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Quitting Does Not Take
Quitting does not take …
From gummer on 9/7/2010 12:32:23 PM
... luck, or divine intervention, or even strength. Quitting requires the use of reason. Quitting is not particularly easy, but it is very, very simple. The biggest obstacle is that nicotine addiction affects our brains, our way of thinking, and that makes it difficult for us to apply and sustain the power of reasoning we need in order to quit.
Many new quitters hope they might get lucky and just make a quit stick. Others think they will need God to do it for them. And yet others feel they will need to use superhuman efforts to keep the urges at bay. I felt many of these things at different times, but in the end it was simple logic and reason that proved to be the silver bullet.
Here are some stray thoughts that helped me:
- Had you never smoked you would not be enduring this now. That means that smoking, rather than quitting, is 100% responsible for your misery.
- It also means that smoking, rather than quitting, causes cravings.
- I did not start craving cigarettes when I quit smoking. I started craving cigarettes when I started smoking.
- Smoking cannot provide real relief because it actually delivers the opposite: it delivers dependence. If I hate cravings, then why would I smoke???
- I can smoke or not smoke. If I smoke I will get temporary relief but permanent misery. If I don't smoke I will endure temporary misery but get permanent relief. It's a simple choice.
- If I am desperate to smoke just because I feel so awful, can I honestly say that I love smoking? Or do I "love" to smoke because I hate how I feel when I don't smoke? What other things do I "love" that make me feel this way when I don't get them? Do I "love" smoking after all?
- Do I smoke to bring pleasure into my life... or do I smoke to avoid discomfort?
And then, as you progress in your quit you will notice other things:
- Wow, that massive craving went away even though I did not smoke.
- Gosh, I got through that project just fine without smoking.
- I actually enjoyed that party even without a cigarette.
- That interview went well in spite of my having quit.
- I did not smoke and my head did not explode... and I'm finally seeing that the world won't end just because I crave and don't smoke.
- It turns out I don't need cigarettes to cope because smoking did not actually help me handle stress, and it did not make events more enjoyable, and it did not make me fcous more, or be more creative... smoking just made me dependent, LESS capable, LESS independent!!!
And then there comes a point when you realize that smoking never gave you anything of value, that smoking never delivered what you thought it did. You figure out that you have been fooled all along and that you have been needlessly stuck in vicious cycle where you gained nothing. You learn that in spite of any withdrawals, you are actually happier and better off not smoking. It is when your views on smoking change that quitting becomes easy, if not inevitable, because you will now look at cigarettes and immediately see misery rather than seeing relief, and strength and enjoyment as you used to. When your reasons to smoke disappear, so will your desire, and it is by using logic and reason over impulse that you will achieve this.
Gummer