- Read a book. But you have to read a whole chapter! I’m sure you have one or two lying around your house that you’ve been meaning to read!
- Wash the car. Wax it too.
- Clean the inside of your car. Vacuum, detail, shampoo, clean out the trunk. Get that disgusting smell of cigarettes out!
- Go for a walk. Just a ten minute walk around the block. Breathe deep and realize all of the great possibilities you have to push your body.
- Crochet or knit a scarf or blanket. It will keep your hands busy. If you don’t know how, take it up!
- Do a crossword puzzle or some sodoku with a nice cup of coffee.
- Take a cat nap and re energize your body.
- Call a friend or your family for a moments support.
- Play with your pets. Take your dog out for a walk. Get out some cat nip for the cats.
- Clean the bathroom, REALLY WELL.
- Listen to a relaxation tape, or some music on your ipod.
- Listen to some motivational podcasts.
- Flip through some magazines.
- Chew on some cloves! It may sound gross, but it’s pretty awesome.
- Go to the movies or rent one you haven’t seen. Add some popcorn to the mix, and you’ve got a pretty good time. Or watch some movies or TV online.
- Do the dishes or some other physical task you’ve been meaning to do.
- Make your own blog and track your progress. Write down all of your frustrations.
- Breathe deeply. Light some incense and play some relaxing music and just take a brake from reality for a minute.
- Give someone you love a huge hug.
- Swig down some ice water. Keep yourself hydrated!
- Exercise! Swimming, aerobics, biking, yoga, etc. This is great for releasing endorphins (feel good factor) and relieving stress (physical and mental). You can even use your home and everyday objects as a useful gym!
- Read the newspaper and get updated on what’s going on in your world.
- Take up a new hobby/ interest. Channel yourself into something constructive and interesting.
- Suck on a lollipop or piece of hard candy.
- Write a song. Play an instrument. It doesn’t matter if you suck, practice makes you better! Or test your musical skill here.
- Retail therapy with the cash you’ve saved from not smoking!
- Take yourself out for a good meal. Try that restaurant you’ve been meaning to! Here’s some great places in Asheville.
- Slather on a rich hand lotion and rub! it keeps your fingers busy and reminds you how nice it is not to have tobacco stink on your hands.
- Eat a Popsicle.
- Floss and brush your teeth.
- Make-out with your special someone, and taste how great it is without the cigarette breath!
- Go through your old clutter and take crap to goodwill. Nothing feels better than purging unwanted or needed items!
- Chew some gum.
- Chew on a toothpick for Shiny teeth!
- Play some games on the internet or gaming system. Perfect distraction tool! See things from a spider’s point of view. More games here. And more here. And here.
- Get out of your house and go for a stroll through a graveyard. It’s beautiful!
- Get comfortable and hop into bed early.
- Research something that interests you and learn something new.
- Paint, draw, or just make some sort of art with your frustrations!
- Look up some awesome photography, or take some photos of your own. Check out this photography blog about finding faces in weird places. Or perhaps vintage photos are your thing.
- Remind yourself of the horrid effects of smoking. Sometimes all you need is a reminder!
- Email all the people you’ve been meaning to.
- Read other people’s blogs and experiences with quitting.
- Clean out under your bed!
- Make a list of pro’s and con’s of smoking. Then realize that the con’s will always out-weigh the pro’s!
- Find gross photos of smoking disease effects. I’m sure you’d want to light up after that!
- Go bowling!
- Do ALL of your laundry.
- Have sex!
- Write a story or a poem.
- Have a cup of tea! Not only is it a great source of antioxidants, it’s a great little ritual. My favorite are Yogi Teas.
- Take a walk in your local botanical gardens, or go hiking. Use this handy tool to calculate the distance so you’ll know how much food and water you’ll need to pack!
- Go on a camping excursion.
- Go antique hunting. Or visit the Swapatorium.
- Wander around your downtown leisurely. You never know who you’ll meet up with or what you’ll find.
- organize your stray photos into albums.
- Take a candle-lit bath with lavender essential oils.
- Dye your hair or get a haircut. It’s nice to have a physical change with a life change like quitting smoking.
- Crank up the radio and sing at the top of your lungs. This is great for driving cravings!
- You can also keep a water bottle full in your car, and take a swig periodically. It will keep you hydrated and help with cravings.
- Do some push-ups or jumping jacks!
- Write little random notes of inspiration and leave them in random places (i.e. books at the library). It may inspire other people.
- Clean out a messy drawer.
- Go see a play. Live theater rocks!
- Make some soap, lotion, candles, etc. You can find easy instructions on the internet, and all the supplies you need at places like AC MOORE and MICHAELS ARTS AND CRAFTS.
- Change your bedsheets- better yet, go out and purchase a new set of colorful linens to brighten your room and mood.
- Go out for coffee at an outside cafe and people-watch.
- Go out to lunch with a friend and catch up.
- Take yourself out for ice cream.
- Go to an art opening or gallery walk! If you live in Asheville, this is a great place to figure out what’s going on in the Art world.
- Eat something chewy, carrots, or seeds, etc.
- Call your grandparents and catch up!
- Eat a bowl of soup- slowly!
