The Other Side of "Romancing the Cigarette"....(RP)

It's time to focus on the true side of what smoking has to offer. NOTHING. When quitting, the addict in our brain likes to feel deprived and find the smallest of things to tell us that we can't quit, now is not the time. It also tries to get us to romance and remember times in our head when smoking a cigarette made everything perfect. But there is a reality behind these fake notions that feel so real and confuse us if we really take a moment and be honest with ourselves....FACE REALITY!

Adam 

 (RP)

The Other Side of Romacing

We talk a lot about Not Romancing the Cigarette and that is Good Advice, but what is Romancing? 

Is it walking by a smoker and thinking I sure wish that was me, or Damn I wish I could have one of those? You may have a bad day and think smoking will ease the pressure you feel, but for the most part you don't finish dinner and think "I sure wish I had a cigarette!" sure you may get the trigger outta habit, but most of us brush it off and try to move on, we distract ourselves like we were taught and if you don't then You are Romancing.

We define Romancing (or I do) as painting a picture of Cigarettes making this situation better or more relaxing or being under pressure or stress and telling ourselves that a Cigarette will make it better, or any thoughts that rationalizes a moment in which you tell yourself Smoking will make it better, But what about the other side?
 
The other side, the side we don't talk much about because it's not Pretty. We can't dress it up or give it cute names like Ole Nic or Romancing, the other side is the Addiction, the Monster that we can not get away from, the Addiction. It is Faceless, Colorless, Tasteless, but it is there, it is Real. We can beat it down for a while, but it always seems to find a way to work it's way back into our minds.

You get a trigger and you brush it off, just like you were taught.
15 minutes later you get the same trigger again, brush it off again and again. This process can go on and on for hours. Are you Romancing, I don't think so, but we don't talk about this because it's Hard, it is Really Hard and their is no one there to help, just you and this Damn Thought that you can not get out of your head, just you and this Addiction.

We fight every day to stay Smoke free, some of us fight every minute, so why is that, why, why, why do some get the easy road and others don't.....Because we are Addicts and Addiction effects all of us Different, just like relapse happens for different reasons. It is not always romancing, sometimes you just get tired, tired of the fighting, fighting hour after hour, fighting Ole Nic and if you smoke the fight is over. You get tired of fighting, you become Mentally Exhausted, you just get tired of fighting the Mental Battle and Give Up.

I have come to believe that outside forces are not responsible for my reactions or choices. Addiction is faceless, mindless, stupid -- not cunning or baffling. It just is. Addiction says "use", and I don't put my dukes up to fight, I don't argue or rationalize. The addictive thought is "use" and my response is "no". End of dialog.

Use your tools, Distract, delay,breath deep, change your thought process, call a friend but don't Smoke. This Demon we call Ole Nic is nothing more than an addiction, it is not cunning, or smart or any of the cute things I've read about, it is an Addiction and it will be with us all the days of our lives...
Romancing it is not a option, but Beware that is not the only approach this addiction uses.

Rick
D256