Psychological and Physical Withdrawal - Part 1

Perhaps you are one of the 20 to 50% of smokers who rely on cigarettes to help them focus.

What's that? Simply put, smokers sometimes rely on cigarettes to put them in their own worlds and help them be creative. If you are rather fragile and sensitive, for example, you might use cigarettes to calm anxiety. This means that you use cigarettes specifically to calm yourself and might do less substantial smoking than other types of smokers.

If you are insecure or have low self-esteem, this habit may help you insulate yourself from others. If this is you, you may be frightened of giving up smoking; if you compulsively smoke more than 50% of the time, your fear of stopping may become a severe barrier to your quitting.

In fact, if you decide to quit and are this type of smoker, you may actually smoke more cigarettes after you decide to stop than you did before, until you quit. If you're relatively healthy, it may be difficult for you to give up this type of "compelled" smoking because you have few visible health barriers to continuing. You may seek assurance that you can live without cigarettes before you smoke your last.

If this is you, remind yourself that you and your talents are what matter, not the cigarettes themselves. If you actually accomplish smoking cessation, you not only become healthier and more comfortable as a non-smoker, but you will also be able to incorporate stress relieving mechanisms that are much healthier. This, in turn, may make you more relaxed than you were previously.

Tags: Stop Smoking Tips