Quit Smoking Now!

Hello and welcome to section two. To get started in this course, you will need to journal for a few days. Please download and print the work the workbook that is provided and follow along each section. While you are journalling over the next couple of days you can continue through to section 6.

Here in this section we are going to talk about the dangers of smoking.

Everyone knows that smoking is dangerous. This is not 1952 and unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve certainly seen the statistics or have been taught. However, this course is about honesty and being true to yourself.

When you were taught the dangers of smoking, you were likely not smoking then so the truth didn’t mean much to you. It wasn’t enough to scare you away from starting right?

The brain works in mysterious ways. When studies and statistics pop up and challenge bad behaviour, if this behaviour we enjoy, the brain will tune it out. I’ll give you an example. Some people love sugar. They are so addicted to sugar that nothing anybody says will make them stop eating sugar. They are the ones who will justify eating sugar and they will not hear the studies and statistics about the dangers. They will say things like, “oh, I've had a hard week, I deserve this chocolate cake.” Or, this type of sugar isn’t as bad so I don’t have to worry. You can substitute that addiction with anything and you will hear the same stories over again. Think about alcohol, drugs, porn, food, etc.

Starting today, I want you to hear me out on this, you need to be completely aware and hear the facts. Smoking is dangerous and if you continue to smoke you are more likely than not to end up with a chronic disease, condition, or death. Forget anecdotal evidence. I do not care if your granddad lived to 95 and smoke 5 packs per day. Statistically speaking, that is not going to happen to you. Science is science.

So here we go. If you continue to smoke you are likely to get (or may have already:)

COPD

Lung Cancer and other cancers

Heart disease

Asthma

COPD

Chronic bronchitis

Emphysema

Ulcer

Leg cramps

Stroke

Death

You know the statistics so please, do not think you are special or super human. Do not think that you can do other things to combat the likeliness of a terrible happening to you. I had a client tell me that he eats healthy and works out and believes that because he does those things, smoking is less dangerous. That’s wrong. While those things help the human body and will help you in quitting smoking it does not combat the dangers of smoking.

One thing I really want to talk about is carbon monoxide.

You have heard of carbon monoxide right? You probably know not to use a wood burning stove in your home or leave your car running in the garage. But did you know that smokers have a high amount of carbon monoxide in their blood?

The reason this is scary is because it’s not usually enough to kill you but it’s enough to make you sick. YOu may think you’re feeling unwell because of smoke in your lungs or perhaps something else but if you are having any of the following symptoms, chances are, it’s from carbon monoxide:

Increased heart rate

Headaches

Inability to tolerate exercise

Basically, the carbon monoxide in your body reduces the amount of oxygen your cells receive. Without the proper oxygen you are the road to getting heart disease. Also, second hand smoke causes carbon monoxide levels to rise significantly so think about those around you too.

So now I want you to reflect on your own health. We’re not keeping score here but just jot down or think about this in your head. Do you have any of these problems?

• Coughing

• Bad breath

• Trouble breathing

• Stamina

• Last time you were checked for lung cancer?

• Blood pressure

• Headaches

• Gum problems

• Dental problems

• Wrinkles

Here’s another statistic. Smokers get sick more often. How much time have you missed from work? Be honest, about your sickness. While you may not think your flu, bronchitis, headache, etc. was caused from smoking, you don’t know that it wasn’t either.

This section is not to frighten you or try to scare you out of smoking. This section is here to challenge you to be true to yourself and to reflect on the fact that you are in danger.

Welcome to section 3. In the last section I talked about being honest about your health. Now we’re going to talk about being honest about your finances. In this section it doesn’t matter if you make $5000 per year or if you make $200,000 per year. One thing I think everyone can agree on is that extra cash or disposable income would be nice. So let’s calculate exactly how much you are spending on cigarettes.

At the beginning of the course I asked you to take 1-3 days and log your smoking habits. We will utilize this tool in this section and then again a little later. So if you recorded more than one day, take the average and use that number. Let’s work through this together.

