Help a Friend Quit Smoking Through Encouragement
Author: Remy Jirek
Help a friend quit smoking by consistently being there as an encouragement to them. Support their goal to stop smoking with enthusiasm and vigor-this well help them face their smoking demon. The power of a supportive family member or friend is amazing to anyone who is trying to quit smoking.
How to Encourage
Many people that are close to a smoker do not know how to encourage them without being a nag. Encouragement is a wonderful gift to your friend or family member and can easily be accomplished. You do not need special skills to encourage…you just need a kind heart and a willingness to listen.
Once quitting has been identified as a possible goal it is time for you to step in with encouraging words. It is important not to be overly focused on helping the person become smokeless. Instead use encouraging words to let your friend or family member know that you are there for them if they need anything.
Becoming smoke-free is a long and difficult process. Your job as the encourager is to help your friend forget about the mistakes or slip-ups and encourage all the progress they are making. Most smokers do have an occasional slip up, don't encourage a slip up but don't berate your friend when one happens. Everyone is human and will make mistakes; it is what happens after the mistake that counts. Help your friend get back on track to reaching their non-smoking goal.
Nicotine and tobacco are very addictive substances that can take months or even years to truly get out of a person's system. Even after quitting some smokers say they continue to have urges to start smoking again. Your loved one will welcome your continued support as they struggle to stay smoke-free.
How to Quit
It does not matter how a person chooses to quit smoking. Some people feel that they have to quit smoking cold turkey, while others cannot imagine the horrors of that. The gradual decrease of nicotine is the most common way for smokers to quit smoking. They gradually decrease their exposure to nicotine through decreasing their cigarette consumption and often time using a nicotine patch.
For encouragement purposes you can help support your friend or family member no matter how they have decided to quit smoking. Some important tips to help encourage the smoker's in your life to stop smoking:
1. Be positive and uplifting when you talk about their successes.
2. Acknowledge when mistakes are made but don't dwell on them
3. Support their choice in quitting strategies
4. Help them steer clear of highly charged smoking situations
5. Be their friend!
You do not have to be a counselor to be good at encouraging. Simply be there for your friend or family member as they struggle to quit smoking. Encourage them every moment you get and they will soon have control over their desire to stop smoking. Remember that every person is going to quit smoking in a different way, so be supportive of the way your friend has decided to quit smoking and don't judge them.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/quit-smoking-articles/help-a-friend-quit-smoking-through-encouragement-78751.html
About the Author
Quitting smoking is one of the most difficult
addiction-breaking processes one can go through. For more helpful, supportive
tips, articles and information sources on facing this challenge please visit us
at Quit Smoking Cold Turkey
Now.
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Is there any online support to quit smoking?
Yes there is, I have created a blog that is dedicated to people who want to Quit Smoking. I don’t think I’m allowed to post a URL here, so I will put it in the sources.
Hope my blog helps,
Chris
I am looking for stop smoking support groups online? Any suggestions?
I quit smoking 2 weeks ago and am looking for support groups to help me succeed in quitting for good.
Its not just the nicotine. Its also the other 50+ chemicals they out in cigarettes. Also the main problem is habit.
We have been used to having body sensations which we translate as ‘my body needs something, which we have attempted to satisfy by having a cigarette.
When we try to stop smoking, we still get these ‘my body needs something’ sensations, and we still feel that we want a cigarette. We have to train our body to be more selective. When we feel we need something, we have to work out what it is that we actually need.
A glass of water is an excellent substitute if nothing else comes to mind, as it helps with the clearance of the toxic substances in our body. Another good substitute is a bag of salted peanuts, used in combination with the water.
Another thing to do is to find an activity which occupies the mind or body. Go swimming – nobody wants to smoke while they are swimming. Slowly, as our body adjusts and translates the ‘want something’ feelings into something other than cigarettes, then the feelings begin to go away. We know its not a cigarette that the body really needs, because as soon as we’ve had one we still have the feeling, and want another!
Online Support for trying to quit smoking!!!?
Today I am celebrating 2 weeks of not smoking! Unfortunately, I’m celebrating it alone because my partner is a non-smoker, and my family are all non-smokers, so nobody truly realises how hard this has been for me!
This made me think of how much I would love to be part of an online community of people going through exactly what I’m going through!
Does anybody know of any good forums I could join?
Quitnet
http://www.quitnet.org is a great site. Congratulations on 2 weeks of being smoke free!
Where can I find an online support group for quitting smoking? Please help!?
http://www.QuitNet.com
Absolutely fantastic online group. That site saved my life. Really, it did.
Is there any online support for quitting smoking?
I’m having a really bad time right now quitting smoking. I honestly feel like I’m dying. I’m so ill right now,and I’m up by myself. Does anyone know of any online chat that’s free to talk to at night?
I quit two years ago. It took two weeks of cold turkey misery and wanting to kill someone to get over the physical addiction. The mental urge slowly decreases, but never fully goes away. After about six months I was feeling so much better. I could breathe, exercise, taste food again, smell things. Night and day. Hang in there. It will get easier and easier every day, just hang in there. Soon you’ll be so controlled, free and happy, it will blow your mind. The smell of cigarettes now if completely sickening to me, and I was a pack a day guy. Just commit to the long hard haul, and give it time. You can do it.