Need help with how to quit smoking in the New Year?
Wikipedia: A New Year’s resolution is a tradition, most common in the Western Hemisphere but also found in the Eastern Hemisphere, in which a person resolves to change an undesired trait or behavior, to accomplish a personal goal or otherwise improve their life.
This statistic shows the results of a survey, conducted in 2017 in the United States, on Americans’ New Year’s resolutions. During the survey, 53 percent of respondents said their resolution for 2018 is to save money, while 45 percent would like to lose weight or get in shape. (www.statista.com)
The New Year is upon us. Did you resolve to quit smoking? If so, what does that really mean? Did you quit before January 1st; will you quit sometime in January or do you intend to quit sometime this year? I suspect it is different for everybody, but I am curious if there is consensus on intent to quit smoking as a New Year’s Resolution.
New Year’s Resolutions get a little tricky here. How do you measure success with your resolution? If your New Year’s Resolution is to quit smoking or get to the gym, how long do you have to implement the change and consider your goal accomplished? Do you have until the end of the year, or is the month of January (if not before) generally accepted as a reasonable stretch goal?
There is also the issue of “trying to quit” vs. “quitting.” If a smoker sets out to quit in 2018 and remains nicotine-free for 2 days, was the goal accomplished? This is a huge loophole because it all depends on how you defined the original goal. Unfortunately, if the goal was to “try to quit smoking,” then yes-2 days smoke-free is a success, but all too often, that will leave the resolver unmotivated to keep at it. See Blog post “Why you shouldn’t be trying to quit smoking.”
Have you thought specifically about HOW to quit smoking? If you are reading this, you probably have. We are so glad you have taken the time to learn about us. Please visit other pages on this website for more inspiration. Congratulations on taking the time to learn about resources to help you quit.
