1. Build a quit plan.
Pick a quit date that gives you time to prepare without losing your motivation to quit. Tell friends and family that you are quitting. Remove cigarettes and ashtrays from your home, work, and car. Identify smoking triggers, and decide how you are going to deal with them.
2. Plan for the challenges you'll face while quitting.
Most people who begin smoking again do so within the first three months. You can help yourself make it through by preparing ahead for common challenges, such as nicotine withdrawal and cigarette cravings.
3. Remove cigarettes and other tobacco products from your home, car, and work.
Throw away all of your cigarettes (no emergency pack!), lighters, ashtrays, and matches. Wash your clothes and freshen up anything that smells like smoke. Shampoo your car, clean your drapes and carpet, and steam your furniture.
4. Have green tea
The act of brewing the tea and slowing sipping it as it cools will provide the same stress relief as a hit of nicotine. Or carry cinnamon-flavored toothpicks and suck on one whenever a cig craving hits.
5. Create a smoke-free zone.
Don’t allow anyone to use tobacco in your home, car, or even while sitting next to you in a restaurant. Make actual “No Smoking” signs and hang them around your house and in your car.
6. Ask your doctor about help
Your doctor can prescribe medication to help with withdrawal and suggest other alternatives. If you can't see a doctor, you can get many products over the counter at your local pharmacy or grocery store, including the nicotine patch, nicotine lozenges, and nicotine gum.
If you relapse, just start again.
You haven’t failed. Some people have to quit as many as eight times before they are successful.
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