A part of me desperately wants to quit smoking, and I know I should quit smoking, but do I feel I must
quit. Truthfully, I love smoking, and know that I'll be miserable
without my cigarettes. They've become a part of me, and I almost can't
bear the thought of giving them up. Yet I know I have to...
Sound
familiar? Does your mind bounce back and forth on the issue of smoking
cessation? Or do you quit, only to find yourself smoking again within
days, or at most, a few weeks? Does your smoking habit make you feel
weak? Powerless? Do you wonder if you'll ever find a way to quit smoking for good?
You're not alone.
Nicotine addiction is powerful, and smoking cessation involves a lot of work for most people -- it's not handed to us on a silver platter. You can,
however, quit smoking successfully, and the good news is that thousands
of people do just that every year. They've found their way out of the
prison of nicotine addiction. And most of them thought, just as you do,
that they couldn't quit.
How did they do it?
How did they turn a feeling of should into the certainty of must? How did they turn dreams of quitting into a reality in their lives?
While
there is no magic bullet that makes smoking cessation easy and pain
free, there are steps you can take to develop the commitment necessary
to quit smoking permanently.
If you want to change your life, change your mind.
As
smokers, we often think of lighting up as an enjoyable pastime.
Cigarettes offer comfort, entertainment and companionship -- or so we
think. At the same time, we relate smoking cessation to feelings of
pain, misery and sacrifice, and for most of us, these opposing feelings
exist and are reinforced on a subconscious level. They're below the
surface of our thoughts, and the result is that we adopt unhealthy and
inaccurate beliefs as facts of life when in reality they are only our
distorted perceptions of the truth.
It’s been said that the average
person has approximately 60,000 thoughts a day; a significant percentage
of those thoughts are negative and usually directed at ourselves. We're
almost always our own worst critics. A first step in successfully
developing the will it takes to quit smoking involves learning how to
pay attention to what we tell ourselves and correct false statements as
soon as they occur. It takes practice and patience, but if you keep at
it, listening in consciously on the thoughts that go through your mind
on a daily basis will become second nature, as will correcting those
that don't serve you.
Mental Conditioning
Just as we
condition our bodies to build strength and endurance, conditioning our
minds is an exercise in building new associations that will help us put
smoking permanently in the past.
Work with the thoughts that don't
serve your best interests, and do it as soon as they crop up. Change the
language. Restructure your thoughts in terms that will help you. For
instance, if you tell yourself:
- "I won't enjoy the party,
because I can't smoke. I'll be miserable and hate every minute of it. In
fact, I'm already miserable just thinking about it."
What
will be the result? At a minimum, you'll feel deprived and unhappy at
the party. The stage is set for a smoking relapse, because on a
subconscious level, you are giving yourself the message that smoking
cessation is a sacrifice. Shift your focus and correct the language by
countering with something, such as this:
- "Going to the party
smoke-free will be a challenge, and I may feel uncomfortable, but it
will provide me with the practice I need to learn how to live my life
without leaning on cigarettes. After all, practice makes perfect. I know
these discomforts are a temporary stage of healing from nicotine
addiction."
Positive self-talk is a stepping stone to positive
action. Once you manage the event without smoking, you'll find it easier
to believe the positive corrections you're making the next time around.
When you say:
- "My friends get to smoke; why I can't I?"
Remind yourself that your friends don't get to smoke, they have
to smoke because they're addicted to nicotine. Give yourself a positive
mental cue by counteracting your feelings of self-pity with:
- "My
friends wish they could quit smoking like I have. I remember how
desperately I wanted to quit every time I lit up. It was a vicious cycle
that I'm free of now."
Or when you start reflecting fondly on your old smoking habit with thoughts, such as:
- "I'm bored without my cigarettes. Life isn't fun without them."
Adjust your mind-set by looking at it from another angle:
- "At
10 minutes smoking time per cigarette, I used to waste nearly 3 hours
every single day smoking! It's no wonder I feel a little fidgety and
empty. I'll take up a hobby and do something productive with the time I
used to spend smoking."
And, when you're feeling the discomforts of nicotine withdrawal, be careful to reinforce that the pain you're feeling is because of smoking, not quitting:
- "I feel so irritable without my smokes. I'm impatient and angry without cigarettes."
Reinforce this way:
- "Cigarettes did this to me. Once I’m free of this addiction, I’m never going back to the slavery that nicotine forced me in to again."
Or if you say:
- "I think about smoking nonstop! My day feels like one long, incessant craving!"
Add this statement:
- "I
know that nicotine withdrawal is a temporary phase of the recovery
process. The discomforts won't last forever. I'm growing stronger with
every smoke-free day."
You get the idea. Replace thoughts that
don't help you with ones that do. Train yourself to change the way you
think and feel about smoking. If you persist and work with yourself
enough, consciously trained thoughts will ultimately lead you to a new
set of beliefs, and from there, you can make changes that will stick --
permanently.
Quit Aids and Support
Fortify the resolve
you're working to build by considering one of the many quit aids
available today and by connecting with like-minded people at the
About.com Smoking Cessation support forum.
- Quit Aids - Know Your Choices
- Smoking Cessation Support Forum
Smoking
cessation is a gift that will reward you with benefits far beyond what
you can probably imagine, so be patient and do the work to change your
mind about smoking. Believe in yourself. You can do it!
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