If you are a smoker who seriously wants to kick the butt, but does not know how, there is no need to despair. There are a large number of organizations out there to help you in your mission of giving up smoking. Once you join a stop smoking service, they will be with you all the way with you as you fight the addiction, and even afterwards so that you never succumb to the vice again.
Stop smoking services are all around you. There are many self-help groups, whose addresses you can find in your directories. Or you can approach some of them through your doctor, who could give you referrals. If you are a member of a church, then there is all likelihood of there being a self-help group associated with the church also. If you do not get a group, you could at least get some professional counselor who could guide you in quitting the habit.
The first thing these services will offer you is counseling. There would be some meetings only to discuss why smoking is bad for your health. Though you might have heard about this before, there are many new things that professional services would be able to tell you. Then they would tell you what all you are losing out by your smoking habit – it could be things like missing time with your family, losing out on friends, etc.
Once the stop smoking services have worked on your psyche, they will offer solutions. There will be several remedies they will suggest you, and you will be free to choose the one most suitable to you.
It is also the job of the stop smoking support groups to tell you that you will be most likely suffering from certain withdrawal symptoms when you are giving up the habit. The withdrawal symptoms could come in the form of depression, insomnia and weight gain. In fact, this is the time when you will be needing their support the most. Through determined advice, they will help you to pass through that difficult phase. There will be meetings in which other people who have given up smoking will speak. Their stories will be an inspiration to you and a valuable aide for you to keep away from the habit.
If you suffer from depression, these groups can direct you to a health officer, who could look into your condition. Most probably you would be put up on medication like Wellbutrin or Chantix – both antidepressants – that can help you become stronger. Even during your medication, you will get guidance and support from these groups so that you do not become careless and create more problems for yourself.
When you join a stop smoking service, half your battle is won. They will help you in many ways, such as providing you with some literature on why you should give up the habit as soon as possible, and also provide you with some valuable website addresses where you can read up on the subject. In this way, they will help you build up the determination and the confidence for quitting the habit. The best thing of joining a cessation group is that they will not only be with you all the time when you are quitting, but they will also assist you in achieving this difficult goal.