Stopping Smoking-Don't Think just Do It.

I have been a non-smoker for the best part of 8 years. Other than qualifying as a Nurse and having my kids it's probably my biggest achievement to date. Quitting was hard. Really hard, I am not sugar coating it but it was the best decision I made and it was the right decision for me, at that time. I had many reasons why I wanted to quit, mostly because of my Dad - he had a huge heart attack, was incredibly poorly and I'm fortunate he is still with us today. You can read a little bit more about my decision by clicking here.

Since I have been working in primary care my decision to cease smoking has further been cemented in my mind. Seeing patients that are living with chronic conditions and life limiting illnesses due to smoking further confirms in my mind that quitting was the right choice and I'm glad I did it when I did.

Image courtesy of pixabay.

So are you thinking of quitting? Well if you are there are alot of things nowadays that can help you to achieve this. The most important thing that I can advise is this has to be the right decision for you and only you. It will be apparent in your mind if this is the right time and if you feel you can stop smoking. It'll be a tough road, nicotine is incredibly addictive and making the decision is a huge thing to do. Always remember why you are doing it, it may be health reasons, money or other reasons but I promise it will be worth it in the long run.

For myself, I found that going 'cold turkey' was the best way - I had tried a variety of stop smoking aids from patches to inhalators (these did help me with the physical, habitual part of holding a cig) but eventually just going for broke and stopping completely was the best option. The thing I struggled with most was the habitual smoking, the cigarette first thing, the cigarette with a glass of wine......that kind of thing. As I mentioned I used an inhalator to aid with this (although I did always think it looked like a tampon, ha) but these days if I was aiming to stop I would have gone down the 'vaping' route, the physical part of holding something and inhaling as if it were a cig would have helped me hugely. I remember it being soooo tough in the first couple of weeks, but then it did start to get easier and the I felt myself becoming healthier both in myself and my bank balance! I had more energy, my smokers cough started to go and I felt better in myself.

There is tons of info surrounding vaping and e-cigarettes at the moment, I am seeing a large amount of people in surgery recently who have made the transition from smoking actual cigarettes to e-cigs with the aim to eventually be completely smoking free, and this, in my opinion is a fantastic achievement and something I absolutely encourage (as long as the aim is to ultimately not use an e-cig for an extended period of time). There is a wealth of information available to those who are interested in quitting and if you click here you can have a browse and read of lots of interesting articles and infographics regarding this and perhaps this will help to sway your decision into entering a smoke free life. 

My advice, if you are thinking of quitting, stop thinking too much about it and just do it. It might be hard but in the long run it is totally and utterly worth it.  Read more about vaping on this website.

* This is a collaborative post but something I am truly passionate about.