Finding a Way to Quit Smoking for Good: Points to Ponder

The reality is that many people actually have a way to quit smoking. However, the sad and difficult reality is that many of these same people who have stopped smoking end up starting all over again ... sometimes in a very short period of time. In the end, the key is to not only quit smoking but to find a system through which you can stop smoking forever.

A Comprehensive Approach Works Best

The typical person who is interested in finding a way to quit smoking usually does just that ... he or she selects one tool to use in the quest for smoking cessation. Arguably, this is like thinking that you will be able to build a house using only a hammer. The fact is, the reality is that in order to successfully build a house (a house that will stand the test of time) you require a number of different tools.

The same holds true when it comes to stopping smoking. Those people who really do enjoy smoking cessation success precisely are those individuals that use a number of different tools in order to achieve their goal. In other words, these individuals take what can best be described as a comprehensive approach to smoking cessation.

There is No "Magical Cure"

In this day and age, it is difficult to turn on the television or radio, log onto the Net or pick up a newspaper or magazine without seeing or hearing a new easy way to quit smoking being touted. Unfortunately, time and again smokers from all walks of life can be seen flocking to purchase the latest proverbial miracle sure on the market with the unbridled hope that they will be able to easily, quickly and permanently be able to kick their smoking habit to the curb.

On some level, these various remedies, plans, treatments and programs really end up being rather like the snake oil that salesmen hawked across the country from the backs of wagons for years. In short, these miracle smoking cures are neither miracles nor cures. Rather, they merely cause a pause in a person's smoking habits for what in many instances amounts to only a small respite from cigarettes.

Dealing with Nicotine

If you are serious about stopping smoking, you do need to understand the pull that nicotine can have on your body. Nicotine is a drug, plain and simple. And, research supports the idea that nicotine is addictive.

Understanding these basic facts, if you really do want to make a clean and lasting break from smoking, it is important that you have a strategy in place to deal with your body's attraction or addiction to nicotine. In this regard, there are nicotine replacement products that can be useful in weening your system off of the drug itself. However, you must appreciate that nicotine replacement products - while useful - are only part of an overall program that you need to adopt in order to break the smoking cycle once and for all.

Nicotine replacement products allow you to manage the physiological aspects of smoking (your body's reliance upon nicotine) so that you are able to face down the other factors that made you a smoker in the first instance.

Replacing a Bad Habit with a Good One

Finally, when it comes to finding an effective way to quit smoking once and for all, you need to keep in mind that part of the reason that you used cigarettes (in addition to an addiction or reliance upon the nicotine in tobacco) was the fact that smoking was a habit, albeit a bad one. The best and most effective way of breaking a bad habit is replacing it with a good one.

For example, during those times of the day when you normally would take a break to smoke, instead take a few minutes to walk briskly. Rather than puff on a smoke, eat a few carrot or celery slices. The list of positive or good habits that you can utilize as a smoking replacement is only constrained by your own imagination.