Coping With Stress After Quitting Smoking

Manage Nicotine Withdrawal Symptoms

After quitting smoking it is inevitable that the urge to smoke will present itself. Typically, urges to smoke will come and go quickly and sometimes it feels they are coming more than going. The more time you have not smoking the less the urges to smoke will present themselves. Being able to cope with stress after quitting smoking is a key component in successfully quitting.

If possible, avoid events that cause stress. This can work for a short period of time but eventually you will be faced with a stressful situation. If stress is a common occurrence in your day-to-day routine then of course this will not work. Either way it is important to know how you will handle the urge to smoke when faced with a stressful event. Many smokers smoke to alleviate stress in their life. Or do they? Could that be a misperception, can smoking really alleviate stress in a person’s life? Sure smoking does introduce chemicals into the human body that cause a reaction that is pleasurable but the stressful situation is still there and needs to be dealt with. Finding new ways to handle stressful situations is a key component in combating the urge to smoke.

If you truly are sincere about quitting smoking you can no longer use it as a crutch. Where smoking used to be an option while stress was present it no longer can be. No more, “I need a smoke!” or “A cigarette will help calm me down.” What you tell yourself and believe plays a huge roll in how successful you are at handling stress while quitting smoking.

When you begin to feel stress, tell yourself that, “Smoking is not an option.” “Smoking is not the answer.” There are healthier ways to handle stress without smoking. Was it really the smoking that helped alleviate the stressful situation or was it the things you did while you smoked? Was it the walk you took while you smoked along with the deep breathes? Both of which have shown to be beneficial when under stress and both can be done without a cigarette. There are simple things a person can do to reduce stress. Find what works for you and put those methods into practice. Replace the habit of smoking with new healthier habits.

There are many ways to cope with stress after quitting smoking. Stress will often find its way into your life but smoking to get through it does not have to be the method of dealing with it. There are millions of non-smokers who cope with stress without smoking. You can be one of those people if you work at it and realize that there are alternatives.

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