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Re: Need help quit smoking
| quote: | Originally posted by Djsketchbag
when i'm at work or at home i have no urge to smoke only on weeekends when i'm out with freinds who smoke or when i'm drinking i always cave in and start to crave a smoke... |
RJ's advice: You need associative behavior conditioning.
You associate the friends/drinking with the behavior of smoking (thus the reason why you don't do it when you're not around friends/drinking).
You need to change the association - and that will take time. Change the association and you won't crave the smoke anymore.
3 Steps to Associative Behavior Conditioning
1) DECIDE - Make a disciplined decision to NOT smoke (don't want to quit, NEED to quit).
2) ALTERNATIVE - Find a compelling alternative to smoking. Since smoking is a chemical and behavioral issue you will need to find alternatives for both (patch, inhaler, gum for the chemical. delay, distract, deep breathing techniques for behavioral).
3) LEVERAGE - Get leverage - involve your friends in keeping you from smoking. Tell everybody you know you are trying to quit, engage them to assist you.
Obviously drinking is going to make things more difficult simply because the effect alcohol has on one's ability to make sound decisions (not to mention the synergistic effect nicotine and alcohol have on the brain/body).
Since it will take time to change the associations (months perhaps) - you may want to break down the conditioning into parts - friends & drinking. Try not to engage in drinking while around friends and learn not to smoke when around friends. Once you've mastered that (consistently, fully) you can venture into the cocktail/friend combo - just again realize that alcohol is going to impair your judgment.
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- rabbit.joker [funny¿rabbit] | www.rabbitjoker.com |www.ddtt.org
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Last edited by rabbitjoker on Jan-10-2007 at 17:49
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