Encouragement From Family and Friends.

Just as athletes rely on team members and encourage each other, you also have a team – your family and friends – who will cooperate and encourage you in your efforts to win. Take time to talk with your family and friends.

At this point, you probably have a better idea of who is really helpful in guiding you around temptations, or just understanding what you’re going through. Follow these leads. Make a point of getting more of their encouragement.

If you have one key family member or friend whom you’ve looked to for help, review how that’s gone. Because you’ve slipped up in your nonsmoking plan, you may have hesitated to keep in touch with that person. Maybe you’re too embarrassed to call and admit your problems. But chances are good that your key person will be a lot more understanding than you may fear.

If your friends or family are ex-smokers, they will know how good it feels and will be happy to give you all the encouragement they can. And if they had trouble quitting, they can make you feel understood. Maybe with their help you can come up with new strategies to help you win.

Also, think about your family situation. Under the best of circumstances, your family members will be rooting for you all the way. But maybe your spouse or your parents are smokers themselves, and they may unknowingly resent your efforts, or feel guilty about not trying to quit with you.

If this has been a problem in your family, it could be the reason you’ve had trouble staying off cigarettes. Studies show, for example, that those who fail to quit or who relapse are more likely to be married to a smoking spouse and/or to have many friends and family members who smoke.

Try to think of your quitting as separate from your family’s smoking. It’s their right to smoke, and it’s your right to quit. You cannot make your spouse or family members quit smoking. So focus on cooperation and support from other family and friends who don’t smoke.

But of course you don’t want to avoid the people you love. Try to separate your quitting from their smoking. Make them cooperate and not angry.

You can still expect your family to cooperate with your quitting. You might want to negotiate with them about:

·        Limiting their smoking in specific situations that are heavy temptations for you, like in the kitchen after dinner. You can’t ask them not to smoke, but you can identify situations in which it would be a big help if they didn’t smoke.

·        When it’s possible, ask them to smoke outside the house (perhaps on the front porch, back patio, or terrace). But it’s their house too, so you may want to take a walk when they’re smoking. Try to keep this friendly and cooperative, not demanding.

·        When they do smoke inside, ask them to smoke in rooms that have windows or fans to send the smoke outside.

·        Ask them not to smoke in the car.

·        Ask them to sit with you in nonsmoking areas. 

More Info - What Else You can Do