A 30 day challenge kick-started my smoke-free journey
“I started smoking at the age of 16, whilst this began socially with my friends; it soon became part of my everyday life. Four years later, I realised that it wasn’t something I wanted to continue and having asthma also made me realise that I needed to at least try and give up. After a number of attempts to try and stop, nothing seemed to be working. Whilst I wanted to stop, I wasn’t quite sure how and so this continued until I was around 24 years old when I decided to really take control and research other methods online.
“Having researched a number of different techniques, I found a technique which enabled me to focus on making smaller yet more achievable strides towards giving up smoking. I read that if I could give up smoking for 30 days then I would have overcome the hardest part of my journey. This then became my primary focus from that point. During this period, I kept a diary which helped me understand the triggers for wanting to smoke on that particular day. For example, how I felt, how hard or easy I found the day and the reason for this. Each time, I felt tempted and gave in; I would re-start my 30 day challenge.
“Gradually, as time went on, I started to notice a pattern in my diary which helped me understand what factors most tempted me to smoke – this could be the company I was in or a particular environment. With this in mind, it enabled me to eliminate myself from these specific scenarios which made my journey a lot easier. Finally at the age of 25 years old, I gave up smoking. It has been four years since I last smoked and whilst I don’t crave it, I still do miss the social aspect of it but I would never go back.
“Working at North Mid and having the support of my colleagues enabled me to succeed on this journey. Speaking to colleagues who had been through the same journey and had the same experiences gave me the motivation to carry on.”
More information on stopping smoking is available at Stop Smoking London. To access free specialist support, find your local service here or request a call back from a Stop smoking London advisor.
If staff would like information on how to stop smoking, please see the physical wellbeing support page on My North Mid.
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