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Are you ready to stop smoking?

Of course you are…or at least you’re starting to think about it.

So whenever you decide to make the change? Consider this is your go-to list of ways to prepare yourself to stop smoking. Choose what you like, ditch what you don’t and let me know what other genius things work for you!

17 Ways to Prepare to Stop Smoking

It’s a lot to take on. Not smoking? Thinking way off into the great abyss imagining your entire life without another single cigarette in your hand.

But the thing I’ve noticed since I stopped smoking (AND I LOVE SMOKING) is that all the best moments in my life? The good the bad & the ugly. None of them happened with a cigarette in my mouth.

The cigarettes were for the everyday. For the before and the after. But never the event.

Think about it, I bet you didn’t start your first day in secondary school with a cigarette in your hand. Or that moment you started your first job. Not when you gave your best job interview ever. And there wasn’t a cigarette in your mouth during your first kiss. None of the BIG events in your life actually revolve around a cigarette.

In fact, I don’t think I can fully remember any of the cigarettes I’ve smoked.

Except one

I was sitting in the front seat of my dads car, parked outside what used to be Homebase in Cowley. And he asked me if he could have a cigarette?

Surprised?

Yes! I thought he’d quit years ago. “Just a cheeky one” he said. So we both sat there. Enjoying a smoke, laughing and putting the world to rights in the way only we knew how.

The next day I got a call. He’d been rushed to hospital by ambulance. And soon after I got there he died. It wasn’t the cigarette I gave him, I’m sure of that. But that cigarette got emblazoned on my mind in a good way. In the last moment I had with my Dad way.

And I didn’t stop. I kept smoking. I kept going with the thick morning cough and the yellow fingers. The merry hell it played with my asthma and the stress of not being able to get pregnant.

I had a few quit attempts. Some half hearted. Some because my husband nagged me. But the common triggers kept dragging me back. The habit. The stress. And the social circle. Plus wine, of course. I tried the gradual approach too. But it wasn’t for me.

I’m not saying the successful quitting process I used is for everyone. And I’m not saying you have to stop smoking naturally like I did. I’m not even suggesting that you need hypnotherapy to stop smoking.

But hypnotherapy can be useful. And I recommend everyone speaks to their GP before stopping smoking. And contact them if you’re worried about any emotional or physical symptoms you get when you do quit.

My Quit Smoking Plan:

Decided on my quit day. And New Years Day made tracking my success easy!

Didn’t tell my husband because he’s a fierce non-smoker and I didn’t need ‘the nagging’.

Identified my ‘smoking triggers’ to improve my chance of success. Ultimately, this is how I prepared to stop smoking:

Stopped going to the pub and I paused my social life. It would survive without me.

Curbed my evening glass of wine.

Divorced my office smoking buddy. Sad? Yes. But she understood.

Then on New Years Eve:

Smoked every single cigarette I owned.

Didn’t drink TOO much; you don’t need a hangover on your first smoke free day.

And off I went. Not talking about smokes. Not thinking about smokes. Just kept my mind off smoking as best I could. Telling my smoking saboteur (the part of your mind that loves cigarettes or vaping) to shut up & leave me alone while I managed all the feelings it threw at me.

The saboteur is the part of the brain that says you need to smoke, says you are useless at quitting, tells you you can’t.

BUT YOU CAN STOP SMOKING

And I did too. Because I decided to stop consciously and unconsciously. No one nagging.

I was tired of the breathing problems. Sick of the morning cough. And bored of my Doctor telling me off. So I switched my smoking habit off.

So I switched my smoking brain off

I’ve been helping people stop smoking for nearly 10 years and I believe the best way to give up is your way. So I won’t tell you to stop, and we don’t set a date.

We will:

• Reveal the cycle & normalise it
• Address limiting beliefs & that part that pulls you back
• Build on the strengths you have to quit
• Settle the part of you that’s making this so hard
• Discover who the smoke free person already inside you

Let’s together to get the whole of your mind on side

And you can use my list; the stop smoking hacks I used & some of things my stop smoking with hypnosis clients use as well.

Plus, if you haven’t got the budget to work with a hypnotherapist like me? You might like hypnosis downloads:

19 ways to prepare yourself to stop smoking

Start your quit plan here. Do some, leave some and add your own ideas to it.

My stop smoking hypnotherapy clients discover what lights them up, what drags them down, and they use it to thier advantage!

So if hypnosis for smoking is in your plan? You know where I am.

1. Find your Smoking Why

Why do you smoke? Be honest. It might feel more than just a habit. And it probably feels like a safety net.

Because your internal saboteur is helping to lock you in.  Some of the most convincing things it says:

• Life is better because of cigarettes
• Cigarettes/vapes help you relax
• Your friends all vape, what will happen if you don’t?!?
• Nights out won’t be as much fun
• Wine won’t taste so good
• Cigarettes are your only reward
• You need this

But the internal saboteur is full of rubbish.

So make a list of the justifications & blackmail it throws at you. And when you see it, it’s easier to see through it!