How many cigarettes do you smoke per day?

Now multiply that number by 7 to get your weekly total.

How many cigarettes come in a pack? IN the US it’s typically about 20 cigarettes in a pack. So if I smoked 10 cigarettes per day and there are about 20 cigarettes in a pack, my number would be about 3 ½ packs per week.

Now, since there are 52 weeks in a year, multiply how many packs you smoke per week by 52 to get your yearly total.

Now, how much does a pack of cigarettes cost you? If you buy by the carton, you’ll have to figure that out. Now multiply your yearly number by the cost per pack. For someone who smokes 10 cigarettes per day, it comes out to be about $910.00 per year.

Now, I’m going to be completely honest with you - this is a very low end. Most people I have met, smoke a pack per day, if not more, which makes the yearly number closer to $1800.00 per year.

What would you do with an extra 1

$1000 - $2000 per year? (or whatever your number is)

Would you go on a vacation? Buy some new clothes? Pay down debt or join a gym?

Think about what you would do with the extra money.

Now I have a task for you. How were you paying for your smokes? Were you using a debit card? Cash? However you were using it, I want you to take the money and figure out a way to automatically transfer the money into a separate account each week. So if you were spending about $40.00 per week, set up an automatic transfer to a savings account. If you were using cash. Put the cash in an envelope. Get this ready before setting your quit date so you can activate the process the moment you quit. When you set your quit day (section 9) you can know that you will be ready to start saving money immediately.

• How much money do you spend on smoking? (section 3)

  • How many cigarettes do you smoke per day?

  • How many packs do you smoke in a week?

    • Example 10 cigarettes per day = 3.5 packs per week

    • Multiply that number by 52 (example 182 packs per year)

    • Multiply that number by the cost of a pack ($910 per year)

  • What would you do with an addiction $910 per year?

    • Vacation

    • clothes/shoes

    • Gym membership

    • Pay down debt

Welcome to section 4. Second hand smoke. I really want you to take a minute and think back to your childhood. Who smoked when you were little? What is the earliest memory you have of someone smoking? Do you remember how you felt?

Personally, as someone who grew up with parents and grandparents who smoked, I remember quite vividly what is was like to sit in the back seat of a car breathing in secondhand smoke on family vacations. As I got older I remember burying my face into a blanket in our living room because I couldn’t stand the smell of the smoke. What about you?

Now think about the first time you tried a cigarette. Were there other people around you who didn’t smoke? Did you even notice? Now think from that point forward. Every time you lit up a cigarette did you check to see how other people felt about it? Did you smoke around your kids?

They can smell smoke on you for much longer but this is not something you know. Just like how most people cannot smell their own body odor. Most people cannot smell their home if it stinks. Our sense of smell has a funny way of filtering out bad smells - especially if it something you are used to day in and day out.

You see, many of you might be thinking, it’s my right to smoke and it’s nobody else’s business. I challenge you to flip that thinking. Remember what is was like before you started smoking. Quite frankly, it is other people’s business. And, just by being here and taking this course. I know that you want to quit, maybe for yourself or maybe for those around you. That’s it for this section - see you in the next section when we talk about addiction

• Who smoked when you were a kid?

• How did it make you feel?

• Do you smoke around other people?

• Do you know that people can smell smoke when they walk into an area you have smoked in over 5 minutes ago? They can smell smoke on you for much longer.

According to the American Heart Association: nicotine is a highly addictive substance found naturally in tobacco. It travels quickly to the brain when it is inhaled and can cause a feeling of temporary relaxation and/or stress relief. Nicotine can also elevate your mood and your heart rate.

As a chemical dependency counselor, this is something that always took me by surprise. My clients were able to kick the heroin or meth but had so much trouble quitting nicotine. I spent hours researching why nicotine is so hard to quit. I read numerous peer reviewed studies and I kept coming across this statement: Nicotine is harder to quit than heroin. I was shocked and thought there is no way on earth that could be possible, but it is.

