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Share your quitting journey

Why do I talk about the same things over and over and over?

JonesCarpeDiem
0 10 11

I've watched why people fail for 7 years and "the why" is really very simple.

Forget the "reasons I smoked" There are no reasons. Saying there are reasons is not accepting responsibiity for choosing to smoke.

People fail because they approach quitting smoking as the most difficult thing they’ve ever undertaken. Where do they get that idea? They get it from other people who have failed and then they build upon that with their own failures. Willingness beats willpower every time.

Most people’s quits are lost by talking themselves into smoking.
When you mentally talk to yourself suggesting that “a cigarette sure would hit the spot right now” you have started the snowball rolling down the hill. If you get that snowball rolling and growing your quit is done. Dwelling on that initial thought makes it become real and if you keep it up? YOU WILL SMOKE
So how do you stop that thought from growing?
You talk back. You say “I don’t do that anymore” as soon as the first thought comes. You say it out loud so it sticks and you repeat as necessary. If you don’t talk yourself out of wanting to smoke? YOU WILL SMOKE.

Many peoples quits are lost because they drink themselves stupid.
How do you prevent that? You use some common sense.
Drinking alcohol and smoking go hand in hand.
If you want to socialize and that includes alcohol, try to limit yourself to one drink and take some bottled water.

If your quit means something, if your future means something, you will use common sense and not risk killing your quit by putting it in risky situations.

10 Comments
About the Author
Hello, My name is Dale. I was quit 18 months before joining this site and had participated on another site during that time. I learned a lot there and brought it with me. I joined this site the first week of August 2008. I didn't pressure myself to quit. HOW I QUIT I didn't count, I didn't deny myself to get started. When I considered quitting (at a friends request to influence his brother to quit), I simply told myself to wait a little longer. No denial, nothing painful. After 4 weeks I was down to 5 cigarettes from a pack a day. The strength came from proving to myself, I didn't need to smoke because I normally would have smoked. Simple yes? I bought the patch. I forgot to put one on on the 4th day. I needed it the next day but the following week I forgot two days in a row I put one in my wallet with a promise to myself that I would slap it on and wait an hour rather than smoke. It rode in my wallet my first year.There's nothing keeping any of you from doing this. It doesn't cost a dime. This is about unlearning something you've done for a long time. The nicotine isn't the hard part. Disconnecting from the psychological pull, the memories and connected emotions is. :-) Time is the healer.