Many of you will make a New Years resolution to QUIT SMOKING.
The benefits are obvious… health and cost…
So how hard is it to quit smoking? It all depends on what angle you are looking at..
Is it possible to do it without “quitting aids”.. like nicotine gum, patches, etc, etc..?
Sure.
The best way to quit smoking is to have ONE SIMPLE CARDINAL RULE:
“Stop smoking 100%”
Sounds simplistic, but I really mean it..
1. No “can I have just a puff?”
2. No “I had a real bad argument, I just need one cigarette today.. only one”
3. No “Well if I cut back to only 1/2 a pack, its better than I was before”…
4. No “Ok, I’ll let myself have up to 4 cigarettes a day, after meals, that sort of thing, it’s better than where I was before”
5. No “I’ll only smoke when I drink. Or.. I’ll only smoke among friends”
6. No “I won’t buy my own, but if someone gives me one for free… well.. that’s a control in itself isn’t it?”
SEE.. the brain addicted to nicotine will play with your thoughts. I will rationalize a 100 ways from Friday why it is perfectly ok to have just that one puff, that one drag, that one cigarette.
Infact, your emotions will become so sensitive, and you’ll argue with people around you to the point your body cries out “just have a smoke. Look how bad things are right now. You have every right to have a cigarette at this particular point eventhough you quit”
Life is full of drama. But when you are detoxing from cigarettes and nicotene Your mind WILL play tricks on you. Your emotions WILL run wild…
Everytime I’ve managed to quit smoking, it has always been “cold turkey”, which simply means, no aids of any sort. I simply stopped putting a cigarette to my lips and inhaling.
People who don’t smoke, don’t understand. There are 3 types of people in this world:
1. Non-smokers. They have never smoked, have no desire to smoke, and secretly are disgusted and despise people who smoke. They don’t understand them, think it is a filthy habit, and “how could you”
2. Ex-smokers. These are a very specialized group of people that totally demand the upmost respect. They were non-smokers at one point. They also became totally addicted smokers. They understand both sides of the social coin that dictates that smoking is no longer socially or ethically acceptable. Do they crave cigarettes to this day? YES THEY DO.. ALL OF THEM. There are records of people who have smoked for 10 years straight, then abstained and quit for 20 years, and then one day, out of the blue, something major in their lives has put them back to smoking again.
Ex-smokers, deserve respect. They are fighting a day-to-day battle. Albeit, some of them are hurting more than others.. But any ex-smoker could be a smoker again tomorrow, given the right chance, opportunity, situation, and want.
Ex-smokers have it the worst of all 3 types.
Now the next type….
3. SMOKERS. These are people who are still smoking everyday. There are varying degrees of smokers. Some are up to a pack a day… some are only smoking on the weekends, or while drinking. Nonetheless, these are people who need to smoke cigarettes as part of their normal lives. The nicotine levels in their bodies dictate how often they smoke, and how much they crave to smoke.
Some of these people have quit before.. the majority have not – they have smoked all their lives, and it is the one daily routine that they have that they depend on..
Smokers who have tried to quit, and failed numerous times, have it the worst. They have not proven to themselves that they have the willpower to stop the addiction. They may admit to you, “yes, I want to, need to, and will do whatever it takes to… QUIT SMOKING”.
But some of these smokers just can’t. They’ve tried cold turkey, they’ve tried nicotine gum, they’ve tried the nicotine patch, and they’ve tried all kinds of aids.. nothing works.
———————
Unless you’ve been a smoker, successfully quit, and remain a non-smoker to this day, please don’t volunteer or suggest anything to these groups of people.
Tobacco, nicotine, tar, and 3,000 other chemicals (including formaldehyde) are prevalent in cigarettes today. It is a very ugly and terrible addiction, but the surprising part is that it is taxed and made legal by our government to this very day.
To understand who is writing this blog post. I will let you know that I had successfully quit smoking for 8 years. That’s a very long time. At some point I went on vacation where everyone smoked around me. After 8 years of abstaining I figured I had the strength and drive to be able to smoke with them, and stop when I returned home.
Guess what?
Nicotine back into my blood stream… the addiction came back just like I was a smoker yesterday.
After returning home from my “vacation” where I thought I could smoke and flirt with cigarette death and stop at my own will power.. I proceeded to keep my “high” going for another few months, to another couple years, buying cartons of cigarettes upon cartons of cigarettes.. until one day I realized “I thought I could stop it anytime, but everyday I wake up, I find myself saying “not yet”.. maybe tomorrow”.
