How to get rid of the habit yourself. How to get rid of bad habits
Everyone is familiar with the famous phrase “habit is second nature”. Indeed, a person's addictions are the best way to characterize his inner world. Bad habits often include only smoking, drinking alcohol and drugs. But seemingly harmless things like constantly chewing gum or buying various little things to cheer up, sometimes cause no less harm.
The good news is that no one is born with bad habits, which means that with good work on yourself, you can get rid of them. The cause of most bad habits is stress, which in a certain way affects the subconscious of a person. In this regard, you can start getting rid of any harmful addictions with general rules.
- Find a useful replacement for a bad habit. If every uncomfortable, exciting situation makes you want to bite your nails or forcefully wind your hair around your finger, try to silently read your favorite poem instead or, when the situation allows, sing a song. For smokers who have not yet become physically dependent on addiction, simple seeds or candies can help.
- Find yourself a hobby. A new hobby (for example, photography, knitting or swimming) will allow you to distract yourself and forget about the bad habit that has appeared from idleness.
- Motivate yourself to give up bad habits. Instead of wasting money on buying another knick-knack, save it for a vacation. To increase motivation, visit travel sites more often, see photos of the country you would like to visit. Sometimes all you need to find a reason to quit a bad habit is to make a bet with someone about it.
- Think of your own punishment. For example, each bitten nail will cost 20 squats, and if you curse today, you will be left without sweets or the Internet.
How to stop biting your nails
The baby sucks his finger to calm down, while an adult can start for this purpose. Having dealt with the cause of this addiction on a psychological level, you can proceed to practical work.
First of all, you can smear your nails with something bitter or spicy. If you are not allergic, red pepper or dry mustard will do. Laundry soap will also give your nails an unpleasant taste, and the desire to put them in your mouth will eventually disappear.
Women can make themselves a beautiful manicure. After you've shelled out a good chunk of your paycheck on your nails, you don't want to ruin their look.
In order to be successful, you need to be in control of yourself. First, try to reduce the number of harmful words. For example, if you usually say 20 “well” or “so to speak” in 10 minutes, try to reduce their number to 7. Reduce this number every day and reward yourself for the result you have achieved.
This will be easier for people with a rich vocabulary, so do not forget to devote time to reading.
How to stop wasting money
Spending money on all sorts of nonsense harms not only the family budget, but can develop into a serious illness, which only a psychologist can help get rid of.
To avoid becoming a slave to this bad habit, before going to the store, make a shopping list and strictly adhere to it. Departments in which there are no things from the list, try to bypass. Take a limited amount of cash with you to the store, and leave plastic cards at home.
You need to save money for large purchases immediately after the salary. At the same time, it is better to keep them in a bank account, which involves penalties for early withdrawal.
How not to seize problems with sweets
If you sometimes allow yourself a few bars of chocolate or even a piece of greasy cake, there is nothing wrong with that. But if the main stimulus of your good mood is a cake, then sweets have become a bad habit.
The easiest way to get rid of it is to wait out the peak of stress. If, after another unpleasant conversation with the authorities, a person needs something sweet, you need to postpone the trip to the store for at least 20 minutes. After that, most often the need for such doping disappears.
How to stop being late
The problem with punctuality is called one of the most common bad habits of residents of large cities. To correctly allocate hours for training, try setting an alarm not only for the time of rise. Let the timer tell you when the allotted time for a shower, breakfast, makeup and other things has ended.When calculating travel time, feel free to add 10-15 minutes to it for unforeseen situations. Don't forget to take into account the minutes it takes to warm up the car or walk to a stop.
So, to summarize, in order to acquire a bad habit, sometimes a few days are enough, and in order to get rid of it, a lot of time and great willpower. If you have the desire to overcome addiction and the attitude to win, then everything will work out. Scientists say that it is enough to hold out in the fight against bad habits for 21 days, and they will definitely retreat.
