MYTHS I TOLD MYSELF:

[Thomas3.20.2010]

The Stressed Smoking Myth: By Dr. Daniel Seidman Oprah.com | January 01, 2006 "I need cigarettes because I am stressed. I need this to cope with stress." Many smokers share this common belief. You may really believe this and, like so many smokers, this is how you explain your smoking behavior to yourself. But what if it's just a belief, not a fact? What if smoking is just an overrated activity...a bad habit...rote, negative behavior having nothing to do with stress management? Perhaps it distracts you when you're upset. But can smoking solve real-life problems? No, it is a real-life problem itself. This is the classic false belief of addicted smokers, and it must be challenged and debunked to learn to live smoke-free. When did smoking a cigarette ever solve a real-life problem? Smoking because of stress is what is called a rationalization. This is something you tell yourself to try to make yourself feel good about something you really feel bad about. We all do it, but smokers are especially prone to rationalize about stress and smoking. The truth is that an addicted smoker doesn't need a reason to smoke. The momentum of smoking, its automatic quality, is a three-headed monster. It comes from: the effect that smoking cigarettes has on your brain and body the repetitive, habitual nature of smoking the role of the smoker's social environment—primarily exposure to other smokers and smoke, which are contagious Smoking is an uncreative and repetitive response to life stress. It actually weakens the opportunity to develop healthy and flexible coping responses by relying on a fixed and rote way of responding to living. Talk about living inside a box...only this one is a cigarette box! It's harder for me than for others: It's not that some people have willpower and some don't. It's that some people are ready to change and others are not." ~ James Gordon M.D. It’s in regard to the supposed different levels of cigarette dependency or the debate over whether it’s somehow harder for one person to quit then it is for another. There’s an opinion out there that one person can be more dependent on a particular drug then another person. But I just don't think I buy that. I don't think that one person is any more or less addicted than another. I think a junkie is a junkie is a junkie. You see, it has been suggested to me by more then one person that I was "less addicted" then some other people because I was able to successfully quit and those other people "can't". And, I'm here to tell ya that just doesn't set too well with me. I worked DAMNED HARD for this quit and it I don't take too kindly to anyone trying to belittle what I've gone through to get it - and to keep it NO MATTER WHAT. You won't find anyone who "needed" their smokes any worse than I did. And just because I was able to finally pull off a successful quit doesn't mean that I was less addicted then those who are haven't yet pulled it off. It simply means that I was more ready to quit then they are. Not wanting to smoke anymore is SO not the same thing as actually wanting to quit. And, in my opinion THAT is the only difference any of us here have between us. If you don’t pull off a successful quit it’s not because quitting is harder for you then someone else... it’s not because your “more addicted” then someone else... It’s simply because you’ve chosen to remain in the "I don’t want to smoke anymore" phase of your smoking career. As soon as you decide to move yourself securely into the "I wanna quit" phase, you will be able to win your freedom, just as I have won mine. And it’ll be no harder or easier for you then it was for me. You have to have your life in order before you quit: Nothing could be further from the truth on the day that I quit smoking! On that day in March, 2010 I KNEW I had a chronic progressive illness with no cure! I KNEW that my job was on the line because my Company had chosen to shut down the branch where I was working! I KNEW that I couldn't afford COBRA and that if I didn't find another job with benefits, I wouldn't be able to afford Health Insurance! I KNEW that I was about to injure my Wife, my Sons, ...all my Family and Friends who had been begging me for years to quit! And now their predictions about the consequences, yes, those same predictions I ignored because "My life isn't in order" had come true! And yes, July of that year, I lost my job! And January of this year, I lost my GodMother - the only person on the Planet who I felt had loved me when I was growing up! You QUIT and by quitting you DO put your life in order! If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin. - Ivan Turgenev Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I'll show you someone who has overcome adversity. - Lou Holtz Every man stamps his value on himself... man is made great or small by his own will. J.C.F. von Schiller Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must first be overcome. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English Author The one common experience of all humanity is the challenge of problems. - R. Buckminster Fuller TODAY is a PERFECT Day to Quit! FOR LIFE!