The Great American Smokeout is a day when smokers all over America try to quit smoking. Dr. Gordon Strauss, a psychiatrist from Lenox Hill Hospital, gives tips that may help prepare to quit. His first tip was to smoke on a regular schedule rather than whenever one feels like it. Next, one should try to stay away from other smokers. Watching them smoke while inhaling the secondhand smoke serve as triggers for most smokers. Another tip was to manage stress with a different activity. Rather than smoking, one should find a new hobby or activity to distract oneself while managing stress. His advice to the smokers trying to quit was, “Don’t use a cigarette as a substitute for tending to yourself.” He says this because many smokers forget to take care of their health and body. Don’t let oneself get too hungry, tired, angry, or lonely. Don’t give up if it doesn’t work. Remember that it can be a slow process, but with these tips, the process will be easier. Such tips play a pivotal role in keeping up the morale of those who seek to quit bad habits such as smoking. As portrayed through the experimental day of the Great American Smokeout, appealing to people’s step by step actions can contribute to a meaningful movement.


<Lena Park Cypress High School 10th Grade>