Do It for Momma: Helping Her Kick the Smoking Habit

Today’s guest poster is sharing a post from her heart since she’s been helping her mom kick an expensive, nasty and life-threatening habit. After watching my husband beat his own smoking addiction last year, I know just how difficult it can be to stop. But when the smoker is ready to give it up and sets his or her mind to, it’s your job to help them stay strong, keep temptations away, and be understanding of those initial cravings and mood swings. 😉

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My mom has been smoking since well before I was born (minus the pregnancy, of course). It was something she picked up because it was what everyone did in high school. It was also likely she chose the habit because my grandparents were regular smokers.

Growing up in a household with smoking parents was very different compared to spending time at a friend’s. Even though my mom would step outside to smoke, the smell still lingered around the doorway and on her clothes. Going on car rides were quite different, too, having to always keep the windows down.

I love my mom very much. As I age, I realize that addiction is far tougher than you can imagine. Once nicotine gets a grip, it’s extremely difficult to live without. But you don’t have to be a slave to it forever.

There are a lot of smokers out there. I’m sure a few of you reading this has a mother just like mine. Or maybe you are dealing with your own addiction.

What I’d like to do is help everyone. Lately, I’ve been giving my mom a push to drop the habit. I know it’s going to be an uphill battle but there are already great things I’ve learned that have been helping.

 

1. Help them understand the time sink

Let’s say you smoke a pack a day and each cigarette break is about 15 minutes. That’s five hours of your day dedicated to smoking. Isn’t that crazy? There are tons of people that can’t even get that much sleep each night!

I’ve found that expressing the time sink and bringing up real numbers seems to help my mom realize that it’s forcing her to miss out on a lot of great things. People cite losing touch with friends to be one of the biggest regrets in life. If you present that type of thinking to a loved one and explain that each time they’re stepping out, they’re taking time away from being around family and friends, it’ll give them a shock to the system.

This is one of the first steps in the process. Help them understand the time waste and they’ll at least begin to cut back.

2. Reaffirm the dangers (but with actionable advice)

My mom, and every other smoker, knows the inherent risks of smoking. Now it’s even printed right there on the box. They understand that it can lead to lung cancer, turns their teeth brown, fingers yellow and causes many other problems. They know they want to quit…but sometimes, the addiction is just too strong. That’s when I heard about the benefits of this so called “vaping” and that it is indeed a healthier alternative to go on vaporizing tobacco vs. smoking tobacco.

I was tired of how people tried to “take the high road” when it comes to badgering smokers about the health problems. So I found a better way to bring it up is by presenting actionable advice for my mom rather than vague, wishful thinking.

For example, I picked up a simple e-cig starter kit, sat down with my mom to show her how it’s used, and laid out the benefits of at least switching to them for half of her daily cigarettes. She immediately understood that at least this choice would be better than the previous. She’s still getting that nicotine buzz but at least it doesn’t have all those nasty chemicals.

Sure enough, she uses it more and more frequently. She also got my stepdad to start using e-cigs more often, which in turn helps the both of them stay supportive when kicking the habit.

3. Associate the costs with better alternatives

And, of course, there are the costs involved.

I like hard data because you can’t refute it. One of the reports I found examined the costs of smoking and found that smokers spend around $5,816 a year on their habit.

But, again, my mom, being a long-time smoker, already knew the costs. I was having some trouble finding a way to help her really see it for what it was. Then I got the bright idea of using visual association for the money she was spending on cigs.

She’s always wanted to go on various vacations around the world but would often say how she never has the time or money. Well, sure enough, I put together an itinerary which included a round-trip flight, hotel, food, entertainment, and the likes, and you know what? It didn’t get anywhere near that amount she was spending on smokes.

Showing the trade off, I’ve found, is far more effective than just throwing around numbers. When they see they could make big purchases or investments – that’ll make them wake up.

The combination of cutting back on the amount, switching to mostly e-cigs, and having a big money goal has helped my mom tremendously. She’s still fighting the good fight, but it’s nothing like how it was before. That’s something I’m happy to have provided for my momma and for the rest of my family as well.

Do you know someone who is trying to quit smoking or that you wish would stop smoking? What are you doing to help them stop?