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Quitting smoking: Gearing up for the Challenge!
You should receive this e-mail about two weeks before your quitting date.
If you are at another stage in the quitting process please modify your subscription.
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Hello!
You’ve decided to quit smoking in two weeks: Congratulations! This is one of the best possible decisions you could make for your own well-being and that of the people around you. Breaking free of cigarettes may be tough, but you’re well on your way: You’ve already taken a concrete step in the process by setting the date on which you will quit. Well done! |
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 Details about e-mails
The key to success:
good preparation
Your reasons
Your profile
Your other attempts
Pharmacological aids
Resources close to home
On-line community
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Tip of the week |
Keeping a smoke-free diary could be an invaluable tool in kicking the habit. You don’t have to create great literature or spend hours bent over a blank page! It’s more like a logbook where you can jot down information, take notes, describe your good and not-so-good moments, all with the goal of making it easier for you to quit.
Choose the format you like best: sheets of paper that you keep in an envelope, a scrapbook, a diary with a key, lined or graph paper, blank or coloured paper, the choice is yours!
For inspiration, you could write two affirmations about your decision to quit. For example:
“I am stronger than cigarettes.”
“I’m going to successfully take on the challenge of living smoke-free!”
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Details about e-mails
These messages are intended to provide you with encouragement, useful information and practical tips to help you quit smoking. You will receive one per week until the fourth month after your quitting date, and then one per month. Hold on to them so you can refer to them as necessary.
The purpose of these e-mails is to enrich your “tool box” by proposing different avenues for action. Don’t take them as recipes to be followed to the letter or as required homework. Always bear in mind that this is first and foremost your journey. Use them as a source of inspiration and adapt them to your needs.
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The key to success: good preparation
When you quit smoking, you make a commitment to embark on a journey to regain the freedom that smoking has taken from you. And like any adventurer getting ready to take on a challenge, you will have to be well prepared if you are to achieve your goal.
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Your reasons
On a sheet of paper or, if you wish, in your smoke-free diary (for more information about this, see Tip of the Week), list the reasons why you have decided to quit smoking. For example, “I am quitting for my own health, for that of my children and to save money.”
Keep your list in a safe place so you can refer to it to boost your motivation if it wavers along the way.
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Your profile
To counter your smoking habits and deal with situations or events that prompt you to light up, you need to know your profile as a smoker. Divide a page in your diary into six columns. Each time you have a cigarette this week, write down:
- Time
- Place
- Activity
- People present
- Reasons for smoking
- Intensity of desire to smoke
To help you determine what factors drive you to smoke, take the Horn Test, rovided by the Canadien Cancer Society. It will point out the first priority you should address to quit smoking.
To better understand what type of smoker you are, you can also build your smoking profile on Stoptabac.ch.
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Your other attempts
If you have already tried to quit, try to understand what made you start up again: inadequate preparation, stress, difficult withdrawal symptoms, an evening with friends? Note this information in your diary.
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Pharmacological aids
By adding a pharmacological aid to your motivation, you can greatly increase your chances of successfully turning your back on cigarettes. Three types of pharmacological treatments have been scientifically proven effective:
- nicotine replacement therapy, available as a patch, gum, lozenge or inhaler
- varenicline pills
- bupropion pills
You should begin using nicotine replacement therapies when you stop smoking, but if choose to use varenicline or bupropion, it is recommended to start treatment one week before D-Day so that the drug can take effect. Consult your pharmacist or doctor as soon as possible to find out which treatment is best suited to your needs, possible side effects and contraindications, and which products are covered by your health insurance plan.
For further information about quitting smoking and aids: Défi Tabac
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Resources close to home
To find out about smoking cessation services and resources available in your community, visit the page for your region on the Challenge site (page available in French only).
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On-line community
You’re not alone! Find strength in a huge on-line community that is going through the same experiences you are, by visiting the Challenge site:
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