I know you can pinpoint WHEN you started smoking but have you taken the time to analyze & understand WHY you started smoking? Is there anything that could get you to not only think about smoking again but to actually do it? Have you answered these questions & others in your Stay Quit?
I believe its important to address not only the WHY in retrospect but to really explore the WHAT IF’s in your future. It can be helpful, enlightening, and even essential for us in our healing & recovery to try to foresee any pitfalls we may encounter in our quest for a lifetime of smobriety.
It’s true that if we still want one we may still be at risk of smoking one but what made us want one in the first place? It wasn’t the physical addiction since we were “virgins”. Is the reason now no longer an issue for us or could it become one again if our life circumstances change (or if we haven’t changed ourselves)?
Have you thoroughly educated yourself about nicotine addiction so you are on solid ground for the rest of your life? Do you still think you enjoyed smoking or have you worked hard to change that falsehood within yourself? If you relapsed previously & went back to smoking have you addressed the reason for it so you don’t repeat it?
Is there anything that may happen to you or a loved one in the future that would threaten your smobriety? Would you ever reach a point where you just didn’t care about staying smoke free any more (or about anything for that matter)? Is it important to you to have a smoke free ending to your life? I encourage you to seriously think about any possible risk situations for yourself.
I thought out different scenarios for myself. I had already taken smoking as an option off the table from Day One but I had one weakness/loop hole which I had to “plug”. I worked hard to successfully eliminate it or, should I say to be more accurate, to address it and then put up my warning guard rails around it.
The Personal Relapse Insurance Policy I chose to put in place remains important to my lifetime sobriety. I feel confident that I will no longer smoke but if I need it I have it up & “running” at all times. The mental warning system I chose will loudly shout out to me if I ever cross the line I have set for myself in my thinking (which is where any relapse begins).
Do you have a Personal Relapse Insurance Policy? I hope you consider getting one in place that will work for you to keep your Stay Quit safe(r).
(Celebrating 2500 Days Quit today! You can do it too!)
