21/02/2026
THE FOUR Ds of QUITTING CI******ES 🚬✋⛔️ The 4 Ds are simple and effective methods you can try to manage cravings when they strike. You can apply them to other behaviours or habits you’re wanting to walk away from, such as drinking, gambling, and many compulsive tendencies.
Try the 4 Ds when you have a craving:
DELAY 🚶🏻
DISTRACT 💡
DEEP BREATHE 🧘
DRINK WATER 💧
DELAY: Delay acting on the urge to smoke (or drink, or other unwanted behaviour/activity). After a few minutes, the craving will decrease & eventually dissolve. Research indicates that the smoking impulse disappears within 10 minutes.
DISTRACT: Take your mind off your urge by substituting behaviour/activity for another enjoyable activity, going for a walk, meditating, listening to music, chatting to a supportive or funny friend, using a quitting app, or any other activity that diverts your attention away from your urge.
DEEP BREATHE: Take 3 long, slow, mindful breaths. Remain focused on these breaths. Continue if desired, until the craving subsides. The urge may come and go. Keep moving through it until it dissolves completely.
DRINK WATER: Slowly and mindfully drink a glass of water. Focus on the moment and the sensation of it.
In Alcoholics Anonymous, there’s a powerful, gentle and effective philosophy: “Just take it one day at a time”. Remember that it’s easier to live through another day without your previous habit, than it is to start the journey all over again. Quitting may be hard, but so is relapsing and having to start again from the beginning!
Quitting is simply many moments, one rolling into another and then the next, of denying yourself the activity and it eventually dissolving and disappearing. In the beginning stages, these cravings will resurface regularly: just take each moment as it comes, and be proud of yourself for passing the test each time.
Initially, these moments may feel Iike an eternity, but eventually your ‘new life’ takes over and becomes your ‘normal’. Just don’t give up! Well, you know what I mean … 🤗