Anything that tells you smoking is good is your saboteur talking – so write it down.

2. Find your Stop Smoking Why!

Health. Happiness. And freedom. List all the benefits you’re looking forward to, from easier breathing, to more energy and more taste. Staying nice and warm inside and leaving others to suffer the cold to get their fix. Write it all down. Because this is the real YOU talking and not the saboteur.

3. Celebrate your Stop Smoking History

Days, weeks, months or years, be proud of your smoking cessations! And ask yourself:

• What worked before?
• What helped you quit?
• What would be useful again?
• What more do you need?

Write it down.

This is stop smoking success gold dust!

And if anything negative crops up add it to list 1 because it’s just your internal saboteur again!

4. Make your Choice

Is this really the end? This isn’t the time for maybes or mights. Doubts are natural but success needs a firm choice. So are you really ready to stop or are you just messing? I’ll explain why this is so important another time, and we can talk through all your ‘what ifs’ in your stop smoking hypnotherapy session. 

5. Choose your Weapon

What’s the plan of attack? How are going to do this? Straight in with cold turkey or start with an NHS chat? There are complementary therapies like acupuncture. Or Stop Smoking Hypnotherapy with me. Counselling. The National Stop Smoking Centre with their telephone support.You could consider Nicotine Replacement Therapy like prescription medications. Nicotine patches. Or a combo with hypnotherapy? The choice is yours.

6. Treat yourself

This your carrot on a stick. Think of the wealth. How much will you save? And make a plan to treat yourself. An expensive shampoo when your hair is smoke free, a nice meal out, or will you hold out for something much bigger?

One of my stop smoking clients had smoked 40 a day for 40 years and 3 months after their stop smoking hypnotherapy, bought a three piece suit with thier savings!

7. Bin your cigarettes

Seriously. Bin them or smoke them through. Because when you are giving up for good, why have a ‘just incase’ stash? Don’t even keep one!

Any doubt, maybes or stashed away vapes:

• Leave doubt in your mind
• Set you up for failure
• Create a ‘safety’ net you don’t need
• Give your internal saboteur space to NAG

8. Cut back on alcohol

Relax. It’s temporary. Just until you’re a fully fledged, super confident ex-smoker. Why? 2 glasses of wine (or one big one) and the internal saboteur takes control. And that bully will take full advantage, telling you NEED a cigarette and your will power will be at it’s weakest.

10. Leave your Smoking Tribe

Tell your smoking buddies you love them and if they love you too they’ll understand. Because in these early days, being around them could make it too easy for you to slip back.

When you return as the confident ex-smoker you know yourself to be, you can be their cheerleading team when they quit. After all, you’ve made it look easy!

11. Find your Non-Smoking Tribe

With your smoking buddies gone, who’s going to encourage you & offer a listening ear? When you think about it, you probably do have an ex-smoker/ex-vaper friend. Tell them your plan (if you want to) and tell them what they can do to help. Everyone deserves a cheerleader.

12. Identify your smoking triggers

Find your smoking triggers and interrupt them. Change your routine and switch up all the things you associate with cigarettes. You want to break that smoking link. Do you have a cigarette after food? Go for a walk or read a magazine instead. Do you have your cigarettes with a cup of coffee? Drink tea for a while.

13. Find your relaxation and make more

Think of all the things you do to relax and revisit them without cigarettes. The fresh air. A quiet moment to yourself. It was them helping you all along remember? Not the nicotine. So notice them. Be mindful if you like. And give them the credit they deserve. Then treat yourself to more. This is the perfect excuse for a treat.

14. Get out doors

I know. It sounds like a pain. But when you stop smoking? There’s nothing like fresh air to fill your lungs instead of smoke. A bit of exercise to fill you with endorphins. When you quit you’ll feel the difference super fast. This is a reoccurring theme with my smoking hypnosis clients who can’t wait to get outdoors.

15. Clean your house

As soon as you stop. Or straight after your stop smoking hypnosis. Clean your car, your home, wherever you used to smoke. Get the vacuum sucking and the room sprays spraying. And rid yourself of those stale cigarette smells & nicotine reminders and be proud of  your new fresh & gorgeous smelling world.

16. Be kind to yourself

From mood swings to frustrations. Take it easy. You can do this. You are doing this. And I promise you. If you keep this up? There will come a day when a cigarette doesn’t cross your mind. Just don’t then decide to become a stop smoking hypnotist because you’ll have to think about cigarettes all the time. Sure you’ll be good at it. Ex-smokers always are. No judgement. And all the love. But this needs to be a total stop.

That said? Quitting is quitting however long it lasts. Every time you quit smoking it’s a success. It’s like a yeast cake, you know? And a cigarette or two is not failure – it’s slip and a test – but avoid if you can. 

17. Take one day at a time

When you decide to stop it can feel like an eternity stretching out in front of you. So just focus on today. Then the next day. Then the one after that.

You’ve got this you ex-smoker, ex-vaper you!