Was Smoke-Free for 4 years.....

[MercyD]

Hi, I picked up the cigarettes a little over a year ago after not smoking for 4 years :bash: :bash: :bash: Talk about a "stupid move" :exclm:

After a year I'm smoking more than I ever did before..up to 1 1/2 packs a day...I can't afford it and would rather be spending my money on LC food. I tried to quit the beginning of the year and can NOT seem to give it up.

All suggestions are welcome :confused: :mad:
Mercy

[Lisa N]

Mercy, the most important thing for me after multiple attempts to quit was coming to the realization that I wasn't giving up something wonderful that I loved, enjoyed or even really liked once I was honest with myself.
IMO that's what causes a lot of attempts to fail and a lot of relapses to occur; this idea that we are depriving ourselves of something we need and enjoy.
I used to protest, "But I like smoking...." when my DH asked me to quit until I did one little exercise. I smoked one cigarrette fully focused on every aspect of smoking that cigarette from taking it out of the pack and lighting it until I put it out. I had a piece of paper in front of me and a pencil ready to write down everything I could identify was wonderful about smoking that cigarette. Guess what? I couldn't in all honesty write down one single thing that I liked about what I was doing. Truthfully what I really liked was not having to deny my body's demands for the substance I was addicted to; I liked avoiding withdrawal (which wasn't all that bad, BTW, once I actually faced it and went through it).
Then I wrote down all the things that I didn't like about smoking and came up with quite a few.
Comparing both lists made my decision much easier; why was I going to continue doing something that made my clothes and hair smell like an ashtray, made my breath stink, was causing me to be short of breath and sick and was costing me a LOT of money when I couldn't identify one solitary thing that it was doing for me that I liked?

Each of us has to come to that point of realization that we have had enough and are ready to kick our nicotine habit to the curb on our own and lay it down knowing that we are gaining so much more than we are giving up. Until that time, no amount of nagging, pleading or badgering on the part of our friends and family is going to work long-term.