The "Mental" side to smoking

So, this is Day #26 for me and not smoking!  The first thing you will want to do is buy this book. (Under $10 at Amazon).  A friend gave it to me and you can read it while your still smoking.  It will talk about all of your excuses and how if you use willpower alone, you are setting yourself up for failure.  It will also spend a lot of time talking about becoming FREE.  As in free from nicotine.  (As well as talking about the fact that you will also find financial freedom which is not a bad thing!)

I was at a pack and a half a day until my mom got sick.  Then I went to two packs a day. 

This means that your ENTIRE day revolves around a cigarette.  When will you run out?  When will you need to go to the store?  Do you have enough money for your cigarettes?  Do they have a smoking area?  How long until you get a smoke break?  Can you smoke in their car?  The last cigarette for the evening….and then the cycle starts over.

In reality, it only takes 3 days to break your nicotine addiction.  After that, it is all mental.  The number one rule is IT IS NOT OKAY TO HAVE JUST ONE!  Why?  Because it is an addiction!  The same as an alcoholic cannot just “Have one” drink.

So lets talk about the excuses:

I enjoy smoking.  No you don’t.  No one likes standing out in the weather to have a cigarette.  After a few hours without one, they taste like crap and they stink!  No one enjoys spending his or her money on cigarettes.

I would quit but I’m scared I will gain weight.  (By the way, I think this is the WORST excuse ever.)  So this means as a smoker, you are currently at your “Ideal” weight and would not change a thing.  (Didn’t think so!)

I will quit when I loose weight.  If you haven’t done so by now, you’re not going to and your kidding yourself.

It is the only bad habit that I have.  Okay.  Wouldn’t you rather have a “Good” habit?

I am too stressed out right now.  In reality smoking does not “Calm” your nerves, you have brainwashed yourself into thinking it does.  In actuality it raises your blood pressure.

I will quit right after….  Obviously you will not, lol.

In all honesty I have quit twice before.  Once with Chantix, it was okay, but I still had the “Urge” for a cigarette.  Then I quit on the gum, and it was the same way the urge was still there.

This time I have quit on the patch.  (Doing the steps!)  For the “Mental” of what to do with my hands, I have an electric cigarette.  (Careful, several of them have nicotine, get the one that has blanks, or you will overdose with the patch!)  The electric cigarette, takes the pressure off when I’m driving or join my friends in the smoking area.  Oh yeah, get rid of EVERYTHING!  Cigarette case, lighters, and ashtrays!  (Remaining butts too, no dumpster diving!)  The patch REALLY takes the edge off, I can tell the very hour it runs out.  Yes, you are getting a small release of nicotine (Starting with 21mg, then 14mg, then 7mg, then nothing.)  But you are not getting anything else associated with smoking. 

The do not’s:

DO NOT stay away from smokers!  You need to learn to deal with it.  Smoke your electric cigarette, and when you find you would like to have one, or think you miss the smell, remind yourself YOU ARE FREE, they are not.

DO NOT think you can only have one.

DO NOT use willpower alone.  When you have the urge, set back and actually THINK about the excuses above.  Count how long you have been without one.  First the hours and then the days!

DO NOT let people bother you.  If they pick on you and offer you one, remember THEY are the addicts, NOT you.

Now onto what I have noticed in 26 days:

My energy level is through the roof!  (Started around Day 5).  This is turn had me start a new workout program.  (So yes, I am smoke free AND loosing weight!)  I sleep better.  I can take a deep breath like I never could before.  I am starting to notice the smell of smoke on everything.  And it felt really great to fill out the forms at the dentist office as a non-smoker!

So what are you waiting on?  Set your quit date and stick with it!  Some thought my quit date was “Too soon” after my Mother’s death.  Some thought I would change the date because I was on vacation when it hit.  Bottom line, once the date was set, I stuck with it!

So when is your date????