Video: we fight bad habits
Habits are an integral part of human life, making it individual. However, not all of them can be called useful, on the contrary, each of us has a certain number of those habits that we would like to get rid of. But, unfortunately, we tend to put these seemingly unimportant things on the back burner. However, if you think about it, giving up bad habits would greatly simplify our lives and become a reason for pride in ourselves, and therefore in this article we will consider this eternal topic.
Relevance of the problem
From childhood to old age, a person daily acquires new skills, which later become his habits. So, for example, we automatically turn off the water, gas and electricity, tie a tie, go to work, without even really understanding the road. But among all this everyday fuss, those habits that waste our time, put us in an awkward position in front of other people, show us not from the best side to children, thus setting a bad example. That is why the question “how to get rid of bad habits” is far from the last item in the list of pressing problems. However, often people think that it is too difficult and will require huge efforts to discard this and take a step towards their brighter future, and therefore this question remains up in the air. But still, there are simple ways to get rid of bad habits and start a new life, and further we will analyze each of them in detail.
First step
To begin with, try to remember when and why you allowed this or that bad habit to take root in your life. Perhaps it was not the best time, and you were haunted by remorse or some kind of problem. Before thinking about how to get rid of bad habits, remind yourself that they do not pursue happy people, but only those who are weak in character and dissatisfied with their position. Perhaps now you will tell yourself that you are quite satisfied with yourself and your life, but if you observe yourself, you will be able to notice what moments and situations you most often "seize", "drink", "smoke" or spend insomnia . The first step to understanding how to get rid of bad habits is to identify the soil on which they are born. These can be problems at work, quarrels with a life partner, negative thoughts about the future, and so on. And therefore, first of all, you need to learn how to cope with your problems without cigarettes, alcohol, insomnia and other things.
Second step
Call on all your imagination to help you decide for yourself how to get rid of bad habits. To do this, first, come up with about a dozen alternative activities for those moments when you want to pick up a cigarette or bite your nails. So, for example, you can treat yourself to your favorite candy, watching a funny video or listening to your favorite music, it can be anything. Secondly, imagine how you will be proud of yourself and brag to your friends and acquaintances that you have managed to overcome these base whims. Better yet, imagine with a happy smile on your face how you can praise yourself for every month or week without bad habits. A new dress, hockey tickets, vacation with friends - fill your life with more joy.
Third step
Connect your loved ones to this, turn the rejection of bad habits into a collective activity! Let your wife pamper you with your favorite dish or a pleasant evening alone, children share their interests and spend more time at home. Tell everyone about your firm intention and encourage your friends to do the same, because it is always more difficult to cope with the task alone. And at the same time you will look after each other and control. It will be a great incentive if, as a punishment for the violation, you do something material, the loss of which will be really felt. So, for example, one of the incentives to solve the question "how to get rid of bad habits quickly" can be an official honest dispute on something significant. Or you can agree to give a friend x amount of money as a fine for each violation. In this way, for the sake of his own enrichment, he will observe you more closely, and you, out of economy, will better restrain yourself.
Fourth step
Distract yourself from your bad habits as much as possible, switch your attention and spend time on more pleasant things. If you are single, find an object of adoration, and even better - conquest, whether it be a partner in a relationship or the conquest of a creative Olympus. If you are married, start renewing your relationship with your spouse or renovate your home. If you already have children, take care of their upbringing, and even better, teach them something useful and interesting for both of you: ride a bicycle, make models of ships or aircraft, sculpt from plasticine, draw portraits - anything.
Process value
So you switch your thoughts to pleasant things, life will become happier, and the need to use bad habits will disappear by itself. And, believe me, you yourself will not notice how you can do without them for weeks, then months, and then completely forget about them. And, of course, the question of how to get rid of bad habits will lose its relevance: nail biting, smoking, eating problems, etc. And all because you will become a happy person, and everything superfluous will be left behind. Remember once and for all that bad habits haunt only weak people who are dissatisfied with their lives, and therefore break out of this list.
