Addictive Thoughts

[Thomas3.20.2010]

As Addicts we all have them. I very rarely still have an addictive thought but I still have them. Being able to recognize them is very important especially at the beginning of our quit journey! That can be challenging because we have 60,000 thoughts a day and because we don’t necessarily recognize them when they pass through our minds.

Some folks personify addictive thoughts and refer to the Nico-Demon! I have no problem with that as long as you know that the Nico-Demon is YOU! You are generating these thoughts! Nobody knows what motivates you like you and most addictive thoughts are motivational.  What do they want you to do?

“I need my next FIX!”

That’s it! These thoughts may look very different from that but that is their motivation! Here are some Examples:

-          I need my sickerettes!

-          I’ll never be happy as an Exer!

-          Sickerettes are my best friend!

-          Sickerettes calm me down!

-          Life is too stressful to quit!

-          I’ll quit someday just not today!

-          I don’t smoke that much!

-          I’m a social smoker!

-          I’ve smoked too much for too long! I can’t quit!

-          Just one won’t hurt!

-          I’ve failed at quitting so many times, I can’t imagine success!

-          I like smoking! It smells good! It tastes good!

-          Smoking is my only vice!

-          At least I don’t XXX [drink, do drugs, etc…]

-          Some people smoke their entire lives and are healthy!

-          Smoking is hereditary! Everybody in my ancestry smoked!

I could keep going indefinitely! But it really comes down to one concept! If this thought gives you a “reason”, i.e. Excuse to smoke even one more sickerette – it is an addictive thought!

Here’s the empowering part! YOU get to decide! You don’t have to follow that thought! Imagine thoughts as cars on a highway – they rush by and you can focus on only red cars or you can focus on just blue cars or you can decide to put your focus elsewhere! Not all thoughts are addictive thoughts, are they? It may seem like that at first but you had enough Freedom loving thoughts to find this website and sign up! Let go of your addictive thoughts! They will happen! That’s the nature of addiction. But you don’t have to latch onto them! That’s what we call romancing the sickerette! Call it out and then focus on the Freedom loving thoughts!

READ, READ, READ! When you read you are stimulating many more Freedom loving thoughts! Think of those cars on the highway! The more you read the more the traffic on the highway in your mind has helpful cars! Distract yourself with other stuff! Then you are filling that highway with even another kind of car! Then decide! Take control of those thoughts by choosing your focus! Participate! We know how to do this and we can show you how!

When you stop paying attention to addictive thoughts, at first they pout, and then they scream, wave their hands, flail around, and throw a tantrum! That’s a good sign, actually as long as you continue to focus elsewhere! It means they're scared that you are serious about FREEDOM! They will say this is too scary, stressful, ugly, whatever! They will bring out every temptation they can muster so you will give in! BUT You still have the choice! YOU DECIDE!

 Eventually these thoughts become less frequent and only once in a very blue moon will they show up! You will go hours, then days, then Months, even years without these thoughts! And by then when they do show up, it’s a little whisper you can easily choose to dismiss! It gets better very soon so don’t be discouraged! What’s 4 Months compared to a lifetime of Freedom?