Day 14
Take Time to Breathe.
Stress and smoking
-Many smokers who go back to cigarettes say that a crisis pushed them to the habit again. Stress during crisis may cause such discomfort that a cigarette seems like the perfect answer.
Cigarettes do not really ease stress, but one of the strongest links for many smokers has been to reach for a cigarette during times of stress. It can be a hard association to break. It’s not too surprising, then, that when some kind of difficult event comes up, you think of having a cigarette, even months after quitting.
This exercise called “taking a breather” is a good way to slow you down long enough to relax a little and pull yourself together. In many ways, it does just what a cigarette would do; it cuts off the stressful event, gives a pause, and most importantly, lets you calm down. It’s an exercise that makes use of deep breathing, much like the deep inhaling of smoking a cigarette.
Take a comfortable position. If you have to, take a moment to get ready. Let yourself relax by going limp. Then inhale slowly and deeply. When you’ve taken as much air into your lungs as you can, stop, pause for a moment, and then breathe all of the air out slowly. At the end of the breathing-out cycle, give an extra push to remove the last bit of air. Repeat the exercise five times. This should not be hard, fast breathing; instead it should be slow, deep, relaxed breathing. Try to practice this exercise a few times a day.
Taking a breath can make you feel a lot better.