The reasons behind this is quite complicated and has to do with the brain’s reward system.

Think about the social aspect too and how easy it is to have a quick smoke compared to sources and finding another drug like heroin. I can get up right now, take a few bucks and drive to my local store and pick up some smokes. It’s not as easy for other substances and the brain knows that.

While heroin may have more difficult and intense withdrawals, the urge to do it again is not the same urge smokers who crave nicotine feel.

So let me ask you this: you know smoking is bad for you. Why do you continue to smoke? Answer this question in your book - be sure to write it down as this process is going to help you better understand yourself.

Welcome to section 6 - knowing yourself. Now we’re going to reflect back on your journal. For this section you will need 1-3 days worth of journalling - preferably three but one will do the job. You should have noted everything you were doing when you lit up that cigarette. For example, were you about to take a shower? Did you light up after you ate or when you were hungry?

For this section, I want you to study your journal to see if you can find some correlations. In addition, I want you to pause the course and add 1-3 days more to journalling. This time, I want you to get even deeper. So you will see in your activity book, you know what you were doing but let’s focus now and how you feel before you light a cigarette. I want you to note anything you can about your environment and the way you feel. For example, what is the temperature? Are you bored? Do you feel anxious? Are you working? Not working? Stressed? And so on. So, pause this course and focus more on your workbook. Once you have another day of journaling under your belt, revisit your journal and make some notes. What do you notice?

This section should be watched 1-2 days after you have completed section 6. Your journal and workbook should be fully up to date and you should start to look at trends. What were some of your trends? For example, did you do most of your smoking at home or at work? IN the morning or the afternoon? Were you bored or stressed?

Remember John?

Now what I want you to do is make a change to your routine. Start with your very first cigarette you have. What time do you have your cigarette? Can you delay your first smoke by 30 minutes? Do something else instead? How will you fill the time?

Go through your journal step by step and see if you change up your routine so you’re not doing those things you were doing when you were lighting up a smoke.

For example, did you smoke while you were driving? Maybe try chewing gum instead.

Did you smoke when you were hungry? Try having a healthy snack instead. Be careful with the food though as you don’t want to replace one bad habit for another. A lot people substitute food for smoking and that is not recommended. If you feel like there is no other way I suggest a healthy snack such a carrot sticks or a piece of fruit.

If you are stressed, try to reduce your activities. If you are bored, try to engage in a hobby like gardening or yoga. Remember, you now have some extra funds you should be utilized to keep yourself from healthy and away from triggers.

Exercise is also a must. Even if you start with light exercise every day, you will soon notice that your will be able to increase your capacity over time. I highly recommend joining a gym or fitness class (yoga, zumba, spin, weight training, etc.) This will help you get results faster as smoking is truly a hindrance when engaging in physical activity.

This is Rachel and Gary

Commit now - write down your top three commitments and take action today!

• We are all set in our routines - make a change to that routine to see if you can change your smoking schedule. For example, start with delaying your first cigarette by an hour or so. How will you fill the time?

• Notice your triggers. Do you smoke while you drive? Try chewing gum instead. Do you smoke when you are stressed? Try stress reducing activities instead.

• Healthy eating - much easier when you have a healthy eating (not a diet or reduced calorie plan - just being conscious of the foods you do eat.)

• Exercise - it may be hard to exercise at first - especially cardio but you must do this to help.

Hello and welcome to section 8.

Are you ready?

If you’ve worked through this plan you are 3 - 6 days into self observation and journalling. You have identified some of the main root causes that fuel your addiction and now it’s time to check to see if you are truly ready to quit smoking. It’s important that before you proceed to setting a date you are fully committed. If you try to move forward before you are ready, it’s not likely to work. So let’s make a pros and cons list now and then you can decide if the pros outweigh the cons. Turn to page [insert page] and make your list. When you are finished I want you to decide for yourself if you are ready to proceed. If you’re ready, great! I truly believe you can do this and we’ll continue in section 9 where we will talk about setting a date and how to take action. If you are having doubts that’s okay too. You may need a little more time for self reaction or you may decide to proceed anyway. In section 10 I will talk about what to do if things aren’t working out as planned or when things get too tough.

