In professional poker, there is a psychological phenomenon called “on tilt”. What happens is this: A poker player is riding high on a winning streak, but then they lose a round, and they become thrown and flustered. Whether it’s being badly duped by a clever bluff, or being antagonized by a pushy player at the table, the loser of the round can “slip off the center” of a winning equilibrium. Have their winning mindset skewed.
They’re now “on tilt”. They are “off their game”.
Sure, they will jump back into the game…but they often either push too hard to regain the winning streak, or they become too deeply stuck on the loss. Basically, they lose “the vibe”, “the mojo”. And, quite often, the player never does recapture that winning momentum, and their game spirals downhill after that.
Why am I sharing this? Because, I can relate. I remember riding high during the first days of a new quit…until I gambled with “just a few“ cigarettes to “get me through a rough spot“. Even if I threw the rest of the pack away and vowed to “get my head right back in the game”, my quit attempt just felt too “fractured“ after those puffs. My head was too “on tilt” with regret, and the “mojo” to actually quit was too lost…and I was back to smoking within a day.
This is me. This is my truth. I am telling my story.
For me, there is no such thing as “jumping back in the game”. No, once I lose my bet on “just one” cigarette, I’m never able to just shuffle the deck, and restart with a fresh hand. I am living proof that a mind too thrown by “on tilt” is quite often an eventual quit killer. “On tilt” never did anything to revitalize a quit that I had screwed up, so I rebuked it this time around. I rejected it. I’m so over starting over.
Raise your hand if you feel what I’m saying.
Now, from time to time, you’ll hear from someone who has “slipped”, then got right back “in the game“. You’ll also hear from someone who “slipped”, then collapsed right back into full-on smoking, too. Forget both of those for a minute. What I’m asking you to do, dear reader, is to NEVER “SLIP” AGAIN, AT ALL! Listen to me: Why not, for the first time in your life, give yourself over to the one-and-only proven strategy that will actually work for you?!
Please, do not be so eager to test your ability to “get back in the game”. The odds are not in your favor on that one. The deck is stacked against you, and the dice are loaded. Please, don‘t risk it all on a cigarette. Instead, devote your mind and energy and “mojo” to strengthening your new skills to stay quit - 100% free! - for the rest of your life.
Raise your hand if you feel what I‘m saying.
STORM: 843
(NOTE: I used the term “slip” here because it’s familiar to newbies, as it repeatedly appears in the EX materials they are studying. Many of us believe that the more proper term is (and should be) “choice”, but that’s a topic for some other blog on some other day, okay?)
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