How do you break a habit?
The first step is to accept that you have a habit and then look at the reasons why you have that habit.
If you know the reasons you can then think of better ways to deal with those reasons.
The reason why you started smoking might not be the reason why you continue to smoke so you will need to look at your current situation and look at the things that make you want to smoke.
Large portions of the people who take up smoking do so to be accepted by others. After smoking for some time on a regular basis and with the added evil of the addictive nature of nicotine the original reason might have little bearing on the reason why you continue to smoke.
It might be that you now find some comfort in having a smoke or it makes you feel great when you have a smoke.
The next time you pick up a cigarette to smoke think about the things that made you want to light up.
Was it something that happened (and this can even be a particular time of the day such as breakfast)
Was it something that someone else said or did? Did you get upset or angry and feel the need for a cigarette?
You need to be honest and answer the questions before you can break the habit. Smoking is a habit and you can’t hope to quit if you don’t know what the habit is. It is no use simply saying that smoking is the habit as there are almost always triggers that stimulate the need for the next cigarette.
One of the best ways to break the habit is to refrain from smoking when you are faced with the situations or emotions that would normally cause you to smoke. Even if you delay the reaction to these events initially and wait a few minutes before having the smoke you will be going some way to breaking the habit. You will begin to gain back some of the control in your life that you lose each time you feel the need to smoke.
By separating the action of smoking from the event that usually causes the desire to smoke will break the smoking habit.