- Go to a museum. Research your town, most museums have a free day once or twice a month.
- Go see a rock show and jump around.
- Take up dancing salsa or swing.
- Start to sew or needlepoint!
- Play the piano! Even if you don’t know how.
- Scrub the floor. Get out all of your frustrations!
- Eat some fruit. Especially something you have to peel, like an orange.
- Bake a pie or another intricate desert. Reward yourself!
- Chop up some veggies and make a stir fry!
- Watch the sun set.
- Go to a park with a sketch pad and sketch your world!
- Learn origami.
- Lemon drops! Curbs cravings, seriously!
- Write a goodbye letter to cigarettes. Read other people’s goodbye letters to cigarettes. Check out this Dear John Cigarette letter while you are at it.
- Go for a long, scenic drive.
- Learn a new language! Save your money and travel to use your new language!
- Play with clay.
- Keep a jar with you at all times and put the cigarettes you do smoke in them. it’s the jar of shame!
- Write a list of what you are grateful for.
- Get an interesting part time job.
- Put together a hard puzzle.
- Go to Etsy and check out all the homemade items! If you make homemade items of your own, sign up and sell them here to make a little extra cash!
- Paint your nails or get a manicure!
- Make your own post secret postcard and send it!
- Take an interesting class at your local community college.
- Start a little garden of veggies or herbs in your yard or kitchen.
- Download some new music you’ve never heard.
- Live through your nostalgia and be Retro!
- Do you like puppies? Take a puppy break! Do you like kittens? Then take a kitten brake!
- Check out the live penguin-cam at the central park zoo, and check out what the penguins are up to.
- Strengthen your determination to be smoke-free while watching old TV ad’s. Go ahead, feel bamboozled!
- Decide whether or not you believe in ghosts.
- Check out some hilarious Cake Wrecks.
- Do you know any passive-aggressive people? Then you can relate with these.
- Do you like bird watching? Then watch birds without even leaving your home.
- If you live in Asheville, as I do, you may find the Asheville Street Style pretty amusing.
- Check out this treasure trove of vintage films!
- How about listening to some Ancient Greek music? Here, you can listen to the same music Sophocles listened to while he was writing Oedipus Rex. These fragments of ancient Greek music were found on fragments that survived the Middle Ages.
- Check out some Strange Science Goofs! Until Darwin’s work in the late 19th Century, people thought all kinds of strange creatures existed.
- Now that you are saving so much money from not smoking, why don’t you plan a wacky vacation?
- Listen to old radio broadcasts and mystery stories!
- The French essayist Montaigne said, “To forbid us anything is to make us have a mind for it.” Check out this list of Banned Books and find one to pick up and read.
- Make a life list of things you want to do. Check out 43 Things and see what inspires other people to make your own list!
- Document your feelings everyday and take a photo of yourself everyday. Then go back and review.
- Doodle! And then rate other people’s doodles.
- Why don’t you do a paint-by-number? It was once a favorite Sunday afternoon activity. Check out hundreds of kits, galleries, and links to order your own!
- If you love batman and the 1966 Batman TV show like me, you’ll LOVE this!
- Why don’t you explore the deep sea?
- Or read about odd and disturbing experiments, like attempts to create a two-headed dog, raising a baby chimp alongside a human baby, etc.
- Sometimes when you crave a cigarette, you are really just hungry. Why don’t you cook alongside Chef Tako the Octopus as he attempts to cook things like pumpkin flan, or deep fried turkey? Or check out some Top Secret Recipes?
- If you’re an avid record collector like I fancy myself to be, you may enjoy the worst album covers of all time.
- If you are really having bad cravings, then do something with your hands like take something apart and learn about it!
- Read some comics! How about Russian Batman?
- You already know that quitting smoking will bring your senses that have once been numbed, back full-fledge! Check out this test that will tell you why your brain typically reacts the way it does to visual and aural changes.
- You could always do some serious time-wasting and watch Cheddar age in a darkroom at a farm in southern England. It’s the equivalent of watching paint dry, but hey, it’s a distraction!
- What’s better than some cool inventions?
- Check out this interactive video about mice and drugs. It will give you more insight as to what drugs, including nicotine, does to our systems.
- Take a moment and appreciate stop-frame animation that even CGI can’t match.
- Smoking cigarettes isn’t just bad for your body, it’s bad for the environment. Check out No Impact Man and figure out what you can do to end our environmental crises, and make the world a better place to live.
- Go outside at night and watch the stars.
- Read up on what’s been going on in the news with the help of Margaret and Helen. These old ladies are sarcastic and hilarious!
- Do you work in an office? Then you will find this VERY humorous!
- If you have children, The Artful Parent is for you.
- If you have ever worked at a restaurant in your life, The Insane Waiter and Well Done Filet are PERFECT distractions from any cigarette cravings!
I’m a Quitter!
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If you are thinking about quitting smoking, have already quit, or are in the midst of quitting...this blog is for YOU!
Hi this blog is great I will be recommending it to friends.
By: watcat on March 16, 2009
at 12:30 am
[...] Things To Do Instead Of Smoke! Posted by: D | March 26, 2009 [...]
By: I’m a Quitter! on March 26, 2009
at 9:04 pm