Before you fall off the wagon and nip off to buy the fags you have convinced yourself you NEED ... please read the following first, hopefully it will change your mind, such a shame to lose a quit just because your mind is in the wrong place at the moment.
JUNKIE THINKING: "One puff won't hurt."
RESPONSE: "One puff will always hurt me, and it always will because I'm not a social smoker. One puff and I'll be smoking compulsively again."
JUNKIE THINKING: "I only want one."
RESPONSE: "I have never only wanted one. In fact, I want 20-30 a day, every day. I want them all."
JUNKIE THINKING: "I'll just be a social smoker."
RESPONSE: "I'm a chronic, compulsive smoker, and once I smoke one I'll quickly be thinking about the next one."
JUNKIE THINKING: "I'm doing so well, one won't hurt me now."
RESPONSE: "The only reason I'm doing so well is because I haven't taken the first one. Yet once I do, I won't be doing well anymore. I'll be smoking again."
JUNKIE THINKING: "I'll just stop again."
RESPONSE: "Sounds easy, but who am I trying to kid? Look how long it took me to stop this time. And once I start, how long will it take before I get sick enough to face withdrawal again? In fact, when I'm back in the grip of compulsion, what guarantee do I have that I'll ever be able to stop again?"
JUNKIE THINKING: "If I slip, I'll keep trying."
RESPONSE: "If I think I can get away with one little 'slip' now I'll think I can get away with another little 'slip' later on."
JUNKIE THINKING: "I need one to get me through this withdrawal."
RESPONSE: "Smoking will not get me through the discomfort of not smoking. It will only get me back to smoking. One puff stops the process of withdrawal and I'll have to go through it all over again."
JUNKIE THINKING: "I miss smoking right now."
RESPONSE: "Of course I miss something I've been doing every day for most of my life. But do I miss the chest pain right now? Do I miss the worry, the embarrassment? I'd rather be an ex-smoker with an occasional desire to smoke, than a smoker with a constant desire to stop doing it."
JUNKIE THINKING: "I really need to smoke now, I'm so upset."
RESPONSE: "Smoking is not going to fix anything. I'll still be upset, I'll just be an upset smoker. I never have to have a cigarette. Smoking is not a need; it's a want. Once the crisis is over, I'll be relieved and grateful I'm still not smoking."
JUNKIE THINKING: "I don't care."
RESPONSE: "What is it exactly that I think that I don't care about? Can I truthfully say I don't care about chest pain? I don't care about gagging in the morning? I don't care about lung cancer? No, I care about these things very much. That's why I stopped smoking in the first place."
JUNKIE THINKING: "What difference does it make, anyway?"
RESPONSE: "It makes a difference in the way I breathe, the way my heart beats, the way I feel about myself. It makes a tremendous difference in every aspect of my physical and emotional health."
JUNKIE THINKING: "I'm bored"
RESPONSE: "Smoking is an 'activity' or 'something to do' only for smokers. I'm really not 'doing' anything when I smoke except still sitting/standing there. The rest of the world survives occasional boredom quite well without inhaling life-challenging chemicals."
JUNKIE THINKING: "But they've been smoking on TV and in the movies for years! There are even magazines devoted to tobacco products!"
RESPONSE: "That's right. They were on TV for years, I wasn't. I'm still alive; many of them aren't and they departed this vale of tears in prolonged and painful ways. And the smiling faces in the magazines now are risking painful and disfiguring surgery later, at which point they won't be smiling at all."
JUNKIE THINKING: "Its so nice to go out for a 'breath of fresh air' and a cigarette."
RESPONSE: "Fresh air? I've got to be kidding. And face it, sunny days are one thing, but how many days do I huddle out in the rain with the rain hitting the cigarette and turning the cigarette paper that disgusting yellow color? How many times is it windy and it takes forever to keep a match or lighter lit long enough to light the cigarette, and then how often does a gust of wind come up and blow the ashes into my eyes?"
