 Yes, You Can Quit Smoking
What Are the Obstacles
The Day You Actually Quit Smoking
You're About to Become a Non-Smoker
The Table of Contents
About the Author
Order Online
Additional American Lung Association Resources
Yes, You Can Quit Smoking... For Good!
You've thought about it a lot. Maybe you've tried once or twice before. But this time, you think you may really be ready. You feel you're definitely serious about wanting to quit smoking. Now! For good! And this book will show you how.
What's going to make the crucial difference for you is the expertise of the American Lung Association. The American Lung Association and its volunteer scientists, doctors, and citizens have been working for decades to understand why people smoke and how they quit. 7 Steps to a Smoke-Free Life is based on the American Lung Association's respected Freedom From Smoking® program. Using this book, you'll be able to follow the program in your own home, without having to travel to group meetings.
If you've had a hard time trying to quit—and staying quit—on your own, the 7 Steps to a Smoke-Free Life program is for you. It helps you figure out and enhance your own personal reasons to quit, helps you understand and cope with both the habit and addiction components of smoking, helps you make staying off cigarettes the priority it needs to be, and helps you plan effective ways to keep temptations to smoke from doing you in.
You're probably thinking, "Why should this approach work any better than the other quit-smoking programs I've tried that didn't help at all?" Here's why: The 7 Steps to a Smoke-Free Life program treats you like the individual you are.
No two smokers are alike. This program helps you figure out why you smoke, and which people, places, and things trigger your unique urge to light up. It's individually designed for you. For example, You may have very personal reasons for smoking:
- You're under a lot of stress at work.
- All of your friends are smokers, so you can't escape it.
- Smoking helps you keep your weight down.
- You really have a strong addiction to cigarettes. You have trouble going an hour without one.
- You really enjoy smoking. It is pleasurable for you.
- You don't have the willpower to quit.
- Smoking helps you feel relaxed and positive.
Whatever your personal reasons for smoking may be, we'll help you to recognize them. Check out the Pack Track in Chapter 5, for example. It's the key to discovering where, when and why you light up.
What Are the Obstacles?
In Chapter 3, you'll review the obstacles that prevented you from quitting in the past. This time, you'll finally learn how to overcome each obstacle. You'll check off a list of roadblocks that are holding you back, and then one by one you'll learn how to clear them away.
For instance, what if you've never been able to quit smoking for more than a few days? Your nicotine craving has always gnawed away at you, until you were forced to smoke "just one cigarette" to ease that discomfort. The 7 Steps to a Smoke-Free Life program will give you some options for dealing with this. You may want to try nicotine fading (described in Chapter 7) to gradually reduce your nicotine cravings, before you quit altogether. That way, giving up cigarettes will be less difficult. Or you may want to try nicotine replacement—such as the patch or gum—to help you get used to not smoking before you have to give up nicotine entirely.
Once you've learned about these techniques and other ways to help yourself over the roadblocks, you're ready to select your own personalized quitting plan—your winning strategy—that's just right for you and your special needs. Then you can set that important date: Your Quit Day.
The Day You Actually Quit Smoking
It's going to be one of the most important days of your life. The step-by-step guide in Chapter 8 will set out specific day-by-day activities to prepare for your Quit Day. And Chapter 9 shows you exactly what to do on the big day, the day you actually quit smoking.
Of course, that's only the beginning. Many people face some tough times when they've stopped smoking, especially in the first week or two without cigarettes. But you'll be prepared for tough times. Whenever you want a cigarette, try the Four D's. You'll find them in Chapter 9. Or if you're feeling tense and irritable, use a simple Relaxercise that helps you stay calm without smoking. That's in Chapter 3. And we've got five more strategies to help you maintain your quit-smoking program, which you'll read about, too.
"Sure, this sounds good," you're thinking. "But what if I slip and smoke a cigarette or two? That's what's always happened before." Don't let this stop you. Millions of people who have quit smoking slip up. But in Chapter 10 of the7 Steps to a Smoke-Free Life program, you'll learn to treat a slip-up like an emergency, to keep a lapse from becoming a relapse. You'll be given the tools to handle the situation. You'll be armed with a nonsmoking strategy to last a lifetime.
And, should the slip become a relapse, take heart. Most successful quitters relapsed a few times before they quit successfully. Chapter 12 helps you learn from your relapse and feel more confident about quitting again.
You're About to Become a Nonsmoker
Congratulations on taking this step toward quitting. You are on your way to doing one of the best things you can do for yourself and the people around you. You are now on your way to a smoke-free you and a smoke-free life. It will be a better life for you, and the people close to you.
Additional American Lung Association Resources
Call your local American Lung Association at 1-800-LUNG-USA (1-800-586-4872) to find out more about how to stop smoking for good. The Lung Association is offering a new way to stop smoking through its Freedom From Smoking®; online smoking cessation clinic. The program is based on the Lung Association's Freedom From Smoking® program, which has already helped thousands of smokers quit smoking for good. The Freedom From Smoking® online smoking cessation clinic can be accessed day or night, seven days a week, on any schedule a smoker chooses.
Visit www.ffsonline.org and stop smoking today!
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