Quitting smoking requires setting up goals that can be attained in accordance with the commitment one has towards the achievement of the established goals. The most challenging task during the program was to manage the withdrawal symptoms associated with quitting smoking. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the contemporary lifestyle management plan that was developed to assist in quitting smoking.
While setting up the goals for evaluation and reflection on a lifestyle management plan, one sets given rules to guide his/her goals to enable the realization of the progress. Some goals may seem easy to be attained while setting them up. But in real-life conditions, they could turn out very difficult to be achieved. Realistically, not all of the set goals can be achieved; this is due to laxity in implementing them and the associated difficulty in letting go of the past lifestyle (Anderson, 31). The idea of compromising with goals is common when no pressure of punishment is put on you in case you break the set goals. This is because lifestyle management is an individual person idea/principle that does not incur obvious punishment, therefore, the aspect of compromising and laxity in implementation becomes a hindering factor in achieving positive results.
To some extent, personal behavior changes in every environment and it depends on the factor that influences it. Due to life dynamics, one is prone to change either in behavior thus influencing positively or negatively on the set goals. Theoretically, one wishes to accomplish all that is set, although under normal circumstances not all is done. Therefore, this fact becomes a barrier to achieving one’s goal. On the contrary, some environments may be of great help in achieving the set goals. For instance, the colleagues, I hang out with, influence the achievement of my set goals. If you share your goals with people who consider them positively, these people could help you to achieve your goals and vice versa. “The environment you will be in becomes a determining factor on compliance with your plan” (Anderson, 49).
To make sure that all the set goals are achieved, it is important to seal all the loopholes through setting up achievable goals. This helps to concentrate fully on what you believe can be attained. The use of smoking aids entails the use of stop smoking aids, such as nicotine inhalers and stop smoking pills, which made it easy to reduce the number of cigarettes smoked during one week. Initially, I had planned to reduce the smoking rates to half a packet; however, the smoking aids made the process easy and I readjusted my goal of five cigarettes during the first week. The nicotine replacement therapy also contributed significantly to the easy realization of this goal (Borland, 237).
A milestone, regarding the lifestyle change and modification of the risk factor associated with smoking during the implementation of my four-week quit smoking plan, is a gradual reduction in the smoking rates and ultimately quitting smoking completely. “This implies that I successfully achieved the goals of the lifestyle management plan. In addition, the fact that I have been an advocate, for quitting smoking among my peers is an indication that I have modified my lifestyle behavior” (Seidman and Oz, 114). Another indicator is the fact that I avoid being subjected to secondary smoke in public places. Secondary smoke has the potential of increasing the craving for smoking for the new quitters, and managing to avoid secondary smoke is a significant milestone in contemporary lifestyle management plans (Seidman and Oz, 57).
Quitting smoking is a different story for every individual and each one of the smokers has different experiences regarding the alteration of the risk factors associated with smoking. In my attempt to reduce the smoking risk factors, I mostly suffered from withdrawal symptoms, which I battled mostly not to get back to smoking. Most of the individuals, who have attempted to quit smoking and failed to do this, can be mostly attributed to their inability to handle the withdrawal symptoms associated with smoking. “The bottom line is that fewer people have successfully managed to quit smoking, while a significant percentage have succumbed to the risk factors associated with smoking, I am among the few who have successfully adhered to my lifestyle management plan to successfully alter the risk factors and the lifestyle behaviors” (Anderson, 78).
If I were to repeat the lifestyle management plan, I would change the span of the implementation plan to accommodate six weeks. Four weeks is a too short period to quit smoking without suffering from withdrawal symptoms. In addition, the reliance on smoking alternatives will be eliminated. This is because they slow down the process of quitting smoking, and put one in an indecisive state of mind of evaluating the differences between real smoking and smoking alternatives.
Works Cited
Anderson, Nicki. Reality Fitness; Inspiration for Your Health and Well-being. London: New World Library, 2000. Print.
Borland, R. “Slip-ups and relapse in attempts to quit smoking. Addictive Behaviours.” Addictive Behaviors. Issue 3, (1990): 235-245. Print.
Seidman, Daniel F., and Oz, Mehmet C. Smoke-Free in 30 Days: The Pain-Free, Permanent Way to Quit. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2009. Print.