Ever wondered how to stop friends who want to stop your quit smoking efforts? Find an answer in this presentation.

1. How to Stop Friends from Stopping
Your Quit Smoking Efforts
By
http://2stopsmokingtips.com

2. Introduction
• A recent study conducted by pharmaceutical
giants, Pfizer, revealed that a third of smokers
have confessed to interfering with other
peoples’ attempt to stop smoking.
• Their reasons for disrupting other people’s
quitting attempts include guilt about their
own addiction, envy, and longing to have a
smoking “partner”.

3. Study Reveals Smokers Sabotage
Others
• During this study, Pfizer allegedly collected
statistics from 6,300 present and ex-smokers
and discovered that 31% of smokers have
wrecked the cessation attempts of other
persons. In conclusion, the study states that
72% of smokers who have attempted to quit
thought that someone has destroyed their
quitting efforts.

4. Study Reveals Smokers Sabotage
Others(2)
• Even though one is won’t to treat this study
with a pinch of salt (coming from Pfizer, a
manufacturer of quit smoking products with a
clear bias against cold turkey quitting), I have
decided to rather focus on how to prevent
friends or fellow smokers from sabotaging
your quit attempt. I just hope you enjoy the
article.

5. Don’t Allow a Friend Sabotage Your
Efforts
• Now, I’ve always said smoking cessation is
tough but it can be done with adequate
preparation, planning and dedication. The
challenges of quitting can be tough and you
don’t want a friend sabotaging your efforts
after you’re one week or so gone. So, what
can you do to prevent such intrusion into your
stop smoking plans and efforts?

6. 10 Situations That Can Cause a Relapse
• According to the Public Health Agency, activities that
can be linked to a relapse include:
• having too much alcohol and forgetting you’re trying to
quit smoking;
• going out of the house for a chat with smokers;
• keeping a packet of cigarettes in the house;
• a traumatic and stressful situation such as the loss of a
dear one or sickness in the family.
• These and 6 other situations must be avoided by
smokers to prevent a return back to cigarettes and
smoking.

7. How Smokers Can Prevent a Relapse
• Having identified what and what can be done
to prevent a relapse, let’s take a look at more
pre-emptive measures on the part of smokers,
intending to quit.
• Know your smoking triggers and avoid them. If
you know going out with friends will make you
smoke, by all means avoid it. Does stop
smoking mean you should avoid having fun
and hanging out with friends?

8. How Smokers Can Prevent a Relapse(2)
• Yes and No. Yes, because, it could cause you to
lose all the ground you have gained by
quitting smoking and holding up for a while. It
could even cause your death because smoking
has been linked to so many killer diseases like
COPD, Lung Cancer, Emphysema et cetera.
No, because you can still have fun in other
ways. Having fun is not restricted to going out
with friends.

9. How Smokers Can Prevent a Relapse(3)
• When you’re quitting smoking, watch who you
talk to and weigh the advice you receive. If it
doesn’t tally with your stop smoking resolve,
please avoid such companionship and advice.
In fact, I wouldn’t say avoid, I’d say flee. Yes,
run with all your might because such could be
dangerous. What you hear, see and digest
during quit smoking period has to strengthen
your resolve and not weaken it.

10. How Smokers Can Prevent a Relapse(4)
• In an earlier post, I talked about taking a
vacation to your favourite vacation spot and
leaving friends who can influence you back to
smoking behind. This helps you get through
the worst stage of smoking cessation as you
have only your mind to listen to. If you work,
you can save and plan to get a vacation before
dropping off cigarettes. This way, you have
enough money to indulge yourself and distract
your mind from smoking cigarettes.

11. How Smokers Can Prevent a Relapse(5)
• If possible, change your friends immediately
you kick the smoking habit. Surround yourself
with friends who will urge you on the quit
smoking path, instead of discouraging you.
Also, get an accountability partner (preferably
someone who has successfully quit smoking)
to keep you accountable.

12. How Smokers Can Prevent a Relapse(6)
• Instead of hanging out with smoking friends, join a gym
to exercise, if you think you cannot exercise alone. If
you can exercise alone, start with walking briskly
around the house and then graduate to running short
distances every blessed day (preferably 30 minutes
daily). Once you have mastered this, you can graduate
to running longer distances. Exercise is really beneficial
to smoking cessation and I even advise you establish a
daily exercise routine before dropping off cigarettes.
For exercise to really help you, make sure you break a
sweat and also do it consistently.

13. How Smokers Can Prevent a Relapse(7)
• Exercise and smoking are 2 incompatible habits,
so, indulging in one will make you loathe the
other.
• By all means, avoid alcohol and useless chatter.
You don’t have anything to prove to anybody.
Alcohol has been proven to enhance the taste of
cigarettes and must be avoided to prevent a
relapse. If you also find you smoke immediately
after drinking a cup of coffee, please avoid coffee
for a while.

14. How Smokers Can Prevent a Relapse(8)
• I’ve always maintained stop smoking starts
with a change in your thinking and if you
think you need your old friends to survive
after quitting, you would fall pray to their
whims and caprices. So, shift your thinking
and reprogram your mind to effectively quit
smoking. Tell your mind you don’t need any
old friend to successfully quit. Rather, join a
support group of people who recently quit.
They’ll help you stay on course.

15. How Smokers Can Prevent a Relapse(9)
• As part of the mind change, force your mind
to stay focused on the quit smoking journey.
Avoid distractions at all costs. Look at the end
result, carry your ‘reasons-for-quitting-note’
with you and read it loud to yourself every
time you have the opportunity to do so.
Constantly remind yourself about the benefits
of quitting; it helps to strengthen your
resolve.

16. How Smokers Can Prevent a
Relapse(10)
• Change things up. Disrupt your daily routines
so you’re less likely to reach for a cigarette
without thinking. If you used to go to work
with smoking friends, start going to work
alone. If you used to smoke while driving to
work, start going by public transportation.

17. How Smokers Can Prevent a
Relapse(11)
• At every stage in your smoking journey, talk to
people who urge you on; people who encourage
you; people who show you the way out of tricky
cigarette withdrawal symptoms. Don’t, because
you want to avoid smoking friends, avoid people
totally. It’s not everybody out there who’s
sabotaging quit attempts. There are people out
there who are prepared to help. Reach out to
them anytime you feel like talking about your
stop smoking challenges.

18. Thanks for Reading!!!
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