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Reinforcing your choice to be smoke-free

Your answers to the questions below can help reinforce your choice to be smoke-free. They will help you figure out how you can make yourself feel good during the quitting process and after. Make sure you include this information as part of your written plan. It will be very important for you to add enjoyable activities to replace the enjoyment you received from cigarettes, develop ways to remove negative things such as stress, anger, or depression, and encourage yourself for the steps that you do take to become smoke-free.

1. What kind or encouraging things can you say to yourself? (If this is difficult you might want to imagine what you would say to a friend who is trying to quit smoking.)

2. What encouraging things would you like others to say to you?

3. What could you buy with a week's worth of cigarette money?

4. What could you buy with a month's worth of cigarette money?

5. What could you buy with a year's worth of cigarette money?

6. What makes you feel good?

7. What types of things do you like to do to relax?

8. Are there any hobbies or courses you have wanted to take but haven't? (Look through the community calendar.)

9. What do you enjoy doing?

10. What hobbies could you spend more time doing?

11. Who do you like to spend time with?

12. What types of things could you say to yourself to make you feel more confident?

13. Are there any movies you would like to see?

14. Are there any trips you would like to take? Consider this a big reward for a year off cigarettes. (You can use the $2500 or so that you would save over a year from not buying cigarettes - $5000 if both you and your partner quit together.)

As you continue to be smoke-free, consider saving the money you would have spent on cigarettes, over a month or year. Plan to buy something you would not have had the money to buy if you had continued to smoke.

© Health Canada