As January nears, many of us will be starting to think about what changes we can make in 2023. Perhaps you want to find a new job, buy a house, or take up running, or you want to practice mediation more often or learn to say ‘no’.
Year in, year out, one of the most popular resolutions is giving up cigarettes, with smokers attempting to cut ties to their favourite tobacco products once New Year’s Eve comes to an end.
How hard is it?
The truth is, almost four-fifths of people have failed at sticking with their New Year’s Resolutions for two years, with the majority of these slipping up in the first few weeks, research has shown.
One of the main reasons for this is people are too ambitious with their goals and have an all-or-nothing mentality. For instance, smokers might tell themselves to go cold turkey on New Year’s Day and expect never to pick up a cigarette again. However, this is just too much, too quickly for a lot of people.
“The problem with such ‘all-or-nothing’ goals is that they don’t accommodate for even the slightest slip-ups. Once you fall off the bandwagon, it’s easy to get discouraged and give up entirely,” an article in N26 states.
The success stories
While giving up smoking is one of the hardest resolutions to stick to, there are many success stories to keep motivation and positivity high.
The NHS reported that 51 per cent of people who wanted to give up smoking successfully did so between 2019 and 2020.
What’s more, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) reported that one million smokers stopped between March and July 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic.
Consequently, the number of smokers in the UK has dropped from 7.7 million in 2011 to 5.4 million ten years later.
One of the most popular resolutions
Motivational stories are the reason why quitting smoking has always been one of the most popular New Year’s Resolutions, with thousands of people signing up once January rolls around.
This is not a surprise as New Year’s Resolutions tend to be commitments that will improve our health or happiness, with other popular ones including doing more exercise, practicing mindfulness, drinking less alcohol, and having annual health screenings.
How to quit smoking successfully
So, if you have decided to ditch cigarettes in 2023, how do you go about it, so you aren’t caving in by the time February rolls around?
The NHS recommends using stop smoking aids, such as gum or patches, and making a plan about what you will do instead if you are tempted to smoke.
It also suggests listing smoking triggers so you can work out how to avoid them and keeping busy during those first few weeks so it’s not as easy to give in to cravings. You should also tell people you’re quitting to increase your accountability and join social media groups for more support from others in the same boat.
DIY e-Liquids can also help lots of smokers to quit, so if you want to change your habits in the new year, stock up on our products today.
