The Great American SMOKE OUT

Every year The Cancer Society sponsors The Great American Smoke Out. It is a fun event that brings to the mind of every smoker if it isn't a good time to quit. It is also a challenge to smokers that asks them to quit for one day. I would like to use this event to make a personal challenge to use this day to Practice Quitting. This is an ideal time when you are thinking of your smoking because of this event to just try it.

What are the merits of quitting for only one day you might ask yourself. Well I believe that a practice day can teach you alot and will help your eventual quit effort by bringing to that effort some knowledge about "smoking and you" that will give you an edge that you would not have had without it.

You can learn alot about your triggers, and about cravings on this practice day. You have a practice day so since you have a desire to make your eventual quitting effective 100% then how best to learn. I suggest a diary. This might come in the form of a small index card that has the following headings. TRIGGER TIME EMOTION IMPORTANCE WHAT DID YOU DO?

The Trigger might be a harsh word spoken to you, or phone call, coffee, alcohol, or anything that made you think of smoking. Many times there are places or situations that can trigger a craving or a need to smoke.

The time element of this small diary can tell you if there are times during the day that you usually smoke. Perhaps you subconsiously know what these are but the diary will clarify the times during the day your body physically expects you to smoke.

The Emotion will bring to your attention what emotions seem to suggest to your mind that a cigarette would "feel good" or make the situations less stressful. Many times people believe that smoking calms them. In hind sight after quitting they examine this belief and think that in todays world smoking causes more stress more than it calms it.

How Important a cigarette varies. Are you smoking because you ran into a friend that you usually smoke with so you are sharing the time together smoking or are the kids really getting to you and you are using a cigarette break to get a way from them for a bit? Just have a 1 to 10 series to show how important the cigarette is to you with 1 being didn't really need to smoke to 10 being I NEED A SMOKE.

With your practice day you can look at strategies that you used to not smoke. Is it concentrating on your breath, taking a mini vacation to in your mind Hawaii or taking a break from what you are doing to a more active activity. These can get you thinking of strategies and allow you to try them out to see how effective they were for you.

The next suggestion is for you to remember on your practice day that cravings only last a few minutes. You can make it through 2 - 5 minutes can't you. This practice reminds you that you are a strong woman, you have overcome many hard times and you can get through the next few minutes of a craving too. It is a powerful tool to remind yourself that You Can Overcome.

So on this Great American Smoke Out have a practice day of Quitting and learn about when you might find it a difficult time, what your triggers are, and what works to get through those cravings. Remember to be kind to yourself during this day. It might not be an easy day but you are learning a lot about yourself and with Practice comes Perfection.