Special topic
However, as difficult as it is to control yourself, it is even harder to keep track of your children. After all, often parents, having noticed some bad habit in their child, turn on the totalitarian regime and build all the deliverance from it on a ban, punishment and a fine system. And this is fundamentally wrong. First, as in the case of adults, you need to understand the origins of the problem. Psychologists say that in a bad habit, the child is looking for some sensations that he needs at the moment. So, for example, children bite their nails or bite their lips when they are worried, nervous because of failures in an educational institution or in relationships with peers, and especially often because of problems in the family. After all, this is how they try to calm themselves, focus on the important, distract from their experiences. Based on this, it is worth building a struggle strategy.
Solution
To the question “how to get rid of bad habits” (it is especially relevant for children), the answer is extremely simple: take care of your offspring, dear parents! Talk heart to heart with them, get out on cultural holidays more often, spend time with them at home, become their faithful assistants and best friends. Of course, this does not mean that you need to pursue them around the clock, not at all. Just be careful with them. And let the appearance be not an extra reason for you to shout at him, but a reason to worry about his life and show more interest in him. And most importantly, do not forget that parents are the brightest and most authoritative example in the eyes of the child. And therefore, do not scandal in the family, learn to restrain your emotions for the sake of the future of your child, help him cope with his personal experiences, reward him for success, nurture his healthy pride in himself, develop self-control together. After all, as the song says, "the most important thing is the weather in the house, and everything else is vanity." Hence the conclusion: in a happy family, the child will not dwell on his problems and will learn to cope with them without bad habits.
Do you have a habit of biting your nails? Chewing hair? Suck your thumb? Bite your lips? Regardless of the specific type of habit, and no matter how deeply ingrained it is, the process of getting rid of it will be similar in all cases. With perseverance and the right mindset, you will succeed in kicking your bad habits, and the tips below will help you in the process.
Steps
Part 1
Change of mind-
Change the environment. Research shows that sometimes our environment pushes us into certain behaviors, even if we are actively trying to stop them. In that case, part of breaking the bad habit is to reduce the situational triggers to the point where you can develop new ways of responding to them.
Create barriers to habit. If you can create obstacles that make the habit difficult to achieve or less desirable behavior than another course of action, it will help you break the routine that has reinforced the habit in the past. Here are some tips:
Start small. Some habits, such as procrastination, can be difficult to break because the decision seems extremely difficult. “Stop procrastinating” – such a task may seem so huge that you cannot cope with it. Try breaking down your goals into small, achievable steps. Your reward will be that you will be able to see progress and success sooner, and your brain will be less likely to resist the end goal because it is “too big” to be achievable. Instead of saying, "I'm going to stop eating junk food," say, "I'm going to eat a healthy breakfast." Instead of saying, “I will go to the gym more often,” say, “I will go to yoga every Saturday.” When you achieve success in such small steps, gradually increase them to achieve your ultimate goal.
Reward yourself for success. Since a habit is created when behavior is rewarded in some way, a good way to instill new habits in yourself is to reward good behavior.
Be committed to your goal. This may seem obvious, but it's important to understand that the first step in kicking a bad habit is developing a genuine desire and commitment to change in your life.
Understand your habit. Most habitual patterns of behavior are patterns that have evolved because they have been encouraged in some way. Thanks to them, it is easier for a person to perform ordinary tasks or deal with various emotional states.
Analyze the context of your habit. To determine the most effective way to break a habit, it would be helpful to identify the situational and emotional context that triggers the behavior. This will help you understand the "reward" your brain wants to receive. Understanding this will help you develop other, healthier ways to achieve the same rewards that the bad habit provided.
Make a plan. Once you understand the situation that triggers your habit and the rewards you get from the unwanted behavior, you can create a plan that includes goals for behavior change and a strategy to minimize the factors that trigger the habit.
Visualize success. Repeatedly imagine how you successfully break the habit by imagining situations in which you choose the desired behavior over the bad habit. Imagine situations in which you would have cravings for the unwanted behavior and visualize yourself making the healthier choice. This helps reinforce positive behavior patterns.
Practice mindfulness. Increasing your awareness in your daily life will help you become more aware of your actions, rather than operating on autopilot. This practice helps you to be constantly aware of what you are experiencing in the moment and experience it without avoidance or judgment. With practice, mindfulness can become a healthy habit that neutralizes the bad habits you want to break.
Part 2
Behavior changeHello dear friends! Are you ready to find out what exactly needs to be done then read carefully!
In this article, we will talk about how to get rid of bad habits, how to reduce them to a minimum, and generally remove them from your life. You will learn the main secrets of a successful fight against bad habits.
Many people know about their bad habits, but be that as it may, they still actively continue to do everything they did, despite the fatal consequences. People keep referring to the fact that as if it makes them feel better, they stop being nervous, but this is 100% not the best way to calm down.
It is better to read about how to stop being nervous for any reason.
How to get rid of bad habits?
1. First, you need to admit to yourself that I have such a bad habit! Usually, many, and perhaps including you, lie to yourself that in fact it is not harmful, and even useful. But it's not! Usually you just get pleasure from some process, but no more.
And understand that it will not be possible to get rid of all harmfulness immediately, because it will be big for the body. Start small. For example, if you want to quit smoking, smoked 20 cigarettes a day, reduce to 15, then to 10, and so reduce to zero.
Of course, this is not the discovery of a new method, but here it is important to understand that it is better to act in this way than to cut all the ropes at once and stop smoking (although it will be easier for someone this way, depending on the character), because sharply ridding yourself of great pleasure, the brain begins to look for another satisfaction. And it could be even worse.
2. Get rid of each bad habit in turn. And then there are two options:
Let's make a conclusion!
For, to get rid of bad habits:
- Admit to yourself that you really have them
- Get rid of each one in turn
- Replace the old harmful one with the new useful one
- Set a price for your word.
If you follow these simple but important tips, gradually you will be able to get rid of bad habits and you will feel much better and more comfortable.
Finally, I would like to advise you to also read two interesting and already quite popular articles:
The first will help pump your mind and spirit, and the second body, which will also allow you to develop strong willpower and give up many bad habits.
Greetings to all readers. This step will help you get rid of bad habits: for smokers to quit smoking, and for those who drink, I will suggest, as an experiment, not to drink for 30 days. Why now, at this stage? First, because for the following steps it would be better if you did not smoke or drink, as these steps will be associated with physical activity. Secondly, if you have completed all the previous steps, then you have gained some useful skills in order to get rid of bad habits with less resistance and more desire. Now it should be easier.
Don't be afraid, I'm not asking you to give up alcohol today and forever. In my case, the refusal of alcohol happened by itself. Over time, my desire to drink began to disappear, the need to relax and spend time in this way disappeared. I believe that breaking bad habits should happen, for the most part, naturally and be accompanied by a genuine inner interest in stopping self-harm. Otherwise, you will return to these habits again and again.
But this does not mean that you should sit back and wait until you get tired of drinking or smoking. You will still need to significantly limit yourself in the consumption of alcohol and work on yourself. This applies to alcohol, but smoking, during this step, you will have to quit immediately and for good. You should at least try, if you fail, you just move on to the next step, and come back to this one later.
I will try, to the best of my ability, to help you quit smoking by supporting you day by day and helping you through your nicotine withdrawal. Read this step for information on the first few days of quitting cigarettes. For those who want to quit drinking, I will simply publish here a list of tips to help you cope with addiction and offer to take part in an experiment: give up any alcohol for 30 days. I don’t see the point in publishing a step-by-step program for getting rid of alcohol addiction, since the cases are different for everyone, while the experience of quitting cigarettes, in principle, may be similar for most.
Self-development and bad habits
Bad habits are not compatible with self-development. Firstly, because they destroy health, and the balanced development of a person implies the improvement of the body. Smoking and the systematic use of alcohol do not go well with sports, which are necessary for every person.
Secondly, the use of alcohol and other drugs gradually destroys the brain. A healthy critical ability and a sober assessment of oneself and others disappear (and this often happens unnoticed by oneself), which also unsatisfactorily meets the needs for personal development.
Thirdly, bad habits can contribute to the development of negative human qualities (many people know how the character of heavy drinkers deteriorates). Smoking and alcohol provoke problems with the nervous system. After all, bad habits are a destructive addiction or the risk of one. Absence of dependence is freedom and choice. Freedom, expressed in the ability to enjoy life without the need to cloud the brain and ruin health.
Fourthly, the use of drugs and alcohol, including, destroy, undermine a certain fragile mental balance. This is my observation. To explain it, let me digress a little. I have already written more than once that meditation helped me get rid of addictions, depression, character problems. — the basis of my system of self-development. Perhaps there are other ways of self-development that do not involve the pursuit of such a spiritual discipline as meditation. But I can't teach you what I don't know myself. I can be confident in my words only when I stand firmly on my own experience of positive metamorphoses. This experience includes meditation as an essential element.
The person who at one time advised me to meditate and, one might say, taught this technique, himself, by his own example, created an incentive for my studies and dispelled my skepticism. The fact is that this person felt pretty good (which could not be said about me at that time) and, from some time, stopped drinking alcohol altogether (which I also really wanted, but did not understand how to achieve). He said that he simply did not need it, so he did not drink.
Then I, accustomed to drinking every day, do not understand how this may not be necessary ?! It seemed to me that everyone needs alcohol, it’s just that someone doesn’t limit themselves, and someone, at the cost of their spiritual comfort, limits it. I could understand if someone did not drink for ideological reasons, but because of this he suffered and "broken off", while the rest did not miss the opportunity to enjoy the pleasant effect of alcohol. But it was completely incomprehensible to me how you can not drink alcohol and at the same time enjoy life, communication, relaxation ...
But, after two years of meditation practice, I managed to comprehend the mood of this person. I myself no longer needed alcohol and other sources of intoxication. When I meet with old acquaintances about, for example, someone's birthday, they are very surprised that I stopped drinking. And they ask: “what are you doing if you don’t drink? how do you spend your free time? I don't have any super original hobbies and I spend my leisure time like many others: ride a bike, watch movies, read books, go for a walk, spend time with friends, etc. But it's not about the classes themselves, it's about what happens inside ...
After I began to meditate, a feeling of some kind of constant inner comfort began to appear in me. This is not a state of unbridled happiness, not a feeling of intoxicating euphoria, but simply some kind of quiet joy and comfort. Actually, people are looking for in alcohol and other drugs just the feeling of psychological comfort. But I already have this state, I don’t need to go to the store to get it, why do I need alcohol? So I can relax myself, why should I ruin my health and cloud my mind? I feel comfortable during the holidays, in a cheerful company. In short, I almost always feel good, why should I drink or smoke?
With the help of meditation practice, I found a certain balance that I really don’t want to break. If I drink, even a little, I feel some kind of decline in moral strength the next day. If you drink constantly, you don’t notice it, but the less often, the more noticeable this feeling. At these moments, it seems that the balance that is maintained by meditation and sobriety has been shaken. And I don't want to upset that balance. This is one of the reasons why I don't drink.
You can read thousands of tips on how to quit drinking and smoking, but until you find a sense of inner comfort and balance, it will be difficult for you to do this. My way to achieve such states is meditation. You can come to them somehow differently, or you can not reinvent the wheel and follow the path beaten by many generations. After all, meditation has helped many people get rid of addictions. If you followed the previous steps, then you should already be meditating and it will be much easier for you to quit bad habits. If you're not into practice, then it's time to start.
Theory
In my articles, I also wrote that in order to get rid of bad habits, it is necessary to eliminate the psychological reasons for which you smoke or drink. Addiction has two sides - physiological and psychological. You can get rid of physiological dependence by quitting the use of the substance to which you are accustomed. Your body will eventually rebuild its processes, and you will no longer have a "physical" craving for the drug.
