It isn’t easy to stop smoking; I know because I used to smoke, I even became a secret smoker at one point. I would smoke about 5 a day and then reached 20 a day and I couldn’t even afford to, I felt horrible, couldn’t breath properly, would get out of breath walking up the stairs, I honestly stank of smoke and I was very unappealing to others, especially when dating! So, yes, I know first hand how you feel, what you are going through now and what you will be going through when stopping.

It got to the point where I was just fed up of the way I felt and found myself becoming lazy because I’d rather smoke a fag than do something else however, I managed to stop and with the same techniques I now use with my clients.

It is important to deal with the 3 areas of smoking

  • Nicotine addiction
  • Obsessive behaviours
  • Psychological addiction

This is like making a cake, if you leave out one ingredient then the cake just wont work.

In order to be successful on your journey to stop smoking permanently then you should want to be 100% committed to the therapy and not expect your therapist to “make me stop smoking”, the reality is that no one can make you do anything and your therapy is your responsibility and the therapist is there to help and supply all the tools you need to be successful and you will only get out what you put in to your stop smoking programme.

It is a must that you get off the nicotine; it is this that is the addictive substance. Smoking E-cigarettes & vapes that don’t contain nicotine are not stopping the habit and will likely turn you back to smoking at some point.

I design a bespoke treatment plan for all my clients as no two cases are the same, so when looking for your therapist, make sure that they will do the same for you – there is no point in your therapist giving you suggestion to stop for financial reasons if you want to stop because of your health.

Top tips to be successful

  • Set your date for as soon as possible – you know that the longer you leave it the less likely you are to stop.
  • Make the night before your stop date your last smoke.
  • Throw away EVERYTHING in your car and home that is smoking related, after that last cigarette – ashtrays, lighters, matches, destroy any cigarettes/tobacco you may have left over, E-cigarettes/vapes, and anything else that contains nicotine, just because your vape doesn’t contain nicotine doesn’t mean you can keep it – throw is away!
  • Change your habits – if you smoke in the car, take another route play different music or turn the radio off. After a meal talk a light walk in the garden, it doesn’t matter what you do just change your routine.
  • Find techniques to help you relax and move away from smoking related thoughts when cravings may kick in – NLP, mindfulness, self hypnosis and other relaxation techniques are all very good for this. The cravings will soon pass, just focus on something else.

Remember, you were not born a smoker so, by nature you are a non smoker!

  

Ed Francis

As an integrative therapist, I use extensive experience and training in effective methods that can help people overcome problems, phobias and issues that create obstacles in a person’s life. These methods include clinical hypnotherapy, NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), psycho-therapeutic methods, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing), CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), Brief Strategic Therapy, Counselling, and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique).