We're not cut from the same mold

[crazymama_Lori]

I've seen this time and time again.  Granted I have not researched smokers for 10 or 15 years.  I am not a psychologist, doctor, research analyst.  I am simply a nonsmoker trying to help others with their quit and stay quit.  There is no right or wrong way to do this.  I will tell you that I have spent a huge part of 3 years reading everything I can to understand why the brain works the way it does in the addictive mind.  Why people are drawn back, what causes them to relapse.  There's so much information out there on the web that can be found about why the brain works the way it does.  Going to the library or reading the encyclopedia to find information is slowly drifting away.  We're in the electronic age.  Everything is on Kindle or PDF, downloaded in an electronic format.

There so much information that can be found on this site by using the magnifying glass, the search feature.  Wonderful articles written by Dale and Giulia who have spent an enormous amount of time sharing their wisdom with you.  Nobody wants to read the scientific articles with using words that most do not understand without at least some level of medical knowledge.  Again, there is no right or wrong way to quit smoking.  There are websites out there you can join that only believe in cold turkey.  You slip up, you are kicked out.  That would have never worked for me because I am the type of person that doesn't like the do it my way or the highway type of attitude.  For some that's the only way to do it.  For me, it would have never worked.  I tried to quit cold turkey.  The longest I made it was 10 days, My 10-day fail, but boy did I ever change that.  

You see, there are the happy quitters and the "other" quitters.  I never found that I had increased energy.  My sleeping never went back to normal.  I'm not elated that I quit.  I just simply conquered something that was controlling me.  Telling me it was my way or the highway.  I'll admit, I like the smell of smoke.  I don't like the smell of smoke on a person.  I like the smell of a freshly lit match.  I don't like the smell of an ashtray.  But you see with me, I see these statements of I like the smell of a lilac tree.  I don't like the smell of those old Avon sachets that they used to have in the liliac scent.  To me those things are saying the same thing.  They are only statements of my likes and dislikes.  I don't see me saying I like the smell of smoke is going to have me running out and lighting up again.  I just like the smell.  It reminds me of my father when he was alive.  When I first quit, I panicked at the thought of enjoying the smell.  But I've learned it's only a thought; it's not an action.  You get my drift, right?  

I'm not a super calm, happy person by nature.  I'm in awe of those people that finds good in everything.  I am a Type A personality all the way.  I have to excel at what I do.  I'm a workaholic.  I don't have a lot of patience sometimes.  I see a wrong or something I find offensive, I speak up about it.  I'm the bull in the china shop.  I have a very strong personality.  I have very strong morals.  That's probably why smoking worked for me.  My little addictive self told me it was calming me, consoling me, telling me I'll fight the fight with you.  /blogs/crazymama_Lori-blog/2016/03/18/stop-the-ride-i-want-to-get-off  or /blogs/crazymama_Lori-blog/2016/06/25/im-tired 

I think I actually saw the nicotine addiction/dependence more clearly when I was researching addiction in general.  I read blogs of people addicted to heroin and oxycodone and trying to get clean.  All the advice, some good, some really crazy.  But I saw a similarity of what they thought that drug was doing for them and what drew them back.  For oxycodone, it's physically out of your system in three days.  From then on is all the understanding of what made them go there in the first place.  Conversely, alcohol is out of your system in two to four days when you're an alcoholic.  Again from then on is the understanding of what made them go there in the first place.  For nicotine dependence, nicotine is out of your system in two weeks.  From then on is the understanding of what made them go there in the first place.  Do you see a pattern forming here?

Think about it, if you weren't addicted, then tell me why it's so hard to quit and for some to stay quit for a length of time.  Isn't this food for thought.  Plain and simple, a cigarette, that little white stick, is your habit.  The hand to mouth action that you perform every single day for almost 20 to 40 times a day.  We have the capacity to relearn a habit and break it.  If not break it, replace it with something else.  Oh, there's some naysayers that will say, well, then I'll just buy an e-cig with 0 percent nicotine and I'll beat this.  But aren't you reinforcing the hand to mouth habit?  Here is an article by the American Lung Association concerning this latest fix-all solution, E-cigarettes and Lung Health | American Lung Association.  I don't know if any of you have tried those, but they're just plain old nasty.  By taking that route, you are still performing the hand to mouth motion and thus retaining the association with smoking.  So how is the habit being broken?  Another interesting article from Harvard University E-cigarettes: Good news, bad news - Harvard Health Blog - Harvard Health Publications.  Further into the article is a study they performed using different testing groups:  

Studies about e-cigarettes and smoking behavior show conflicting results. E-cigarettes were mildly helpful in kicking the habit in one clinical trial. In other studies, e-cigarette use did not increase quit rates, or was even associated with a higher risk of continuing to smoke. A recent review concluded that real-world use of e-cigarettes is associated with lower quit rates.

Nicotine by nature is in tobacco that's put into that white tube along with all those wonderful chemicals thrown in for good measure that you are addicted to.  It's the nicotine that makes you warm and fuzzy.  Not the cigarette; it's what is in it that does.  It's the nicotine that gives you the rush, the hit of dopamine, the good feeling.  There's other ways of doing that, 10 Ways to Increase Dopamine to Boost Your Productivity - Endless Events.  Expand your mind to find other outlets.  Believe it or not, you don't need that cigarette to do anything for you.  You're just allowing it to make you think that it does.........