If psychological dependence did not play a significant role, then people would easily quit drinking and smoking and would never return to these habits again. After all, it is not so difficult to endure physical "withdrawal", especially, guided by considerations of caring for one's health. But there is something before which these considerations pale, it is the psychological causes of drug use, something that forms a mental addiction.
Many people drink and smoke not because their body is used to the drug. They do this to relax, relieve tension, get rid of "social" brakes, drown out grief, enjoy and get a state of psychological comfort, fill in pauses in conversation, engage their senses, forget, pass the time, get rid of boredom, etc. etc. You see what a wide range of individual needs is affected by the process of using drugs, including alcohol and cigarettes!
That is why many people see such joy in smoking and drinking, because it is very much connected with the personality, with its desires. If you just stop satisfying these desires with the help of the usual means, then they will not go anywhere and will appear again and again. This is the reason why people fail to quit smoking or drinking so easily. How will they relax? How to endure boredom? How to spend time?
And, not finding a satisfactory answer to these questions, they again return to harmful "joys". To get rid of psychological dependence, you need to change the personality. And this is not so simple, although it is certainly possible, and this is proved by my example, in particular. To get rid of any temptations that lead to addiction, you need to take a number of comprehensive measures, for example:
- Find a sense of harmony, balance, comfort, joy. (Meditation, yoga, sports, work on your inner world, self-development, intellectual development)
- Learn to relax. (Described in the previous step)
- Endure loneliness, boredom. To be able to enjoy the absence of any activity.
- . Develop self-discipline.
- Expand the scope of your interests and hobbies.
- Get rid of sensory hunger, an unhealthy need for constant information and irritation of the senses. (The following articles may be helpful: , )
Some of the information you will find in the articles on the links, a lot more is said in the articles about how to quit drinking and smoking. I posted links to them above. It must be understood that it is impossible to draw up a completely universal program, since each case of addiction is individual: someone drinks because he is constantly tense, someone gets rid of boredom in this way, someone drowns out pain, someone has it all together ... Everyone has different reasons for the emergence of bad habits, and therefore, everyone should pay attention to working with their own reasons and read the relevant materials on my website or in other sources.
It is clear that the personality must change, but nothing prevents you from quitting some bad habits right now. And the positive personality changes that will occur later will help ensure that you do not return to these habits again. So there is no reason not to quit smoking or drinking right now! The following tips for every day will help smokers get rid of this health-poisoning habit.
From tomorrow you do not smoke. This day should not stand out in any way from other days, except that on this day you will quit smoking and never will again. That is, you do not need to wait for a special day: the first of January or the day following your birthday ... Quit smoking right tomorrow, in the middle of the week. I did just that: on Tuesday evening I decided that, starting tomorrow, I do not smoke. On Wednesday, I no longer smoked at work. Although, before that, on Monday and Tuesday, following the usual rhythm of a smoker, I was still talking in the smoking room with colleagues, puffing on a cigarette, and did not even think that this would soon have to end.
You need to quit smoking quickly and immediately. The rest of the methods are ineffective. No favors. Starting tomorrow, don't smoke. So in the evening you smoke your last cigarette and from that moment on you are no longer a smoker...
Day 2
It won't be easy. You will feel bad. How bad depends on your smoking history. We'll have to be patient. This must be remembered. Otherwise, underestimating the effects of the withdrawal syndrome, you immediately reach for a cigarette. It will still be fine in the morning, but be strong in the afternoon!
Remember, you are not "quitting smoking". You have already quit smoking! You don't smoke anymore, even though you smoked your last cigarette yesterday. What was yesterday was yesterday. Now you are a non-smoker, look at the smokers around you: you are no longer one of them - you don't smoke. Colleagues call “will you go to smoke?” answer: “no, I quit”, and not “I’m quitting” or, no, God forbid: “I’m trying to quit”.
