Do you sometimes smoke because something triggers you to want a cigarette? Triggers to smoke can be emotional or situational.
Emotional Triggers:
feeling irritable or grouchy
feeling anxious or nervous
having anger or rage
being bored or having idle time
suffering from depression
feeling sad
feeling guilty
Situational Triggers:
hanging out with certain people
while driving your car
after eating a meal
while drinking a cocktail
while enjoying a break
after completing a task
first thing in the morning
last thing at night
while waiting in line
As you begin to figure out why you smoke, it’s very important to recognize your emotional and situational triggers. As you learn to recognize them, try to come up with different ways to respond to them other than by lighting up a cigarette. Most of the feelings and situations that have become triggers for you are a normal part of life. Your task is to develop new, healthy ways of responding to them.
For example, what if the next time you were triggered to smoke because you felt bored or anxious you caught yourself? What if instead of smoking you went out for a short walk, started doing some exercise, or performed relaxation-breathing exercises?
Kick-Butt Activity: List five of your triggers to smoke and for each one try to list two or three alternative activities. What would you do instead of lighting up?
Triggers play a big role in causing you to want to smoke. By identifying your triggers, you can begin to take charge of why you smoke. Join in on one of our chat rooms and share your alternative activities with your fellow quitters. Chances are good that your ideas will be very helpful to someone else trying to quit.
Good luck! We know you can do it!