Worksheets........!

Gees! Just with the title of this page ‘Worksheets” I have probably lost you already!

If you are still with me great, because these worksheets will not be too difficult. I am a great believer in enjoying life, and ‘work’ for that matter. I have spent many years as an Exercise Physiologist, working with people to help them enjoy a more healthier life-style through increased physical activity. I have always advised my clients to find a physical activity that they will enjoy. That way they are more likely to stick with it, and it will become an integral part of their more healthy life style.

I am diverging, but I just remembered an incident in a Fresh Start™ course that I would like to share with you, before getting to the worksheets.

I had been discussing with a group, the cigarette they enjoyed most during the day. Sharon had told the group that her favourite and most important cigarette was the one she had after preparing and eating dinner with her family in the evenings. She would sit down in her favourite lounge chair and enjoy the smoke before getting on with tasks like washing up.

The next session Sharon excitedly told the group that she had done it. She had not had a cigarette for three days. After congratulating Sharon, I asked her what she did in the evenings after dinner instead of having a smoke. Sharon answered that she just got up and did the dishes. I then asked Sharon if she enjoyed doing the dishes. “No, I hate it” she replied.

NEVER, DON’T EVER replace smoking with something you do not enjoy doing. Go for a walk, read a magazine ....., do whatever, but make sure it is something you enjoy doing. Otherwise you will probably resent giving up smoking, even if you stay stopped.

There are people who have not smoked for several years who still claim they miss it. I am quite sure what they are missing are the things that were associated with smoking. They are missing the memory. If you reward yourself for not smoking, this resentment is much less likely to happen.

OK - The Worksheets

These may help you understand your smoking habits and assist you in stopping and staying stopped.

1. Keep a cigarette or cravings tally sheet. I suggest that towards the end of each day a short time is put aside to reflect on when you smoked or had cravings during the day. Make a note of the activity you were involved in at the time and also your feelings or mood that you had.
2. From those tally sheets, you could prioritise the importance of various cigarettes that you had during the day. This may help you to decide which ones you may cut out first, and/or what other things you could have perhaps done instead of having the cigarettes.
3. Make a list of the reasons why you want to smoke. Make another list of the reasons why you think you should not smoke. after making the lists, compare them and analyse the relative importance of the reasons given. Generally the list of reasons for not smoking will be longer and more convincing than the list of reasons for smoking.
4. Make a list of names of your family, friends and work colleagues that you see on a regular basis. Beside each name, make some notes of how each person may be able to assist you in your efforts stop and to stay stopped.
5. List the strategies that you are going to use to avoid smoking.
6. Make a personal list of alternatives to smoking.

To make it easier for you, I have designed some simple worksheets for you to use. Just click on the links to download the pdf of these forms.

On the next page I suggest some resources that may be of assistance to you to stop and to stay stopped.

“Growth and change are never easy .......if it were easy, you would have done it a long time ago.”

Laurence Le Shan

Web Design Ian McKenzie

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