Thursday, October 18, 2007

Pyschological Addiction

Many smokers find that the medication is working, but something else is holding them back, like Ginger and Jennifer over on BlogFabulous. Chantix is going to help break the addiction cycle for you - but there is a lot of emotional, mental work for you to do to finally really let go.

Jennifer, still has thinking that tells her "I deserve these special few." You have the power to change thinking. Tell yourself over and over that you "deserve to be free of the shackles of smoking." Repetition works when changing thinking. Repetition is effective.

Also, you must examine what you're still getting out of it and what you don't want to let go of. If you live alone, perhaps smoking was your company. It may sound odd, but people who live alone need company and can use smoking to fill that need. It may be breaking up the monotony of alone-living.

Pavlov Dog yourself. By that I mean, stop buying cigarrettes and force yourself to pay $5 a pack for any cigarrette you smoke. If you cheat you must give the pack away then buy more if you cheat again. Penalty.

Find a reward for yourself that isn't smoking. If you take 10 hot baths a day it won't be bad for you. If you drink a cold bottle of green tea it won't be bad for you. Taking a walk won't be bad for you. If you reward yourself with health and change your thinking you'll really be able to let go.

You're all right on track. This is the part where you realize the medication works, but you weren't only getting nicotine from smoking. You were getting friendship and understanding and company and distraction and meditation too.

You still deserve those things. You just have to find a new way to get it.

1 comment:

MamaFlo said...

That's exactly it and the answer will be different for every ex-smoker and there will be as many different answers as there are brands of cigarettes.
I believe that it's more difficult to change our behavior than it is to loose our addiction to nicotine.