Are you excited to change your life?! I hope you are! See you in section 9!

Hi and welcome to section 9. I’m really excited that you’ve made it this far - you are truly dedicated to make that change. Let’s talk about setting date. I talk about this in all of my addiction course because it’s so crucial to plan things out. When you don’t plan properly you don’t prepare yourself for the things that are going to happen along the way.

When you set a date you can get excited about it! You can plan and prepare - and with that you are likely to succeed. Here are some things to think about when setting a date:

Are there any important things coming up? Such as a big work presentation or maybe a meeting with your boss. Perhaps it’s your spouse’s birthday or you're meeting up with a long lost friend. You don’t want to be really cranky during those activities so I would not recommend quitting on those. Pick a time that’s right for you. A time where you can disrupt your schedule to stay away from those trigger moments. A time where your family or friends can support you rather than get annoyed if you get agitated or lash out.

Once you have set a date, I want you to tell as many people as you possibly can. You know why? Because when you tell people, you are more likely to stick to it. I mean how embarrassing would it be if you said I am going to quit on September 1st and then your family and friends call or text you and you say, “Ya, I failed.” Hold yourself account and have your friends and family hold you accountable as well. Sometimes we are okay with letting ourselves down but letting our loved down is much harder.

Once you have a date, it’s important to plan and prepare.

Make sure you get rid of lighters, ashtrays, and of course all cigarettes. Do not keep them in your home. You will fail if you do.

Organize your home and environment to alleviate triggers. Does certain music give you the urge to smoke? Do you look at your back patio perhaps and visualize yourself smoking?

Change it up! Re-organize, rearrange, do whatever it takes to make your environment completely different and ready for your quit date.

Now - here comes a point where you know yourself better than anyone else. You decide how you want to quit. Some people say quitting cold turkey is the easiest while others recommend tapering down. If your quit date is tomorrow, then you will have no choice but to quit cold turkey. If you set your quit date for let’s say 2 weeks from now, then you can start tapering off - I would recommend eliminating at least two cigarettes each day.

The benefit of being in control is that you know yourself better than anyone else so don’t take anyone’s advice on this and choose to do it your way.

Okay - go ahead and start planning, write your quit date down, and tell the world. See you in section 10! Take Action

Welcome to section 10! This is our final section. I am so proud of you for taking action!

For this section, I want you to look at all of your previous journals and notes and have a plan for when you do have a craving. Write your plans down - these are your go to activities for when you are really feeling the craving. You may want to go for a walk or clean your living space.

Remember in lecture three when we talked about setting up an account or some way to save the money you were previously spending on cigarettes. Don’t be afraid to use that money for something more useful or something that will help you through your cravings. You may feel a little disappointed short term because it may not feel like you're saving any money when you spend it on things to help get you through but think about the long term. This part is only temporary and you’ll have the rest of your life to save money. You’ll save in so many other ways too - healthcare, relationships, your mental health. I do need to caution you though to make sure you are replacing your habit with something that encourages a healthy lifestyle. Don’t start drinking alcohol, eating fatty or sugar foods, or sitting on the sofa all day watching movies. These things are not better for you and you will not feel better either.

Let’s talk about relapse now.

This happens and if you find yourself smoking again, don’t give up! You do not have to start over. Once you realize it was a mistake, just pick up again right where you left off. Reach out to your family or friends. Self reflect and journal more to figure out why you’ve relapsed but do not think of yourself as a failure.

If you find yourself in a state where it seems as though nothing is working, please reach out for professional help. Ask your doctor as you may be a good candidate for nicotine replacements.

Here are some free resources you can utilize. Please don’t be afraid to reach out!