Removing The Links Will Aid Your Effort

The mental effort that it takes to give up smoking is well-known. It is certainly increased by keeping links to your recent status as a smoker – so giving up will take a little bit of a change in mentality. If, for example, you keep ashtrays lying around – even clean, unused ones which can be used by visitors – then you will be more compelled to smoke.

A lot depends on how much you used to smoke. If smoking was a major part of your life before – you used cigarettes to enhance your enjoyment of music, socializing or similar – then breaking the bond that it has over you is going to be all the more problematic. You may find that listening to the same albums and going to the same bars or clubs becomes a major temptation, even if you cannot smoke indoors in those clubs.

The psychological compulsion to smoke is probably the hardest part to get past. So keeping lighters and ashtrays around, or reading books about central characters who like to smoke pretty much incessantly is going to make giving up a lot harder. It is best to keep reminders to a minimum. This is not to say you should shun your best friend if they still smoke, but it might be a good idea to request of them that they keep their smoking to a minimum when they are around you. In the end you can’t close yourself off from all reminders, but limiting them will help.