Thinking about the act already done, the completed decision, will help you to be more firm in your intention not to go back to the cigarette. You no longer smoke and will not smoke. Otherwise, you are now very strongly drawn to a cigarette, this is just a side effect of withdrawal. It will pass after a while. (I smoked for 6 years, it was hard for the first three days after I stopped, then the syndrome gradually “faded” for two weeks, then that’s it. According to my recollections, it was very easy to quit smoking, because it really “broke” only a few days, but I haven't smoked in two years, which is a reasonable price.)
You don't have to identify with the withdrawal syndrome. The fact that you are drawn to a cigarette does not mean that you want it, you need it, the dependence on the physiological level is so simple. The body begins to experience something like hunger, which, unlike the usual need for food, can be endured. Endure as you endure any physical pain or discomfort that anyone can endure. These are not your desires, this is just a reaction of the body, expressed in such discomfort.
You have no way to remove this discomfort! No smoking! It is forbidden. Smoking is taboo. Set in your mind a strict ban on this. No matter how bad you feel - be patient, it will end. Horror writer Stephen King has a short story called Quit Smoking Inc. It told about an organization that helped heavy smokers quit smoking. For the person who turned to them, shadowing was established. If he smokes for the first time - they cut off his finger, if it happens again - they cut off the finger of his wife or child, then worse sanctions follow ...
Such a policy left no room for the temptation to light a cigarette for the hero of this story. He just couldn't do it. What are a few days of weaning compared to the prospect of living without a finger!
Tune in to the fact that you, like this character, cannot smoke! What are a few days of weaning worth compared to the prospect of ruined lungs, heart and blood vessels? It's even worse than a severed finger!
Hold on until the next day. Instead of a smoking room, go for a walk outside or just stand on the balcony. Chew gum (regular) if that makes you feel better. Don't eat too much! No need to replace one habit with another, it is not effective at all! When I quit smoking, I didn't gain weight at all because I was aware of the risk and tried not to eat more than usual.
Day 3
We endured the first day without cigarettes - consider half the work done. But this is not the time to relax. Today will not be easier. Get ready. But you don't smoke anymore, and that's very good. In your free time at work or at home, read some article about the effects of nicotine on the brain. Why does addiction and withdrawal syndrome occur, how does it manifest itself at the level of brain mechanisms? It will be very informative and relevant for you. Read more about the dangers of smoking.
If any thoughts come to mind that boil down to smoking (“just one cigarette”) - get rid of these thoughts, no matter how convincing they may seem! This is an insidious deception of addiction that broadcasts false ideas through your brain. These thoughts can seem very tempting and even reasonable. But don't be fooled! Enter all such thoughts into your personal banlist. They are easy to weed out from all other thoughts according to a simple principle: any thought of smoking is a hoax!
Hold on!
Day 4
Now it should be a little easier. If not, then it will be in a few days. But to endure "withdrawal" should not be so hard. Breathe deeply in the morning, feel the new smells. After all, the sense of smell is greatly dulled by constant smoking. Breathing should be easier.
Day 5
Release the accumulated energy. Go for a short run or go to the pool. You are now a non-smoker and can afford activities like running because your lungs work better.
After a couple of months, if you do not ruin your health in any other way, you will feel an improvement in your overall well-being. Without cigarettes, the general condition of the body is much better: you get less tired, sleep better, your stamina increases, shortness of breath and bad breath disappear.
It is better not to drink alcohol, at least in the first week of quitting cigarettes, as it is easier to break loose with alcohol. But if you feel strong in yourself, then at the same time you can proceed to the next experiment and stop drinking for a month.
An experiment for those who want to stop drinking (also relevant for smokers)
Let's do an experiment. I suggest you give up alcohol for 30 days from tomorrow. If this period seems long to you, it means that you are used to drinking often and you, all the more, need such an experiment.
If it is very easy for you to hold out for 30 days, we extend the period: 2, 3 months, etc.
To give up altogether means to give up altogether. No exceptions: a friend's birthday, a wedding, your birthday - it doesn't matter, you don't drink for 30 days. Just like with giving up cigarettes: we don’t wait for a special day or occasion, we start the experiment right tomorrow.
