Your How To Quit Smoking Help SiteIt can be tough learning how to quit smoking without some help.

Image via Wikipedia The first weekend without smoking is often a very difficult time particularly if you are accustomed to socializing. Three of my guitar playing friends had to go about a month without attending a jam because there are other smokers. It worked, after months they are still not smoking. I am proud of them, even if our jams suffered a bit while they were strengthening themselves.

If you are out with other people who smoke, then you are placing undue pressure on your attempts to stop smoking and it might be better at such an early stage of your program to avoid placing yourself in an environment where there is too much temptation.

One way to handle your first smoke free weekend is to make plans for the whole of the weekend beforehand ensuring that you are steering clear of any of the things that you know encourage you to smoke.

Write down your plans and consider how you will feel in the different situations that you will be in. Ask yourself if you would be tempted to have a cigarette in those situations and if so make changes until you are happy with what you have to look forward to.

Don’t include places or situations where there will be other people smoking as this will give you the opportunity to ’slip up’ if you are feeling so inclined.

There are always alternatives to anything that you plan so make the changes before the weekend and set yourself up for success right from the start.

It is often a good idea to do something new and different that will give you more to think about that the usual routine. This can help to take your mind off cigarettes but you will also need to ensure that you don’t introduce any additional stress into your life as that might encourage you to reach for a cigarette.

Any time you feel the urge to have a cigarette relax and wait for the craving to pass by. This will generally only take a few minutes and the fastest way you can make such feelings go away is by keeping busy and focusing on something that you find stimulating.

Each weekend will get easier than the last so conquering the first one is a major step on your road to freedom from nicotine.

Image via Wikipedia When it’s your time to quit smoking it’s best to deal with the daily stress in your life first so you don’t have that stress screaming at you to smoke more.

The best way to manage stress is not to let it build up inside you and get out of hand. This may be easier said than done, but it is well worth it. Stress has been associated with diseases such as high blood pressure, obesity, stroke, high cholesterol, migraine headaches, lupus, and more. It is vital for your physical health that you learn to manage your mental and emotional health. Stress management helps you do that.

Family Stress Management

Don’t let family stresses build up. Hold regular family meetings with your household where each family member is allowed to tell the family what is on their mind and what they are feeling stressed over. Maybe your kids’ time is overbooked and they would like to have one less activity to go to during the school year. Maybe your spouse would like to have more quality time alone with you.

Once these feelings are expressed, figure out a way to mediate the differences among family members before they get out of hand.

Workplace Stress Management

Most of us have stressful jobs, but it is important that we discover stress management techniques that help us deal with all that stress. Some workplaces recognize the value of stress management, and they offer programs for dealing with stress, or stress management training. Some workplaces have partnered with a gym or health club to make it easy for employees to work out. Others will reimburse employees for yoga or fitness classes. If such a stress management program does not already exist in your workplace, suggest it.

When stress management in the workplace is recognized as a valid need and created as an employee benefit, productivity goes up and absenteeism and health problems go down.

Financial Stress Management

Money problems are the number one source of stress in a marriage. Don’t stick your head in the sand like an ostrich to avoid your money problems. Deal with them. There are many books, television programs, and web sites that can help you do this. The basic premise is to list all your debts, and the interest rate you owe on each of them. Start paying them off by making more than the minimum monthly payment, starting with the highest interest account. Investigate how you can shift the high interest debt into lower interest debt.

How will you come up with extra money to pay off these accounts? Start now by keeping a diary of every cent you spend. Within a week or so, you will be able to pinpoint how you are spending your discretionary income. Giving up some of those discretionary items will be a sacrifice at first, but the rewards for paying off high interest debt will be worth it.