1 of the main reasons i smoke is because i am bored, its all to easy to sit with a coffee watching tv & to light up.after talking to my mum who beat smoking some 20yrs ago now her advice is to find a hobby to do or go for a walk when i feel the urge to have a fag, but winter is here n i dont fancy spending most of it walking round the block in a force 10 gale with rain & snow thrown into the mix.... any practical advise on how i can keep busy whilst keeping warm please..
thankyou
Hi Nicette, do you like reading, that takes your ming off the dreaded ciggys. I never smoked in the house so watching TV without one wouldnt bother me.I agree with your Mum, find a hobby, have you thought about tracing your Family Tree, I done that an spent hours on the Net, its a great way to pass the time away, and another is walking, I use to walk for miles everyday in all kinds of weather, its great to blow the cobwebs away and you feel more alive with the wind and rain blowing in your face, I am recovering from a operation on my leg so I cant walk as much as I,d like to but I still go out everyday to the local park or if my leg is painfull then just around the block. As long as I get some fresh air then thats ok for the time being. If you sit in the house thinking about ciggys all the time you,ll end up going insane, it will get easier but it takes time. Find something to keep you busy that will help, I do Tai chi, Qigong and aerobics, but aerobics is out for now, have a look around your area for some classes to keep you going.Good luck.
mad
Hey nicette40,
Everyone can get bored at some parts of their lives, whether they smoke or not. It may be worth thinking about what a non-smoker would do....
Boredom plays quite a large part in smokers lives and encourages people to probably smoke more than they'd actually like to.
Do you find that you're boredom sets in at certain parts of the day? Is it more so during the evening time or the day?
There are a few ways of dealing with your situation....
1. Keep your mind occupied...
Is there something new that you can take up that you you might not be used to doing whilst smoking? Do you have an artistic flair?
- Maybe learning cross-stitch, think of the Xmas gifts you could make for people whilst stopping smoking - cross-stitch bookmarks, crss-stitch pictures in a frame with children's names on them, if you have nieces, nephews, grandchildren etc...
- take up knitting or crocheting
- crossword or word search puzzles
Finding a new interest or taking up a new hobby is a great idea to keep occupied.
2. Think about how you feel...
Is it boredom or is it a craving that you feel you cannot deal with? Think about how smoking will stop you from being bored? Seriously, it probably takes 3-4 minutes max to smoke a cigarette. For those couple of minutes surely you can distract yourself for that amount of time?
If it is a craving, then you need to learn how to deal with it, it's a moment that you need to just allow to past... And it will pass. Why not just go and clean up a room in the house? Clean out that kitchen junk drawer that is full of pens, bits and bobs of all kinds. Sort your wardrobe out. There are probably other things around your home that you could do to distract yourself temporally.
3. Learn to relax...
You cant be busy all the time. Sometimes it's better for you to chill a bit and settle down with your own company. Practise some of our breathing exercises, these can be used to relax you down for a good nights sleep, to calm you down after cravings have set in, to give you that burst of energy if you need it.
4. Drink less tea and coffee...
During the early days of quitting, you may associate drinking tea and coffee with smoking. Every time you put the kettle on, it may be one of your triggers that get you to naturally reach for a cigarette.
5. Change seats...
Sit in a different seat when watching the TV. Your favourite armchair or seat may actually be one of your triggers. After smoking for a certain length of time and probably doing it in the same places, try and train your mind to do something new, to see things in a different light.
Let us know how you get on, the longer you go without smoking, the more you will learn how to deal with your situation.
Remember that by smoking, you are putting your health at serious risk and smoking doesn't really relieve boredom if you think it through, you just think t does!
You can do this and given time, it will become easier until you won't even notice the time any more.
Keep up the good efforts, your doing brilliant so far 
Tracing your family tree is a fab idea Mad
Hi Nicette and welcome to our community. When I quit I went cold turkey and found that I couldn't concentrate on much and spend most evenings in front of the tv. My solution at the time was just to sit on my hands! 
I found that whatever I did - be it knitting, computer, ironing or any other pastime, the first thing I always did was to light up. Come on the daily chat in the evenings and you'll find yourself distracted and focussed on the job in hand. You can also read some of the old blogs and questions and hopefully get some hints and tips to help you.
Look forward to chatting again soon, Andi 
Coming on here has certainly helped me
Wow. Nicette 40. That's exactly what I'm doing right now. Home alone, cup of coffee. Watching Steve Harvey Family Fued. And
Dam cigs sitting in front of me. I need to find something to keep me busy besides the tv. Thank you
Tom
Champix-second week. How do you feel?
How long? I HAVE had a couple of good day's in 14
I absolutely HAVE to do this
Found a way to beat cravings!
I already suffer from depression.. how much worse will it get when I stop smoking?