In a month, you will probably have time to visit various situations in which you are used to drinking: holidays, evenings after hard working days. Only, this time, you will have to do without alcohol. You will try to learn how to have a good time and relax without alcohol. This will be the purpose of the experiment. Read the article how to stop drinking forever, the link was given above.
It's not enough to just stop drinking, you need to find a healthy alternative to what you're used to getting from alcohol, otherwise this 30-day "fast" will not be effective.
Learn to relax
If you need to relax, you can use the recommendations from the previous step and practice one of the relaxation techniques (and/or meditation) every evening in the evening. Try to find healthy ways to relax during this month: sports in the evenings, swimming pool, outdoor walks, water treatments. If you are used to relaxing with alcohol, then a connection is fixed in your brain at a neural level between the state of relaxation, comfort and the intake of certain chemical compounds. Thus, a habit is established on physiological processes.
You must break this connection. Get your brain to associate relaxation with the things I listed above. A 30-day "fast" will serve as a good occasion to consolidate new connections.
Learn to pass the time and have fun
If during the period of this “fast” there will be some kind of holiday, then this is wonderful! A great reason to try to have fun without alcohol. According to my own observations, at first, it is very difficult. Some time ago I could not imagine any. And, when I first promised myself not to drink at a friend's birthday party, keeping such a promise passed with great internal resistance. At first, I was even somehow confused, did not know what to do without a bottle. Several hours at the party passed with terrible difficulty, it was boring and uninteresting. But then I began to entertain myself: I talked, listened to music, invented something. And, in the end, had a great time.
The problem with alcohol and other drugs is that they discourage all activity and ingenuity. When a person drinks or uses something, he doesn’t need anything else, some kind of temporary self-sufficiency appears: he drank and you sit trembling with your tongue - nothing else is interesting. Pay attention to drinking companies that bring their children to the gatherings. It could be some kind of barbecue. Children run around, play, make up something, while adults just sit in one place, pushing toast.
Of course, adults are not children, if they are deprived of bottles, they are unlikely to play tag. But this example still at least somehow illustrates the difference in terms of pastime between non-drinkers and drinkers. Non-drinkers have to invent something in order to maintain the collective fun of the holiday, and the bottle destroys all ingenuity in the bud.
Therefore, at first, you will be bored just sitting on your ass and wagging your tongue at all sorts of events without a bottle. Therefore, entertain yourself, have fun, invent something, meet people, dance, find unexpected topics for conversation, show any activity. You will understand how such a pastime is more diverse than alcoholic gatherings. When you get tired, go home, fall asleep with a healthy sleep, having gained fresh impressions. And wake up in the morning with a fresh head and full of energy, rejoicing at how good you feel. For the fun did not have to pay a headache.
Not every company has the opportunity to have a good time without alcohol, as many gather solely for the purpose of drinking: they stuff themselves in a small kitchen, like a herring in a barrel, quickly throw themselves on and sit, filling the pauses between sips with conversation. Naturally, if you do not drink, you may become bored in such company, and there is nothing unnatural in this. Just leave early or don't attend such events at all.
But if the interlocutors are interesting, it is always interesting to just talk to them, no matter if they drink or not. Situations are different, and a lot depends on the company itself, on who these people are, why these people have gathered, and not just on you.
In my experience, I was convinced that it is easy to have a frank conversation “heart to heart” without alcohol, that you can relax and have fun without being drunk. It comes with experience, for those who have not even tried, they will never succeed, rest assured. If the holiday is organized well and it revolves not only around the bottle, then you can always find something to do. I noticed that there is a certain line, a line that needs to be crossed, endured.
At first it's boring, but then the atmosphere of the holiday somehow captivates, liberates and amuses without any alcohol. This feeling is made up of good music, smiles from friends, pleasant conversations and new experiences. This feeling invigorates and intoxicates without any harm to health, without any unpleasant consequences. In a 30-day period without drinking, you should visit one holiday and try to enter this state, feel it! If you succeeded, consider you earned a five for the experiment!