Your Last Smoke

You know you are ready to stop. You know that you can do it, that you will enjoy doing it and that your whole quality of life will improve when you do. But when should you do it? When do you actually have your last smoke? You have already made the psychological task a lot easier by convincing yourself that the Plan you have read here is true - that the only reason you smoke is because of nicotine addiction. There is no pleasure in smoking and it does nothing to improve your life.

However, even though all of this is true, you will still have the physical side of your addiction to deal with. To totally cleanse your body and mind you will need to beat the physical craving for nicotine for up to three weeks. There are certain times when this task will become more difficult because there are situations that you would naturally associate with smoking. For example, when other pressures in your life such as a new job or work deadline, money worries, relationships make your stress level abnormally high you would think of dealing with them by smoking - even though you now know that it does not help. Also, there are situations that you would associate with total relaxation such as being on holiday. These times should be avoided as much as possible when looking for a time to stop smoking. However, if you have high stress all the time it won't make any difference - I am only talking about when your stress is at a personal peak.

Let's look at each of these times and see why they are bad times to stop:

High stress

You have a deadline to meet at work. There is pressure on you from all sides. Your are feeling stressed and anxious. What would you normally do? Go for a smoke. But you think 'Damn, I have stopped smoking. If only I had a cigarette I would be able to cope with this situation'. The problem here is that you are once again elevating the status and mystical properties of nicotine and you are starting to see stopping smoking once more as a sacrifice. The truth is that in this situation, when you are still in the early stages of stopping and you do still have a physical addiction to the drug, a smoke would calm you down because it would satisfy the very real nicotine pang. But you have chosen a time when your stress level is abnormally high and you have artificially made it even higher by putting yourself through the process of stopping smoking. So by doing this you have increased your stress to an all-time high and put the cigarette back onto the pedestal that you worked so hard to knock it down from.

Holiday

Most people have one main holiday each year. This will normally be one or two weeks long. You already put pressure on that holiday to provide you with the relaxation that you have been working for all year. You need to relax because you work every other week of the year and you need this holiday to recharge your batteries. So what some people do is to use this time to stop smoking, thinking that it is the time that they will be the least stressed and most able to cope with the nicotine withdrawal. But what happens is the opposite, you are at the airport - a stressful part of the holiday with delayed flights - and a boring part of the holiday where you are very conscious of time passing. Then when you get there you try to relax but you have very little to occupy your mind so your mind turns to smoking. As the holiday progresses you are conscious of the time passing and nearing the end of your break, you are aware that you have not been able to fully relax and you put extra pressure on the holiday to provide you with extra enjoyment. When this does not happen you feel that the holiday has been ruined and you start to blame it on stopping smoking. You start to think 'The holiday would have been fine if I had still been smoking'. Then you start to resent stopping smoking and again you start to see the whole process as being a big sacrifice.

If you stop smoking during the holiday or the stressful time it will leave you with a very negative feeling about it. What you need to be able to say to yourself is 'I am doing the right thing and I am glad I have stopped smoking'. This will, of course be much easier if you use an incentive to help you to stop.

So what you need to do is to choose an 'ordinary' time when stress is no higher than at any other time. As I have already said, if you have a high stress level all the time, then now is just as good a time to stop as any. You are already convinced how much better your life will be by stopping smoking so by now you should be eager to get your last smoke over with so that the rest of your life can begin as a non-smoker. Many people will say that they will stop 'after this packet' or 'after the weekend' or 'after Christmas'. Why? If you know that you want to stop and you believe you are going to enjoy it then stop now. In the middle of a packet, or in the middle of a smoke - doesn't matter. Put it out now, throw the rest of the packet away and with it throw out any smoking accessories that you may have lighters, cigarette cases the whole lot. Wash your ash trays and put them to the back of a cupboard somewhere. You are embarking on the next part of your life as a non-smoker. - you do not need these constant visual reminders of your time as a smoker. Whatever you do, don't keep a stash 'just in case' because in a moment of weakness you will smoke. If there is nothing to smoke and no reminder that you are not smoking, you are less likely to be tempted to relapse.

At this time, it is also a good idea to change the appearance of your house. Redecorate, get new furniture and carpets - and if you think that you can't afford it, this can be the treat you give yourself as your incentive. Doing this will take away the smell of stale smoke from your house and furniture. It will take the nicotine staining from the paint and give the place a fresh new look to accompany your new life.

So here's a checklist of things you should remember about stopping...