Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - I am now a non-smoker!!

skinnyninja · 07-24-2007, 03:18 AM

"The problem is, I learned that I actually like it in a number of ways which makes it hard to truly commit to quit."

There are benefits to smoking cigarettes. There really are--don't just discard smoking as being completely useless. There is a social aspect to it, for example, that I really miss sometimes.

But don't be fooled into thinking that you "like" the little head rush that the first drag gives you, because all you are "liking" is the relief of withdrawal symptoms. You aren't smoking cigarettes for pleasure, you are feeding your body with nicotine. That's what it is. A feeding. Just topping off the chemicals in your body so that you don't feel the discomfort of withdrawal. Don't give me that "I enjoy smoking crap." At least, that's what I had to come to grips with myself. I used to say "but I like the taste of these, and I like watching the smoke exhale, and I like blah blah blah." It's all crap. Pure chemical addiction. Feeding like a zombie. Be honest with yourself.

As an ex-smoker, I used to object to people and say "But cigarettes calm me down!" or "But cigarettes relieve stress for me." That is a half truth at best....all the cigarette does is relieve the withdrawal symptoms. They do NOT "relieve stress." If you could turn back time and quit smoking six months ago, you would be experiencing LESS stress at any given moment today. To the active smoker, it only APPEARS that the cigarette relieves stress, because smoking does alleviate the withdrawal symptoms (which happen to be incredibly stressful in and of themselves).

Nicotine addiciton is so powerful that even really intelligent people have a difficult time seeing the truth of what I just wrote. They might nod their head and say they understand, but they imagine that they might be different or unique somehow and that they must really like smoking much more than other people. Otherwise, how come it is so hard for them to quit, right? Wrong. It's hard for anyone to quit. It really is. But it's a great thing if you can pull it off.

I've got 1 year and 8 months of complete freedom from nicotine. Here is my formal take on how I did it right here.

07-24-2007, 03:18 AM	#28 (permalink)
skinnyninja Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 132	"The problem is, I learned that I actually like it in a number of ways which makes it hard to truly commit to quit." There are benefits to smoking cigarettes. There really are--don't just discard smoking as being completely useless. There is a social aspect to it, for example, that I really miss sometimes. But don't be fooled into thinking that you "like" the little head rush that the first drag gives you, because all you are "liking" is the relief of withdrawal symptoms. You aren't smoking cigarettes for pleasure, you are feeding your body with nicotine. That's what it is. A feeding. Just topping off the chemicals in your body so that you don't feel the discomfort of withdrawal. Don't give me that "I enjoy smoking crap." At least, that's what I had to come to grips with myself. I used to say "but I like the taste of these, and I like watching the smoke exhale, and I like blah blah blah." It's all crap. Pure chemical addiction. Feeding like a zombie. Be honest with yourself. As an ex-smoker, I used to object to people and say "But cigarettes calm me down!" or "But cigarettes relieve stress for me." That is a half truth at best....all the cigarette does is relieve the withdrawal symptoms. They do NOT "relieve stress." If you could turn back time and quit smoking six months ago, you would be experiencing LESS stress at any given moment today. To the active smoker, it only APPEARS that the cigarette relieves stress, because smoking does alleviate the withdrawal symptoms (which happen to be incredibly stressful in and of themselves). Nicotine addiciton is so powerful that even really intelligent people have a difficult time seeing the truth of what I just wrote. They might nod their head and say they understand, but they imagine that they might be different or unique somehow and that they must really like smoking much more than other people. Otherwise, how come it is so hard for them to quit, right? Wrong. It's hard for anyone to quit. It really is. But it's a great thing if you can pull it off. I've got 1 year and 8 months of complete freedom from nicotine. Here is my formal take on how I did it right here.