There are pros and cons to quitting on your own or doing it with a friend or two. What's best for you?

If you smoke, it's likely you know someone else who does too. Why not ask them if they'd like to quit with you? If you've tried to give up cigarettes on your own in the past, starting a quit journey with a friend who shares the same goals could be the answer you're looking for. You could even do it as part of a bigger team.

Alternatively, you might want to quit smoking on your own. That's fine too. Everyone is different and it may be that taking a more personal approach is the best way for you to successfully quit.

There are obviously pros and cons for quitting on your own or for making a team effort. There's certainly no 'right' answer to quitting. It's about deciding what works best for you. If some close support from a friend helps you quit, great. If you'd rather concentrate on getting there on your own, there are other kinds of support available to you. Here are some of the benefits for each strategy.

Going it alone

• Ultimately, only you can make yourself quit. It has to be something you want, and you'll have to work hard at it whether you quit with a friend or not. It's your battle to win.
• Quitting on your own means you can do it your way. If avoiding the pub helps you, or going for a run, or reading, you're able to do it wherever and whenever you want.
• You can concentrate on you. It's not selfish to want to make sure your journey is successful before you worry about other people, and you won't have to support a friend too much if you quit on your own. You also don't have to be affected by other people's slip ups.
• It'll give you more of a chance to be around non-smoking friends. They might be a better influence than other quitters, because you won't automaticaly associate them with smoking.
• You won't rely on just one person for support. Any of your friends or family are potential quit buddies, so it could be good to keep your options open rather than relying on one fellow-quitter to help you through the tougher moments.

Making a team effort

• If you start a quit journey with someone else, you'll have ongoing support from someone with the same aims, so you won't feel alone on your journey.
• They'll understand what you're going through more than any of your non-smoker friends, so they might know how to better support you at times when you need it.
• You can swap tips. If something really helped you through a difficult moment, you can share it with your fellow quitter to help get them through theirs, and vice versa.
• You can distract one another. With an extra person or people available, your possibilities for distracting yourself will probably grow. You can keep each other motivated to stay active and eat right.
• Your other friends, whether they're smokers or not, may pay more attention if there are more of you trying to go smoke-free, meaning they could take you more seriously and do more to help you.
• You'll be helping someone else go smoke-free with you, which may motivate you even more to be successful.
• It might mean there's more chance you'll stay quit. If you quit alone then continue to see friends who smoke, it could be tempting to go back to cigarettes yourself, whereas if they quit too, you can avoid tempting each other in a back and forth pattern in future.

If you do decide to quit on your own, there are still various kinds of support available to you - whether it's calling on your friends and family to help, finding tips and advice on the rest of this site, or speaking to other quitters online. Nicabate also offers an online support tool, Nicabate QuitPartner, which can provide you with ongoing support throughout your quit journey and help you learn to overcome temptations. And if you're quitting with a friend, there's no reason both of you can't sign up online for extra support as well as each other.

If you're going to make a team effort and tackle quitting together, you may well decide to use many of the same strategies. However, the treatment to best help you deal with your cravings will probably be different, so think about what will work for you. There are a few Nicabate product options to consider - to find the best one for you, try Nicabate's Path2Quit product selector.

However you approach quitting – on your own or with a friend – what's important is that you do what works for you and you keep trying, even if you slip up.