Originally posted here
Written by
nsd_user663_4847
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Ok, so who was it said I was a none smoker now cause after reading that I know Im not and probably never will be, I am a smoker who has decided that for my healths sake I will never smoke again and I have and still am trying to come to terms with that but hey ho I want smoke, I know I only want the cig and do not need it, infact we never need it do we so thats a really good read thanks Mah will keep the thread in my favs to keep checking out when feeling a bit weak x
I have a thought that maybe a response is needed for:
I am only 23 and had been smoking 4-5 years and i have stopped because the potential consequences scared me but i do occasionally get the thouught when I see an older person smoking:
"Well they look like they are doing ok and they're smoking so what am I worried about?"
I suppose the response would be:
"see all the changes there have been since you stopped smoking, on top of proven links to life-threatening diseases"
Just to note - the above was only a thought and im on 29 days now so very nearly a full month
Funny I always thought the same when I used to see my Mum still smoking into her late 60s and early seventies, mind you she couldnt climb the stairs or do her gardening but hey she only minded a lot, oh and then she had to have her bed brought downstairs but she was still alive oh and then the bad bit she died Lung Cancer, and Im sorry if that sounds harsh but I would sooner you know why they look ok when they are older and smoking, its because all the damage is inside or mostly where you cant see it, also because smoking ages you massively how do you know they are as old as you think they are, you keep the quit going and stay healthy you are young enough to reap all the rewards well done on 29 days x
Funny I always thought the same when I used to see my Mum still smoking into her late 60s and early seventies, mind you she couldnt climb the stairs or do her gardening but hey she only minded a lot, oh and then she had to have her bed brought downstairs but she was still alive oh and then the bad bit she died Lung Cancer, and Im sorry if that sounds harsh but I would sooner you know why they look ok when they are older and smoking, its because all the damage is inside or mostly where you cant see it, also because smoking ages you massively how do you know they are as old as you think they are, you keep the quit going and stay healthy you are young enough to reap all the rewards well done on 29 days x
I understand and it is one of the reasons i quit, but i was just thinking that other people may be having that same thought...
It also concerns me as I have had to go and have a chest x-ray today (i'm not entirely sure why) and i have to wait 7-10 days for any results which is doing my head in and its all related to me smoking....
Also, used to think the same as Stuey1 when I looked at my parents... then I saw my grandmother after not having seen her for a year and her voice, her skin and the smell on her was horrific.
All I hope is that she doesn't have the same horrible insides that she does outside...
Thank you for bumping Mah; I had never seen this thread and today I am still wanting and also teetering a wee bit and I do NOT want to fall off. I will not moon about not smoking, I will not listen to those thoughts, I will not, I will not... I shall just print original post instead. Thank you Mah sigh
I love this post. I think learning to recognise the voice of your inner junkie is really important: in the throes of a craving/bad day that voice can sound so tempting and credible... but once you learn to identify the junkie within it's much easier to reject it and keep going.
I know my inner junkie: I picture him with greasy hair and disgusting scabby skin and stinking ratty clothes and a whiny voice. He is so repulsive, I can't believe I ever let him control me. To begin with he was hanging around constantly, whispering in my ear. I'm very happy to say he's almost completely gone from my life now. Occasionally I can smell him, but he's barely stuck his head round the door before I tell him to bog off.
this should be a permanant thread especially for the quitters who have forgotton the early days weeks and months of what they went through :eek: because you do forget how you felt thought and its scary why why would you put yourself through all that again :confused:
reading all the newbies posts brings it all back to me and scares the sh*t out of me as i think i used to be like that being a junkie to something that is legal and costs a fortune is terrifying if the government didnt make as much money from the product it would be an illigal substance
your breaking the law smoking in public places and if caught you have to pay a fine but and a BIG BUT the shops arnt find for selling the damn things the government and police arnt doing anything to stop this addictive poison from being sold :mad: grrrrrrrrrrrrr
right rant over thanks Mah for bumping this up again hopefully it will have some effect and stop anyone thinking just one wont hurt
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This time, THIS TIME!!!
