Quitting Cigarettes
Even after you’re through with quitting cigarettes, have stopped smoking and all traces of nicotine have left your body, your memory of smoking still persists. And it is how you handle that memory that primarily affects your experience of quitting smoking – and, most importantly, whether or not you stay stopped.
In fact, what you have done is to form a psychological attachment to the physical sensations you get from smoking. The nicotine has an effect on your body, but it’s your mind that desires the effect. It’s your mind that believes you need nicotine. It’s your mind that registers satisfaction when you get your buzz, or can object in the most dramatic ways if the desire is not satisfied. .And it’s your mind that decides whether you’ll go on smoking or face the challenge of quitting cigarettes for good.
Physical withdrawal doesn’t determine whether you will be successful at stopping smoking. It’s your mind that determines whether or not you will go through that experience, and – most crucially – whether or not you go back to smoking, long after those physical changes are over.
When you stop, after some temporary physical changes, your body will be much healthier and happier, since you are no longer putting so much poison into it. But your mind may not be happy because, unlike your body, it does not make the change to not smoking automatically. It remains the mind of a smoker, but it’s the mind of a smoker who isn’t smoking. And that inevitably sets up a conflict
All this is the process of the psychological side of nicotine withdrawal, and unless it’s dealt with correctly you may very well be smoking again weeks or months after the physical withdrawal is over.
If you are still not convinced, it may help to look at other addictions that have nothing to do with the ingestion of a drug. People can become addicted to a whole variety of things, such as gambling, computer games or even exercise. These people can experience very similar symptoms when they stop, such as intense compulsions or cravings, feelings of deprivation, anger, irritability, anxiety, depression and panic.
You Can Work it Out
I am not saying that it’s all in your mind, therefore you are imagining all your problems and they don’t really exist. The problems are real, and so is the addiction.
What I am saying is that in order for you to successfully stop smoking and stay stopped, to really take control of this addiction, you will need to change the way you are thinking about this. And you can’t do that by just waiting for it to change: you need to work at it. It requires your active attention and participation.
There’s lots of books that will show you what to do and why and how to do it. But nobody can change your thinking for you.
An addiction is held in place by an elaborate system of deceptions. If you have been deceiving yourself in this way for a long time, it will probably all look very real to you.
What quitting cigarettes – and staying stopped – is all about is discovering the truth. Once you have done that, it’s not so easy to get conned again. If you are willing to put effort into reading, thinking and questioning, you have every chance of real success this time.
Do You Really Need A Stop Smoking Program