Becoming A Nonsmoker For Life

Staying quit for good can be easier if you think of yourself as a "nonsmoker," instead of an "ex-smoker."

What's the difference?

Ex-smokers see themselves as smokers who are just not smoking today. Smoking is an option that they try to avoid each day.

Nonsmokers make a decision once and for all that smoking is not an option. They may feel an urge to smoke now and then, but they do not let themselves smoke for any reason.

What if you don't feel like a nonsmoker right away?

Even though you're doing the things nonsmokers do, you may not feel like a nonsmoker right away-it can take a while before you can see yourself that way.

What can you do to start feeling like a nonsmoker?

• Remember that you were born as a nonsmoker, and you can be a nonsmoker again.
• Think of other times when you made changes. Some common examples are leaving school, getting married, having kids, getting a new job, having grandkids, and retiring. Going through any one of these may have felt strange at first. But slowly, you took on a new self-image. Becoming a nonsmoker is the same.
• Set up your daily life so that cigarettes don't "fit in" anymore.
• Tell yourself that smoking is not an option in any situation.
• As often as you can say to yourself, “I’m a nonsmoker.”
• See yourself five or ten years from now as a nonsmoker. Hold onto that positive picture.