| DAY 43 - Learning to live without cigarettes
Developing your problem-solving skills
Quitting smoking is not all or nothing. Each cigarette and each craving occurs in a very specific situation.
The key to staying quit is to break cravings and difficulties down into very specific situations and solve each situation separately, one at a time. You may wish to use your Journal for this.
Step 1 - Clearly describe the details of each situation you are tempted in - who, what, where, why, and when.
Step 2 - Write down as many possible solutions as you can for each specific situation based on the details. Don't judge them as you are writing them down.
Step 3 - Of your solutions, choose as many as possible to try. You may even be able to use some in combination with others.
Step 4 - Start using your solutions right away. The sooner, the better. It helps to practice them in your mind, too.
Step 5 - Record in your Journal what happens when you try each new solution in each situation. Tinker with the solutions until you find the ones that work for you.
Learning how to solve problems effectively will serve you well in all other aspects of your life, too. Even though this exercise might seem like a lot of work, it will be well worth it. Once you get the hang of it, effective problem-solving will happen automatically in your head.
© Health Canada
__________________
Sometimes I go about in pity for myself, and all the while a great wind is bearing me across the sky.
~Ojibwe saying~
|