Staying Quit

Here are some suggestions on how to deal with slips and stay smokefree.

Slips

A slip is when you have a cigarette or two after you've quit smoking. It is not uncommon for people to have an occasional slip. Because smoking can become automatic, you may not even be consciously aware that you're smoking until after you've lit up.

Don't panic or heap guilt onto yourself. A slip or two does not mean that you have failed. It only means that you continue to be open to starting to smoke again. If you make a slip, the best thing to do is to look at what triggered the slip and figure out how to handle it differently next time.

Smoking is like any other complex behaviour - we may have to practice for a while before we learn to change it and quit for good. If you learn something about yourself and the behaviour every time you try to quit, you will be further ahead than before you made the attempt.

Relapse only becomes a negative thing if you let it discourage you. Remember that many people make more than one attempt to quit smoking before they succeed. Don't quit quitting!