Cigarettes, tobacco, and nictotine, are sister families to cocaine, heroine, and alcohol.
Don’t be fooled…
Cigarettes are legal
Cigarettes are $10 a pack or less, affordable in most families
Cigarettes will eventually kill or maim you
Cigarettes are a drug
Cigarettes are extremely difficult to quit
Cigarettes haunt ex-smokers everyday, and should eventually be contra-band.
The addictive nature of cigarettes is enough for people to realise that they do not smoke “because they want to”.. but instead, their bodies indirectly crave and tell them “you need another smoke”.
So what is left to be said?
It’s New Years Eve, and you want to make a New Years Resolution infront of family & friends. “I’m going to quit smoking” you say.
Well compare it to some other socially acceptable things, and see how hard, and stupid your statement sounds…
“As my New Years Resolution, I will only watch TV programs for 12 minutes and then change the channel”
DUMB? YES! HARD TO FOLLOW PERMANENTLY? YES
“As my New Years Resolution, I will only take 2 bites into any hamburger I encounter, and throw the rest in the garbage”
DUMB? YES! HARD TO FOLLOW PERMANENTLY? YES
“As my New Years Resolution, I will only sleep 3 hours every night, and eventhough I am still tired and sleepy, I will wake up and stay awake for the remaining 21 hours everyday”
DUMB? YES! HARD TO FOLLOW PERMANENTLY? YES
“As my New Years Resoluttion, I will no longer smoke cigarettes. The pleasure, relaxation and history I have smoking cigarettes as party of my daily life will now stop, like a train hitting the side of a mountain. My whole daily life will change, on a dime without any friction or problem.”
DUMB? YES! HARD TO FOLLOW PERMANENTLY? YES
Please understand what smokers who try to quit, go through. Their salvation and pain is only a toke or puff a smoke away. When your body cries out for a dose of nicotine, and it plays with your mind why “it should be ok, just this once” realize those that quit smoking cigarettes as a result of a New Years Resolution are heroes to themselves.
Is quittting smoking important? SURE
Can everyone do it? DEFINATELY NOT
What is the problem? Unless you’ve been a regular smoker and quit for many years, there is no point in talking to you?
Are you saying that nicotine addiction is like cocaine addiction?
YES, YES, AND MORE YES!
Any addiction is exactly that — an addiction.
Stopping a cocaine, crack, or heroine addict is the EXACT SAME THING as stopping a nicotine addict. But it is never presented to people that way… Illegal drugs seem so wrong, and the addictions that go with them make people seem like outcasts of society. But since tobacco and nicotine are legal, it is perfectly ok, for a daily smoker to have trouble quitting — thats’ our norm.
The crap they put in cigarettes — the prices they charge — the socially unacceptable situations — smokers that need to quit, want to quit, and want to do it cold turkey…
Find someone that is quitting cold turkey, pat them on the back, smile at them, and say…
“I really DO understand what you are going through”
That’s plenty it itself.
A New Years Resolution to quit smoking sounds noble and special.
But people who actually follow through, quit cold turkey, never smoke a cigarette ever again, and fight the daily thought of “maybe if I could just have one, I wouldn’t want another”
……….all of us would have a better understanding of one another……..
Smoking is more than an addiction. Smoking is more than a legal privilege. Smoking is more than an anti-social activity, and smoking is more than a health risk.
Smoking is an epidemic, and the victims of it should NEVER be shamed. The tobacco companies who profited from it, and had early research on it, should be shamed.
If you walk down a local street tomorrow — see someone puffing on a cigarette. PLEASE DO NOT hold contempt for that person, but the exact opposite. Have a feeling that you want to help. You are sorry that they are addicted, and you know how hard it is to break the habit of quitting smoking.
To be honest, New Years Resolutions sound prim and proper, but deep down inside.. all they are, are common day issues that people find a time and date to deal with them.
If anyone who has read this blog, from top to bottom, who is addicted to nicotine, who feels that they have someone out there understanding them.. who can quit cold-turkey without aids..
Can register, respond, and leave a comment..
I am totally interested in hearing from you. Typing all of this, feeling all of this, and saying it all, will not seem like a waste of time if I can reach that one person out there.
Are you that person?
