(This part follows “Help To Stop Smoking – Getting Motivated To Quit… Again – Part 1“)

Learning to ski ?

What if you wanted to learn to ski? You might get some brochures on skiing. You would go to a ski resort, rent or buy skis, take a couple of lessons, use the ski lifts, read up on it or watch programs on it, be in the company of other skiers and others learning to ski, discuss skiing, learn the dangers of certain moves and the advantages of others.

If, on the other hand, you merely stay home, never watch skiing on television or read up on it, then it’s a pretty empty dream. There’s no substance to it, no follow-through, no sign of positive movement towards your ever learning to ski. If you tried to ski on your own once and fell down, you learned it’s harder than you thought it would be. If you didn’t keep trying, then at that moment you either gave up on the idea, or put it away until you could deal with it. It will then reside in the “maybe some day” folder.

If that’s how you feel about stopping smoking, then why do smokers feel awful about smoking a lot of the time yet do nothing about it? Let’s follow the skiing idea to get back into the motivational stage again:

1. As with the ski brochures, a quitter must obtain information about help to stop smoking. Cold turkey method is one that has a low success rate. Only 7% of those who try this method make it to one year, and of that number, many return to smoking again. Go to a search engine and do a search about “stop smoking.” Look up cravings and coping skills and everything else you can find.

2. Going to a ski resort. Go to Web sites with information. Bookmark a few sites and visit them for ten minutes every day. There’s no committment here, just information gathering, but do commit to searching out sites for ten minutes a day.

3. Rent or buy skis. Find out about stop smoking programs, and instead of selecting one, find out about them all and see if you could combine one in your neighborhood with an online one, for instance. A combination might best suit your needs. Find out about cost and how long you would use them. Do not quit yet.

4. Take a couple of ski lessons. Find out what makes a quitter successful and what makes another quitter slip and return to smoking again. Study about triggers and make notes about your own triggers. Consider giving up your favorite or 2nd favorite cigarette of the day for a full week. Make notes about how you coped, and what else you did in place of it.

5. Using ski lifts. Find out what stop smoking aids (meds, patches, etc.) are available and which would help you in your quest to stop. Some people have told me they would hesitate to use aids, as if it somehow tarnished their quit. In reality, there are no shinier medals given to people who stop smoking without aids. The objective is to stop smoking. With the money saved from not smoking, quitters can buy themselves any kind of medal they would like.

6. Read up on skiing. As in skiing, read up on stopping smoking. Know the withdrawal signs, activity, metabolism, dehydration, and headaches. Learn about behavior modification.

7. Be in the company of other skiiers, beginners, experts, and discuss skiing. Visit online stop smoking groups. Read the posts. Read up on their strategies and their pitfalls. Only ten minutes a day, remember. Hang around with non-smokers, or others who want to stop smoking. Ask questions of your own about stopping smoking. Reduce your fears by becoming informed.

8. Learn the dangers of certain moves and the advantages of others. Does drinking and smoking mix ? Does coffee prove to be too strong a trigger ? Do you always smoke at the computer, or when the phone rings, or before going to a meeting ? What can you do about it? What does drinking water do ? Does everyone become depressed or stressed when they quit ? How do you avoid weight gain ? Is it a trigger or an emotion that you’re really feeling when you light up ?

9. Tackling moguls. As a skier progresses, moguls will challenge him or her. If they come up unexpectedly, the skier may panic and fall. Such are the hidden cravings, dreams and obstacles encountered a few days or months into a quit. A skier who has learned slowly and carefully will not panic, but rather will be able to tackle them or avoid them altogether.

(Read part 3 of “Help To Stop Smoking – Getting Motivated To Quit… Again“)