay 10 minutes

If you can't stand it anymore and really want to smoke, even a cigarette and lighter are in hand, use this trick: stop, and delay 10 minutes! Often times, after waiting 10 minutes, the craving disappears, or your mind clears up again and you realize that you don't really need a cigarette.

7. Give yourself a gift

Quitting smoking is not an easy matter. Anyone who has succeeded deserves a thumbs up. If you have budget specifically to buy cigarettes every day, keep it budget this is when you start quitting smoking. However, instead of being used to buy cigarettes, put this money every day in a special jar. After a week or a month, open the jar and use the money to eat at your favorite restaurant, or buy the things you want.

Good luck!