Before you light that Cigarrette (RP)

(RP)

This post is a great reminder of how we trick ourselves into believing that smoking a poisonous death stick somehow is the answer to our problems. Every time, I mean every time, blowing a quit by relapsing and taking a puff leads to wallowing in more shame. In that moment you realize the problem you had did not go away and now you are stuck with the biggest problem of them all...you have relapsed and one puff means all. One puff always means all...every time!

Adam

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(insert your name here), are you thinking about smoking a cigarette? Are you thinking that you're going to light that cigarette and all your problems are going to just wash away and all will be perfect with the world?


Before you light that cigarette (insert your name here), think it through. Right now, you're building a fantasy in your mind of what that cigarette will be like as you light it and start to smoke it, but really think about it. Do you really think that cigarette is going to live up to these great expectations that you're building up in your mind?  In past quits where you smoked again, did that cigarette ever live up to those great expectations or did it just cause you to fall back into the grip of addiction?


Why would this cigarette be any different? A cigarette is a cigarette. It cannot be anything else but what it is. It cannot change. It cannot become a better cigarette. It cannot become a more compassionate cigarette. It cannot become a better friend than before. It can only be what it has always been and always will be.....your obstacle to FREEDOM!!


Even any illusion of relief or pleasure that you might feel while smoking that cigarette will most likely be as quickly ripped away after the last drag and you extinguish it, as it was there while you were smoking it.


Then what will you be left with? Regret? Anger? Dissapointment? Depression? An empty unfulfilled feeling and possibly a need for another one?
A cigarette will never fix the world. It will never make your day better. If anything, it will probably ruin that day and quite possibly the next day and so on.
(insert your name here), there may be times when you will have thoughts for a cigarette. There may be moments in life when things go bad and you may have a strong urge for a cigarette. But think it through.

While you may want "a cigarette", that is not the reality of smoking. It's not about smoking "a cigarette". It's about HAVING to smoke the tens of thousands that will follow. You couldn't control your smoking before and you won't be able to control you smoking now. You smoked because you HAD to smoke and if you smoke again it will be because you HAVE to smoke.


Nicotine is an addiction that can never be satisfied. There will always be a need for another cigarette.
There may be moments when you want a cigarette, but moments always pass. Always. 

While you may have an occasional thought or urge to smoke in certain situations. That is infinitely better than the constant NEED to smoke in any situation.
For as long as you DON'T smoke, your thoughts or urges to smoke will lessen and lessen, but a smoker's NEED to smoke will never lessen. If anything, as long as they smoke, the NEED will become greater.
So for today, you choose NOT to smoke.
KEEP CHOOSING FREEDOM (insert you name here)!!!!!

My Support Systems

Whenever I need to refocus my quit or beat a craving, I will do a self-huddle and go over my list of support systems:

Music
Therapy
Quitnet
2 Quitnet clubs
my lady I can call
my buddy Aaron I can call
jog
walk
workout
nap
read
deep breathes
ice cold water
cook/go out to dinner
nic gum (last resort)
journal/blog
zone out on Netflix
Hockey
Baseball
Football
Soccer
meditation
prayer....

list goes on and on!